Moving house with a 15 month old, and first 'own' room

[Claireandrich]

Just wondered if anyone here has any advice?

We are finally moving into our new apartment next weekend - 11 months late! DD should have been tiny but now she is a walking, talking, independent toddler. She will also being having her own room for the first time, having been in with us as we only have one 'useable' bedroom in our rented place.

I have to confess to being a bit unsure of how to manage it all with DD. Is she likely to be bothered by the change? Should we keep her in our room 'till she gets used to the new place before moving er into her own room?

And what about on the day? Is it best for her to be around the partment whilst the move takes place so she sees her own things arriving? Or should we send her off with MIL for the day and only bring her back when it is finished. We are moving ourseves BTW, not removal men.

Any advise or other people's experiences would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

In my opinion I would recommend mil having her for the day and then bringing her back when your ready, she could have a bag of her own with her teddy in it or something and then you could go exploring and finding things that were in your old house, eventually coming across her "new" room with duvet cover etc in place already and she could "unpack" her bag. Do her room first so that it is ready.

I definately wouldn't have her in your room as this is a big change and you don't want to carry on with that if you don't have to (unless you want to) If she doesn't settle perhaps one of you could sleep in her room for a few days?

HTH

THanks for that quick reply runragged. BTW, that's how I feel at the monet anyway after hectic week at work, mvoing, holiday coming up, etc!

I think we will send her off for quite a while at least, if only so I can sort her room out first. I have already asked Dh and my dad to bring her things first, and I am going to put up her fancy curtains, pictures and borders while they are at it.

She actually has a sofa bed in her room too so we could take to sleeping in her room if necessary. I don't mind her in with us if necessary TBH though as at the moment she spends part of most nights in our bed anyway - I think we disturb her too much, but then that may change when she doesn't have us coming in the room to get changesd and into bed.

Claire, I honestly think she'll be fine, she's only little and kids are really adaptable, I took ds on holiday at about 15 months and he slept in a cot in the corner of my mums study and although screamed the house down on day one was fine after that. Didn't seem to miss home or anything. Just come back from break in Cornwall and I think DS (now 21 mo) would have been quite happy down there for ever but after 10 days dd (3.5) started to ask to go back home.

We moved house 2 weeks ago, my ds is 15 months, and he has settled in with no problems at all. Children are so adaptable at this age. He spent the night before the move and the actual moving day with his Grandparents (my mum and dad, who he spends a couple of days a week with when I am at work). We got his room ready before any other room, with his cot made up and his clothes and bits and pieces all put in the same places they used to be at the old house.

We picked him up late afternoon so we could all spend some time together before bedtime in the new house, and then bathed him and put him down in his cot at the usual time.
He settled more or less straight away, and has done every night since...

He has been in his own room since he was a few months old, though, Good luck with your dd.

DS was 20 months when we moved. He stayed with gps so that he wouldn't see us packing up our old house (I thought that would be too weird for him, and anyway he would have got underfoot!). Then we all stayed with gps for a week whilst we ripped out the offensive carpets and wallpaper and stripped floors and made it liveable in. He came round every day to see what we were doing and saw his room being decorated. We then kept him away whilst all our stuff was moved in and set his room up for him. By the time we moved in he was totally ready and excited and settled immediately. They can really see it as exciting and a way of being a big boy/girl and all positive things. It must be so tricky for people who don't have friends/rellies nearby to help out.

Cheers all! Starting to feel a bit more relaxed about it, in terms of dealing with Mollie anyway. Luckily we won't have any form of decorating or renovation to do as it is a brand new apartment - fancied a bit of city living. I will send her off with nana for the day and get her back once her room is ready to play in. I am going to let her take her 'baby' out with her too so she is responsible then to make sure 'baby' comes back to. We have bought a doll's bed too so that they can go to bed together at nighttime - she is very into dollies and things like that at the moment.

Fingers crossed nothing goes wroing with the completion now. It has taken us 11 long months for this we were supposed to move in in August last year!!! Seems very strange now it is all happening

Good luck, thinking of you, let us know how it goes and what it's like. Very excited (welsh accent) for you.

Thanks! One week to go - might have to start packing soon