To think we don't need to overhaul our hone for a new baby?

[SoonMummy]

We are trying not to go crazy or feel overwhelmed by the organisation needed round the home for a new baby. But I keep seeing stuff about all the prep I apparently 'need' to do, like decorate a nursery etc. Am I right in thinking you can get away with not doing loads and not buying loads? For the first 6 months the baby will be in our room so all I'm doing is adding a cot in there.

We live in a 2 bed place and currently the spare room is a home office as I wfh. Basic plan is to swap the spare bed for cot (for when baby is old enough) and add an armchair, but leave my home office set up in one corner and the baby will have to share! (It's quite a big room so it will have to double up).

I plan on clearing out a chest of drawers in the spare room to use for baby's clothes, and buying an extra dirty laundry basket for baby's things.

Finally I'm clearing some space where we hang our coats for a buggy.

Is there anything else we need to sort out or do to our home?

Helpful and reassuring tips, thank you!

Our flat is all on one level and open plan so during the day all the doors are open and you can see into every space. Hopefully if the baby is in a Moses basket or bouncer or something in the living area whilst I'm at the kitchen counter that could work for naps. The spare room is very nicely decorated already in a soft colour, so I don't feel to need to babyfy it! The office stuff is tucked in the corner and I only use a laptop on the desk so not much to pull off I hope. Good idea about the changing basket with mat. I think I'll get two- one for the living room and one for the bedroom at night.

I remember going round our flat on my hands and knees looking at everything. First you get a completely new view of your home and second you see all those things which you will need to have sorted out before baby starts crawling!

When dd was crawling things would often go missing and I would find them easily by going round on hands and knees.

Just wait until your baby learns how to 'post' things - keep an eye on wastepaper baskets!

There’s some nice baby box type carriers that are great for the car for essentials.

I kept one with lots of spares so I didn’t have to be super organized day to day - so spare clothes dummy wipes nappies cream cartons of milk cups and etc

That way if I forgot anything in the baby bag there was always something in the car. Saves time as well.

Looking back at photos, I think it was at the 18m point that the stuff began to ramp up. My living room still looked normal with my first as a baby. The photos of my second as a baby show a completely different environment. Good storage will be your friend and that’s one thing they might be easier to think about now. I don’t think I know anyone that hasn’t ended up with a kallax for toys somewhere.

The thing that might be more challenging for you is if you want to keep clothes etc for other potential children. We had loads of plastic boxes in the loft full of stuff. We’d have really struggled to have kept the same amount of stuff when we were in our flat. Would parents etc be willing to store things for you?