To buy a light coloured sofa with a baby on the way?

[Matimama]

Tell me if I’m being ridiculous. I’m a FTM. We are moving house and our old leather sofa isn’t going to fit.

The set I like is this one, colour is ‘greige’, but I don’t know if it’s silly to buy a light coloured one given there will inevitably be sick/nappy explosions 😂

Pic of the one we’re considering- it’s in the sale and can be delivered quickly. The only darker colours they have are black/charcoal which I definitely don’t like.

No pets, planning to be one and done. If either of those things make any difference.

YABU - no don’t be crazy, it will be ruined
YANBU - plenty of people have light sofas, get the one you like and just use protector kits

Don’t do it. 😂 It’s nothing to do with a baby. Babies are pretty easy and not that messy. But 2 year olds and 6 year olds are very messy and so far, in my experience, 11 year olds are the worst. Get a dark colour that is easy to clean with a carpet cleaner vac because you have years of felt tips and chocolate ice cream and blue tac that got stuck to the bottom of someone’s sock to come.

I think having it with a baby is fine because you get to control when they’re on it, use a cover etc. It’s once they’re older with their sticky hands, dirty shoes, crayons and all the other mess that toddlers (and older!) leave behind.

Let’s put it this way. We had a light coloured sofa before DD, and still have it (although soon to be replaced). She’s now 3 and we must have had it professionally cleaned about 3-4 times a year. It’s had everything thrown at it - wee, vomit, leaking nappies, juice, crayon, pen, milk.

Get something hardwearing, practical and dark coloured.

A leather sofa is brilliant with dc. Wipes clean, and ages well.

I married a man with a brand new light coloured sofa and it’s just been a whole extra chunk of unnecessary work, but also unnecessary mental energy. Don’t do it to yourself.

Totally agree with the above! Get a darker coloured sofa with covers you can remove and wash. Toddlers are way messier than babies, our sofa is constantly covered in yoghurt, peanut butter and worse!

I wouldn't buy a new sofa until they're 6 or 7. Ours are revolting even though we have a "no food in the living room", rule.

Can you find a second hand one for cheap that fits?

Our dark coloured leather sofa is the most practical thing we've had with kids (and a dog until recently). The dirt that comes off when we wash it always reminds me how glad I am that we chose it! We have cheap fleece throws over it in the winter and it still gets filthy!

I remember fondly a fabulous post on Twitter of dark coloured sofa lovingly smeared with WHITE sudocream by a very industrious toddler.
So really in a way you can do whatever you like because once you have a child, nice things are pretty fucked for a few years until they leave home. 😂

The higher risk age group is toddler to 6 year olds. We have a gorgeous light coloured velvet sofa which I have kept covered from 12 months onwards. They are now 6 and the cover is off! It would have gotten completely ruined in those years had I not.

Of course it’s fine - buy it and just put throws over it once they’re toddlers etc. Then all you’ll need to wash are the throws!

This has reminded me of when DH’s toddler nephew took off his full nappy and bumscooted very thoroughly all over their cream-coloured sofa. It was like a particularly smelly Jackson Pollock.

It’ll be fine. It’s just a sofa. Get what you want.

you are worrying about the wrong things though. Nobody has ever had a nappy explosion on my sofa in decades of having little kids around. The only sick has been copious amounts of baby sick which is …. Milk ….. and pale coloured.

If you were to worry about anything you need to worry about - muddy feet, felt tip pens, chocolate fingers, bananas, slime, ice creams and lollies, plasticine, play dough, blue tack, tomato ketchup, poster paints, glitter glue, craft scissors, bubble mix, nose bleeds, marshmallows, fruit winders, toffee popcorn, toast. Orange juice, cherryade, blueberries, smoothies, fidget toys, orbeez, nail varnish, face paint, hair chalk, glitter tattoos, crayons, pastels, hair straighterners…..

But still get the ones you want, they’ll wash.

Not used it on our sofa as not had course to yet, but a spot cleaner has been a godsend for the carpet with my GC. It's always primed with the cleaner and takes minutes to clear up any spills, it's small and convenient. We have the larger machine for the annual full carpet clean.

Edited to add the washable crayons have also come off the carpet when we used the spot cleaner

Omg.

😂

I think OP is now too terrified to buy any sofa and is busy researching plastic chairs...😂

Opps forgot, spot cleaner got the Sudocream out of the carpet when GC tried to eat the Sudocream and spread it over her and the carpet😂

This.

We have brightly coloured velvet sofas and two toddlers and they're fine apart from the fact that I need to run the hoover down all the cracks and suck up all the crumbs.

Their hands and faces get wiped before they leave the kitchen.

The only problem we've had so far is DS drawing on the coffee table and hardwood floor with wax crayons. Never, ever take your eyes off them when they have crayons or felt tips!

@Matimama The sofa you've linked to looks like it would come clean with some sort of stain remover or sofa shampoo if the worst does happen.

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was getting a cream colour sofa before the baby. Ruined.
And sick is pale coloured pre-weaning as a PP said… but don’t be fooled into thinking it doesn’t show up after a night of projectile vomit. And other things. EVERYWHERE.
Then they are mobile and weaning and wearing half the food you give them, and painting and play doughing and snotty and everything else.

We did, and we still have the same suite 22 years later! We just used a throw to protect it for the first few years, and it gets vaxed once or twice a year. Looks good as new.

Forget nice sofas until they are about 10. We had chocolate leather until then. Now we have the nice blue DFS French Connection set.

Only if it has easily washable loose covers, and even then you’ll still probably bitterly regret it - aside from the faff of getting them off, washing and drying, loose covers that fit properly can be a real PITA to get back on afterwards.

No honestly, dont do it!! We took this exact same risk when i was pregnant with a sofa pretty much the same colour and its ruined, my son is almost 2 and as careful as we have been he some how manages to get something on it. We hate the couch now but we are stuck with it because we know we need to wait until he's bigger to get a new one and he cant ruin that one. We have to use throws to hide the stains

You’re right 😂😂

We've always had light covered sofas and carpets. Our rules were always no food or drink in the lounge. Never had to wash covers. The odd spot treatment of course, but that's mainly from DH!

Then they are mobile and weaning and wearing half the food you give them, and painting and play doughing and snotty and everything else

We have a kitchen for that.....