2u2 in a small 1 bed - setup help!

[amotherscry]

Does anyone else live in a 1 bed with 2u2 and if so what’s your set up?

We live in a tiny council 1 bed and unfortunately can’t afford to private rent or buy - we are on the transfer list but sadly nowhere near the top. Currently our 1yo is in a travel cot in the bedroom with us but with the arrival of baby #2 in Dec I’m really stressed about what our set up is going to look like. If we remove our wardrobe we can move DC1's travel cot to that space and then put a next2me by my side of the bed, but I’m worried about DC1's sleep with a newborn who constantly wakes. Our living room is tiny so would need to remove our sofa & tv unit in order to make it into DC1's room, but that would leave us with nowhere to sit during the day/eat dinner as our kitchen is also small and we have no dining table.

I’m honestly at a loss and feel so awful that I can’t provide my children with a decent sized home to grow up in. We weren’t planning on having #2 until we were in a better situation but.. life rarely goes to plan!

Can anyone offer any advice on set up for 4 of us to get by in a small 1 bed until we can figure out a way to move? Just need some outsiders perspective and clarity as currently so stressed and crying everyday feeling so helpless 😢

You can make it work. I have two under two in a two bed but actually the kids still bunk in with us!!! Now our bedroom is a handy size that we can fit the cotbed and crib easy enough but I think you should give yourself some grace on the feeling bad about it. I’ll have my pair in with us as long as they are happy to be and to be honest this is the only way we can sleep through the night as if they were in another room they would be fully awake and up for the day at three when they wake in the night with a dream ect. If you have to could you get a couch bed for your sitting room and just fold the bed bit away for the daytime then you have a couch back?

Sturdy sofa bed in living room for the adults?

@Yummymummy2020 did you have both your kids in the bedroom with you when your 2nd was born? How was your DC1's sleep with the constant wakes? My first born sleeps through 9 times out of 10 now so worried about him constantly being woken by the newborn

I seem to remember my childminder had brought up her own three children in a tiny through by light one bedroomed cottage and her telling me that she and her husband shared the sofa bed in the (tiny) living room and her girls had the upstairs bedroom for themselves. I was gobsmacked as this was also her working space and she minded three children in it too. I remember it being very cluttered and every inch of space used (and she was a great childminder too!).

Hi OP, don't be hard on yourself. This can be figured out. If DC2 does keep DC1 awake, move DC1's travel cot into the living room at night. Travel cots are made to travel!
They'd be fine in the next room and it's totally normal to ship em out any time after 6 months. Then the cot can be put away in the morning when you need space. Get a second travel cot for new DC. You might be able to squeeze them both in with you.

Sell the TV unit and stand your telly on chest of drawers instead. Sell the wardrobe and get a clothing rail instead. Clothing rail can be squished in anywhere.

Can you sell your table and get a fold out set? Is your living room bigger than your bedroom? Could you do a complete swap? Could you have a bed and telly in the living room for you and kids in the other room?

Do you have any book cases filled with old DVDs and piles of crap? Ditch those. You need less crap than you think!

And, OP, congratulations on your new baby. ❤️

Sorry about the delay replying! We just get up straight away to the new baby go out to the sitting room and feed her there settle her then she comes back into the bedroom! Toddler dosent wake and minimal disruption then! And now the baby sleeps through most of the night it’s great! Toddler wakes of her own accord sometimes and we just settle her in our bed then and it means no tears and nobody is woken up for long!!!

I found a bouncer in the sitting room great for settling the new baby back down during the night too and it folds flat for when it’s not in use. I couldn’t be without it seriously!

@amotherscry
Maybe you can sleep on the sofa with baby if dc2 does wake up dc1 in the first few weeks, or as people say maybe get a sofa bed for the living room and easily put away in the morning.

@Yummymummy2020

I found a bouncer in the sitting room great for settling the new baby back down during the night too and it folds flat for when it’s not in use. I couldn’t be without it seriously!

I kid you not for 10 seconds I envisaged a burly member of door staff entertaining a baby in your lounge 😂

Could you use mega loud white noise for the toddler and a Snoozeshade cot cover so he/she is essentially in a dark place all night?

White noise machine!! In between your toddler and your baby. Start using it now so they get used to it.

Then when toddler is asleep at night or when you go to bed, move their cot in to the lounge, or have a cot set up in the lounge and put baby in it during unsettled nights and one of you sleep on the sofa if need be.

Not being rude at all, but count yourself lucky that you even got council. In some parts of the country it is hopeless for certain people. Me my exP and child were in one room in a house share, this was not legally allowed, if anything, more so to do with the size of a room and how many square metres it should be for each person, even though younger children would be counted as half etc. That went on for two years, before they tried to chuck me in some private place 3 hrs away from my local connection and support network etc.

Early on I'd put DC1 to bed as normal in the bedroom and keep baby with you with them sleeping in a Moses basket or similar which you can then carry through when you go to bed.

Once baby is ready to be in a separate room you could look at a bunk cot or I would get a double mattress or pull down bed for the lounge and make the bedroom the DC's room.

The bunk cot company make cot bunk beds, I remember looking at a few secondhand on Facebook/ ebay when I was expecting 2 under 2!
There may be other ones, maybe try places that sell furniture for nurseries? I think that may work best. They're cot bed sized, so should fit in them until 6/7, by which time hopefully you will be offered a 2 bed.
Or alternatively you could get a sofa bed, and keep the bedroom for kids and your clothes.
My mother had a single fold away bed for awhile, maybe another option if there's the space to keep it folded during the day.