Practical examples of making 1 bed flat work with newborn

[Belle1983]

Just as the title says really.
I'm currently renting a 1 bed flat in London.
Moving to a larger place is not an option right now. Although partner and I are saving, our work situation means the most financially sensible option is to stay put until I go back to work after mat leave and we establish our new financial situation (childcare etc to consider).

Can anyone share any practical tips on how you have managed for the first couple of years with 2 people and a baby in a 1 bed?

I guess essentials only, no extras, but all tips welcome!

Thanks.

I don’t live in a small flat but plan to have baby with us for at least a year.

You need to buy a cot that works from newborn to 2-3.

Get a good quality alarm /monitor. Set up a baby change area in the corner and if possible keep a seperate closet for the baby clothes / blankets / upstairs stuff.

Invest in a few sturdy storage baskets to keep baby toys / stuff and put them in each room to keep things tidy.

Instead of a highchair if you want to save space you could buy a Chicco Pocket Snack booster or similar.

I would probably get a playpen if you have a large kitchen diner lounge type space as it will help to keep the baby from getting hurt.

Declutter all of your own shit.

Well I mean babies are meant to be in your room for as much as possible of the first year anyway. I would probably say ship out anything you are not going to need ( eg a cocktail making set in the kitchen cupboard) to family to keep until you can size up, keep to bare minimum of things for the baby and those you do have pile up inside a nappy caddy or baby laundry basket to use as a toy store and leave in the tray of your pram ( rather than having a big toy box). Use space previously thought dead wisely (eg pushing things to back of cupboards, using floor space of wardrobes by getting double tier shoe storage in there.

Babies don't need that much stuff.
We borrowed a next to me cot until 6m ish then moved on to a small travel cot until we moved when DD was 18m (she stayed in it at the new house until she was 2).
Get a clip on high chair to save floor space, we had a mountain buggy pod (Fine until they're quite big, but did for the hinges of our gateleg table!)
We didn't need a changing table/station, just had everything you need in a box/bag and changed her on a travel mat.
You can get over the door hangers to hang a folded buggy, but we kept ours in the car most of the time. If I was to do it again I wouldn't have bothered with a buggy at all and would have got a sling from day 1.
Prepare yourself to be ruthless with toys/books/clothes.

Do you have a long term plan, at some point a 1 bed will be too small (DD was literally climbing the walls at 18m, we found her halfway up bookcases!)

Thanks everyone. Some good tips there.
Clip on high chairs will definitely be needed.
Kitchen is tiny, so table is in the living room.

@User478 long term plan is to buy.
Issue at the moment is we both work in the same place, and current rented flat is subsidised through work. We couldn't private rent in the same area, so moving would add £100's a month extra in travel.
We are saving to buy. Would have a decent deposit for other parts of the country,just not London.
Moving may ultimately mean full relocation with change of jobs for us both.

Apparently people in my accommodation manage till DC are 5yrs old...no idea how that could work though!

People would either go down the route of cotbed that the child could sleep in until 5. Or the other option is a sofa bed for you in the living room.
I imagine some families must eventually use those double / single bunk beds that argos sell.

We did this - a really quite small 1 bed - until DC1 was 11 months. It was fine. We have a lot of clutter and we really didn’t get rid of anything. We had a snuzpod for first 6 months and then a 60x120 cot; in the end baby ended up cosleeping so that was a bit of a waste of space. (With subsequent DC, in bigger place, have used really nice travel cot instead of proper cot. Not because of lack of space, just fell into that habit. Works nicely, baby likes it, can be moved from room to room and folded up and it’s easier for my back putting them in. On reflection, this would have been much better For DC1 In the flat.)

We had a full proper high chair - but one that folds flat and stands by itself against the wall (cosatto noodle supa). No play pen or changing table. The latter is a bummer in my opinion - far nicer for your back to change at that height - but it’s totally manageable (proper changing mat stores under the bed). Otherwise we had most things - folding jumperoo, playmat, bouncer (baby Bjorn folds flat) etc. Clothes in plastic boxes at the bottom of the wardrobe.

It was lovely, we had no problems.

Thanks @Blackbear19 and @PiratePetespajamas.

The double/single bed sounds like it could work for some people. Unfortunately our place is fully furnished and they won't remove anything.

I'm wondering if I can create a changing area in the hall (just next to loo) as I have an ikea kallax unit. May fit a changing mat on safely.

I wouldnt buy anything until you actually need it, otherwise there will be a load of un-used stuff everywhere that takes up space. Dont bother with a highchair now, its just going to sit around un-used for 5 or so months. Agree with a clip on high chair though, but make sure it actually fits to your table (if theres a wooden lip underneath some clip ons wont fit - ours is pointless because of this).

We got given so much crap as presents too. Its was nice, but the sheer quantity of stuff we didnt need/want was massive. I dont know a way around this without being rude to people though 😂

With presents separate them by size. So you have a bag or box for each size stored away, and only have the current size in the drawer.

This is quite common in Scandinavia, when we lived in Stockholm, competition for decent housing was massive, so if you had a nice 1 bed apartment, you stayed and figured it out.

You don't need a changing table, changing mat on the floor, that you can push under the bed after. It's also safer for when they roll.
Plastic storage boxes with lids are your best friend. Babies grow QUICKLY, so you don't need too many clothes. One box for night time clothes, one for daytime clothes and one for vests. One for nappies too. We were lucky and had a high clearance under the bed, so they went there too. You really don't need lots of baby furniture.

A lot of my colleagues gave their bedroom to the kids and sorted the lounge with a decent sofa bed. Maybe try googling Stockholm 1 bed family apartments for good ideas.
I realise that your place is furnished, but maybe you could look into leasing a small, cheap storage unit to store "their" furniture whilst you stay there.

Good Luck!

Definitely don’t buy things until you need them - with next day delivery options you can wait til you’re sure you need it!

Have you thought of explaining to friends/family in advance to manage gifts etc? I thought we were doing quite well until the baby arrived and we were inundated!

Didn’t need a changing area we slid mat out from under bed and had small box for all the associated gubbins.
Helpful if u can declutter and store stuff elsewhere
DD was in our room till 18 months then we partitioned off a corner of the sitting room with bookcases you give her her own space.

Don’t get a cotbed! They are massive. The wasted space will annoy u especially if u get a child who hates being in their own bed. Spend the extra (they are so cheap second hand) on getting a bed only big enough for the stage u r in. So Moses basket or similar, then cot (u can get smaller size cots). There is an ikea cot that the side comes off to convert to bed which did my very tall girl till about maybe 2.5? Then u could go to a toddler bed if u have not moved.
Didn’t bother with monitor as u could hear everything.
Make grown up space possible- do clear toys into big boxes at end of day It’ll make u feel better.
Consider your pram/buggy choice wisely
Don’t get a playpen u r so near at hand I wouldn’t bother. Don’t let anyone give u massive plastic play things for them to sit in or on - ask for passes to soft play, science centre, baby groups nature park etc instead.
Congratulations!

We didn't have a small flat but had baby in with us for a long time.

Try to make space for at least some of their basic clothes and sheets/sleeping bags in your existing clothes storage.

Changing on a mat on a washable floor is way easier than a changing station in a carpeted area. Emissions can be fired out at speed! We tucked a mat into the corner of our minute ensuite and flipped it down when required. Had a little IKEA plastic box with nappies/wipes/bags.

Don't get anything until you need it. High chair can wait until you're ready. Play mat can fold away unless required too. If you can live without a Jumperoo they are quite short-lived (usefulness not durability) but very handy for that period.

I never had a changing station just a small basket of stuff (nappies, wipes, cream, folding changing mat) that I could grab. Our bedroom was quite big so we had a full sized cot next to the bed but travel cot would work. Buggy lived the boot. It was fine!

Always check if there is a folding/travel version of whatever u get.

Jumperoo! Yes that was the word. Don’t do it!
(I say all this but basically lived in what looked like a church playgroup’s storage cupboards for best part of 3 years)

The bonus to not having a change station is that the baby maybe happy to have a ‘kick around’ on the changing mat for a while after you’ve changed them. Also time with nappy off is good. You can’t do that up on a changing station! That time of baby having a little kick could just be enough for you to make a cup of tea or some lunch :).

We are sharing bedroom with baby for foreseeable.. we have more space downstairs though. But ... we’ve definitely had a massive de-clutter.
-Have good under bed storage. -Keep pushchair and changing bag in the car.
-Can get cots with storage underneath

• You’ll be surprised at actually how little amount of stuff you need for first 3 months or so
• regularly go through the baby’s clothes and bag up anything that they have grown out of. This happens constantly!! They grow all the time 😆

And good luck! We’re at 2 months and haven’t found any issues yet, I am well aware things change. But this is my 3rd and I think I worked out that I didn’t need loads of things.

I live in a one bedroom flat. You don't need a changing area - we just had an IKEA mat we moved around the flat and as he has got older just a little towel.
You also definitely don't need a monitor - you'll be able to hear.
We had a next to me and later a cot but baby refused to sleep there so ended up in our bed. It's probably worth getting a cheap next to me/Moses basket to put the baby down safely though.
Don't buy any other baby furniture now - but try and clear out some storage area - little baskets can help organise it.

When we had our first we lived in a tiny one bed house. Upstairs was always cold & she was a winter baby, so I made a flat box that slid under a chair to put changing things in downstairs and changed on the floor. They can’t fall off the floor!

Don't bother with a changing unit. You might not be able to get down to the floor though. I had a changing "table" that went over the cot. It meant baby was in front of me, feet facing me. I hated changing them from the side.

Find out if there's a toy library you can use so you borrow instead of buy toys. This means you can change them over regularly without buying/long term storing. Use a library for books too of course.

Store baby clothes in your wardrobe/drawers. The only baby specific furniture you need is somewhere safe for them to sleep. Ikea have a very compact cot.

We did this in a small two bed but the second bedroom was where my dp slept as he has severe insomnia, so in effect we could have done exactly the same in a 1 bed if he had normal sleep iyswim

I keep my babies in with me until they are at least 2 anyway. I co sleep but follow all safety guidelines to the letter and we don’t have any of the risk factors.

Just got a cheap plastic change mat and always changed baby on the bed. Don’t bother with a Moses, as pp have said, as a lot of babies seem to hate them anyway. Alongside cots that strap onto your bed save space.

We just had an absolute minimum of baby stuff in all other respects eg no nursing chair as no space. No mobile as not necessary. no playpen - again not necessary. Most of the stuff sold for babies is nice to have but actually unnecessary and really a marketing triumph!

We went to library for all baby books

It's perfectly doable. Many European/ Asian countries do this already. There are a few key points to think about

Decluttering- get rid of as much as possible then you will have space for baby clothes and stuff
Multipurpose- go through your stuff and really
Look when buying baby stuff to make sure the stuff your buying does multiple jobs for example if you have a slow cooker and a rice cooker you can get rid of both and buy an all in one.
Be selective of toys less is more- many toys also serve dual/multi purposes- getting decent blocks that have holes in them so you can stack as well as organise them. Wooden toys are great as they are much hardier and look better than plastic. Family may go mad with cuddly toys. Don't feel bad about taking them to charity.
Buggy- we got an all in one so our dd was in it from birth until she didn't need it anymore. (We had outside space to store) take time to research and think if you will even use one and your use case. (We done a lot of walking over
Rocky terrain)

Check out tiny living with baby on Pinterest for other ideas but don't get sucked into unnecessary shopping!