AIBU baby in 1 bed flat

[Jcmars01]

Long time lurker but first time post.

Am I being unreasonable trying for a baby in a one bed flat. I've recent had the coil removed and we are considering starting a family. Am I mad to think being in a one bed flat for the first few years will be ok? All thoughts and guidance welcome. Thanks

Depends on you, your partner and how you want to parent.

We had our son in a tiny 2 bed cottage (front room with dining table and sofa, no hallway, little kitchen, our bedroom, box room, bathroom) and by the time we were ready to move him into his own room we couldn’t as it was lockdown and we needed the box room as a work room.

He stayed in with us until 2 and a bit, then we moved house and he went into his own room (though he still gets in our bed early hours most mornings).

It was fine for us but we’re a pair of hippies (natural term breastfeeding, no pushchair til he was too heavy to sling, probably quite attachment-parenty though I’ve not read about it) and we like having him about. If you want more of a structured routine or need your own space to recharge at bedtime it would be shit. The hardest thing is long-term landing/sofa sex isn’t that fun, but otherwise I think go ahead.

You may well have wanted baby in with you for a year anyway even if you'd had a spare room. Are you likely to be able to upsize 2 years from now?
It's not going to do the child any harm to share a room with you for longer but you might like your space back at some point and somewhere to keep baby clothes and toys!

Been there, done that.
We chose, after 6 months, to have our son in the one bedroom and moved our bed to the living room. It worked because most of the few possessions we had were stored in the baby's room. We also had to get rid of the dining table

We did until DC1 was 7 months then moved house, it was fine, we would all have shared a room anyway till DC were about that age even if we had a second bedroom, and if we hadn't moved then, we would have shared for longer happily enough. I was a bit funny about moving to a 'family home' until we knew we could have DC.

An old friend of mine had 2 DC in their studio flat till youngest DC was 2, eldest around 4? If you're happy enough to do so, go for it!

I'll be dead honest I'd move now if you want a baby as once you have kids money is tighter and you might not be able to afford to move which is another consideration.

Baby's have lots of stuff too

We did it for two years. It’s was a lovely flat and the bedroom had plenty of room for a cot so we didn’t really feel the need to move. When she got older she used to wake us by tickling our feet. It worked well for us overall.

We live in a 3 bed but baby is with us and will be for the first 18 months at least... depends on how you want to parent etc

We’re going to end up doing this… it’ll be okay but I wouldn’t choose it. If our house sale hasn’t fallen through twice, we wouldn’t be. Baby will be in with us for a while anyway and we have a pretty big room for a one bed, but it’ll still be right to have everything we need.

It’s doable, but honestly, I’d move first if you can. I’m very nervous of moving with a young baby!

Depending on how long your ttc takes, it can be an excellent idea. House prices are going up, how much will you be able to save?

I have kept my dc in with me (using their own beds) for far much longer than the average amount. Can your bedroom accommodate a cot bed? If yes, carry on.

Dc used to sleep well in their own rooms when we used to go to hotels (before covid) & at grandma's house. I don't know how they will handle moving into their own room when the time comes to move.

Every family likes to prioritise their own things. For us, it used to be holidays. But we saved enough thanks to covid we nearly moved out once already. Last lockdown was very hard.

We did it for just over a year, I thought it would be fine as he would sleep in the same room as us for the first year; but after about 6 months (he was breastfed) if he could sense I was in the room at nap time or at night he would not sleep. So we ended up giving him the bedroom and sleeping on the sofa (we couldn’t fit our bed in the living room) which wasn’t fun.
So it’s doable but you can’t really predict how your child will be.

We had ds in a small apartment ( 46m²).
We had a tiny dinning table we covered and used as a change table but more often just did that on a blanket on the floor. His cot was at the end of our bed, his clothes were kept in the living room cupboard.
It is doable if you do not buy into all the stuff they say you need for babies, in the end you need surprisingly little.
We moved from there when he was almost 3.

It helped we did lots of walking to get around and there were parks close by. I am not sure dd would have done as well in a small space but he did.