No nursery, am I crazy?

[Fizzy13]

We live in a rented house and are planning on moving when dc is 6 months is.

We have a spare room and a study but weren't planning on converting one of these into a nursery.
All the talk of nursery furniture etc from others is making me worry.
Is it realistic to think that the baby can be in with us for ~6 months? Am I nuts not to give it its own room when we have the space (it's just being used)?

Your idea of having a spare room sounds much more useful than a nursery. Your baby will most likely be in with you until six months and if you move then it will have been a waste of money. I'm 35 weeks and dd will be in with us until we move her brother out of the nursery into a "big boys" room. Her clothes and stuff are going to be in some of those plastic storage boxes!

You're not crazy at all

You are not crazy. Baby no 2 due in a few weeks and it just has a couple of drawers in our room for clothes and a space for a Moses basket.

We converted the spare bedroom into a nursery when I was expecting DS1. He was 6 weeks early, and DH and PILs worked really hard to finish everything for DS1 getting discharged from hospital.

And then, DS1 came home, and stayed in our room until he outgrew his crib at about 8 months old. We felt very silly about rushing to have a nursery ready for when he was born

Is this a real thread?

Why would it not be?

Im finding it hard to see why anyone would think it unrealistic to have their baby in with them for 6 months or that it would be "nuts" or "crazy" not to have a nursery! How do they think most of the babies in the world live?

But I guess when you're pregnant you read/hear about/have people ask you what the nursery is like, what colour is it etc. Baby forums are full of people flashing their nursery photos. There's always little talk about how it's recommended that they stay in with you for 6 months anyway. Do that and you get shot down in flames for mentioning it not that I've ever done that..

Yeah but surely you still also reside in the real world and know people who have had babies, remember siblings/cousins/nieces/nephews having babies or being born? Surely after thinking "do i need a nursery?" The next thought would be "ach sure X,Y and Z didnt have one and plenty of 2nd, 3rd 4th babies cant all possibly have nurseries to themselves"

I really am amazed it is a genuine question. I guess other people live in different worlds.

I'd had very little contact with babies before my first child was born. Not all new parents have close friends or relatives who also have small children.

If you don't know many babies, then why would you automatically think that nurseries are unnecessary for a new born baby, when many baby magazines, baby shops, and TV shows with babies in feature nurseries?

Now I've had children I can see a special nursery for the baby is completely unnecessary, but I can see why an new parent might think nurseries are a normal thing that they should get ready for their baby.

i have 2 spare rooms and will be converting the smaller one into the nursery - decorating everything ect at the moment its my laundry room the other spare room is a guest room /office so we have a double bed in there.. i do however plan to keep baby with me for about 6 months anway in a side sleeper like the chicco or snuzpod as it can last until baby is 6 months

If you don't know many babies, then why would you automatically think that nurseries are unnecessary for a new born baby, when many baby magazines, baby shops, and TV shows with babies in feature nurseries?

Genuine question, even with never having been around any babies, how do you think babies around the world live? Would you honestly think they all have a nursery each?

Surly - honestly, I wouldn't have been thinking about what's normal for babies all around the world. I'm well aware that normal standards of living vary a lot between the UK and some other countries.

I'd be thinking about what's perceived as normal for a baby in the UK. And yes, before I had DC myself and met more parents, my perception was that, space permitting, it was normal for a baby in the UK to have a nursery.

Ok thanks for responding. I will admit i am quite bemused by this. I wonder if it is an english thing (brough over from the US?) to have nurseries? I am in NI and nobody, that i talk to certainly, talks of nurseries for new babies. There are people who have spare rooms "that will become the baby's room" but there is none of this talk of "converting to a nursery" (isnt that just redecorating?) and certainly nobody wondering if they can manage with their baby in their room for 6 months.

Not crazy at all, dc2 never had a nursery as we lived in 4 houses before he was 10 months (relocation gone wrong!) he slept in our room until 11 months, dc3 is 10 weeks and doesn't have a nursery, the "spare" room has bunk beds in for guests/ dh to get a full nights sleep, will work it out nearer the time

We sorted out DS's bedroom before he was born (never called it a nursery though). We got him a cot bed and wardrobe and chest of drawers. He initially slept in our room in his crib, right next to our bed. We did go into his (small!) bedroom to play/read sometimes though so he was used to the room. He moved into his own room and into his cotbed just before he was 3 months old. He'd outgrown the crib and it was a boiling hot summer.

Theoretically I room for a nursery, but I haven't bothered for either dd or ds. DD moved into her own room at about 8 months - we didn't redecorate or buy anything other than a cot, it is how it was before. Ds is 4 months and still in with us. I haven't even worked out which spare room to put him in yet, and won't be redecorating or buying anything special. Why would you? I don't see the point. Better to leave it until they are teens and want to paint their room black or whatever and redecorate then

I think keeping them in your room until 6 months is the current NHS advice anyway, isn't it? I'd say it's pretty normal to do so, and not bother with a nursery at all.
I've always thought the idea of 'nursery furniture' is really odd. It's just furniture - drawers are drawers, although apparently cost twice as much it they are labelled as for a 'nursery'. And dont get me started on the pointlessness of a wardrobe for a nursery.....!

At what age does it stop being a nursery and start being a child's bedroom?
We are moving soon and ds age 1.9 is getting his first new furniture (IKEA Stuva I think) - till now he's had a cot and the shelves and drawers that were there before plus a poang chair for bedtime stories.
I'm looking forward to getting him a bookcase designed for kids books (fronts facing) and drawers he can open himself.

Dd was in with us until she was about 5 months and now she's in a cot that we've put up in the spare room. The changing table is out on the landing. Our third bedroom is currently dh's office but eventually it will be dd's room, but by then I suspect she will be too old for us to call it a nursery! As long as a baby has got a safe place to sleep, it doesn't matter what you call the room it's in.

You've all made me feel so much better, thank you.
I'm getting a bit fed up with people who expect you to have painted the nursery/ chosen going home outfits/ planned their university fund already and look at me like I'm a bad mother when I say we're not planning on doing it at all.
I think I may need to develop a thicker skin before dc arrives!

My 'baby' is 19 months old now and still doesn't a nursery or dedicated bedroom (he still sleeps beside me).

When he was first born we lived in a rented 2 bedroom flat. I stored his clothes in a cupboard in the 2nd bedroom but he always slept in his own cot in the same bedroom as me. You most definitely don't need a dedicated nursery and we didn't miss it at all.

I find that people spend all this money on nurseries then never even use them. We spent our money on a nice cot and pram instead - worked out much better for us!

SIDS guidelines recommend keeping baby in your room for the first 6 months so if you are planning on moving then anyway there is no reason to do a nursery in your current place

We never got to have a nursery as we never had a spare room - firstly living with in laws and now no spare rooms as siblings have taken them already

I love decorating so would probably have gone completely overboard so probably best that we didn't have the opportunity! As it is all dc will have been in our room for at least a year.

OP - Don't worry, there is really no need. I think one of the reasons why people sort out the "nursery" (basically just the kids room, no?) in advance, is because it's much, much easier to have building work, or ikea trips, or painting episodes, or whatever, BEFORE the baby arrives.

If you're severely sleep deprived, have a baby to cart around with you, etc, it's much more difficult to re-decorate//sort it all out.

We are in a TINY one bedroom flat. Since we will only be here about six months after the baby is born (assuming all goes well), there really is no point moving. Instead, we will have a bit of a clear out to make room for a baby crib, and one of us will sleep in the bedroom, and the other will sleep in the sitting room (we have a sofa that converts to a bed).