Does a newborn need a room?

[NewKidOnTheBlock99]

Hello,

So we always planned on making our second bedroom the babies room & will at some point but when the baby is born I would like my mum to be able to stay so ideally would keep as is for now, also all our clothes are currently kept in there and I would rather have a massive clear out once I have an idea of what will fit me in a few months time. Just wanted to know what do I definitely need in that room for the baby for the first six months? Atm all I can think of is a small chest of drawers for their clothes with maybe some storage baskets on a shelf? I was going to get a changing table but I think a sturdy mat on the beds/sofa kitchen table should be fine.

Anyone else done this? Did it work out ok?

Nah, not at all. He was in with us, and we didn't make a bedroom til 6 mo. Even at that point it took a while to get it clear of other stuff. Even at three years old he doesn't use his room for anything other than sleep and his clothes , so it doesn't matter in our eyes.

Defo doesn't need a room.

I really liked having a proper height changing table, they spend so long on it when they're little, if you can find space in your bedroom.

Baby should be with you for at least 6 months so it's fine. My 4 month old's room still isn't sorted but it's fine as I don't plan to let him sleep in there until next year.

I don't know why people rush to furnish the nurseries before babies have arrived except for the excitement.

Nope, my son didn't get a room until we were ready to move him out of ours at 7mo. Until that point it was the office. Our daughter is due in 4 weeks and she also doesn't have a room and won't until ones needed.

No they don't need a room at all. Both of mine (4&almost 2) share a bedroom and even at their ages they only use it for sleeping. All their toys are downstairs. I'm due my third baby in December and apart from putting the cot up in our bedroom I've not thought of a room for her. When she's ready to move out of our room (both of my others were seven months old) I'll be moving her in with her siblings but as they are currently in the box room we will have to decorate the spare room for them all. But I see that as a future job.

One thing I have found though is it is really useful to have a dedicated place to store babies clothes, muslins etc whether that is in your room or a separate room

You absolutely DONT need a room for your newborn 😊 Baby should sleep where you sleep for at least 6 months anyway. I did find it useful having a chest of drawers to keep baby’s clothes organised in 😊

No. It will be in with you at first anyway.

Yes and no.
They won’t sleep in there, but it is handy to have a dedicated space to have all clothing, nappy changing stuff in one place.
A Mat in bed would give me back ache I am sure. We have ikea drawer set and just Mat ontop but still use 18 month on at every change. Also sometimes it’s just new nappy, sometimes you need all new clothing so one place ideal.

You could put a drawer set with Mat ontop in spare bedroom, and keep bed in there for you mum to use anyway. Having a bed in there is handy if baby sleeping badly as well, as then one of you can try and catch up on sleep by sleeping in there if needed.

Handy to have somewhere for storing baby's stuff and changing but if you've got space for that in your room do that. We have always used a wide chest of drawers and put a changing mat on top.

Mat on the bed is a no from me, so many peeing when the nappy incidents and it's s nightmare changing a bed half asleep. A changing top drawers is best imo, saves your back too (I struggled to bend after 2nd c-section, things on the floor were dead to me lol). I just got a large set of drawers wide enough for mat this time rather than one with the changing top as they cost a lot more, also in our room with cot-bed (our room is huge). We also have a travel cot in our living room with fold away changing mat and bassinet layer.
They don't need a room though, we've had ours in our room for a long time. Our twins were in for 5 years (others 9mth, 15mth and almost 3yr), then moved in to bunk beds with their big sisters. Our current newborn will be in with us until we buy a bigger house too.

*nappy off

You'll be fine if you have space for their stuff, we just use our nursery for her clothes and nappy changes - though have a spare mat under the sofa downstairs too. I'm glad we did the nursery pre birth though, I'm way too knackered now for decorating, baby doesn't go down for naps so we never both have our hands free, moneys a bit tighter on mat leave etc. But whatever works for you

You dont need a room, but you dont have much time or energy to decorate after they are born.

DD didn’t really sleep in her room for about a year.

With our twins we have two cots and a double bed in there- because we swap over and take it in turns with nights (formula feeding though). So it really what your set up is going to be.

We plan to use the spare room for one of us to sleep with the baby, but not as their own room for a good while. Reason for this is that there's less sleep disturbance for the other parent then if we have separate rooms. But they don't need their own room as it's recommended you sleep in the same room for 6 months anyway! :)

Just wanted to know what do I definitely need in that room for the baby for the first six months?

For the first 6 months to avoid SIDS the baby needs to sleep in your room.

After that it is up to you a some babies, toddlers and small children co-sleep up until they are are in school.

So it may not be worth you decorating a nursery and going straight into decorating a kids room like what I've done and a few friends. This kids room can be used as a guest room if necessary. Your guest just needs to be fine about sleeping in a single bed - get one that can take an adult weight - and with child orientated patterns. (I've slept in rooms that have been very pink, had dinosaurs or space patterns when I've slept in various friends' DDs rooms over the years.)

Regardless you will need space to put all your baby's stuff and they have a lot of it.....

We've tidied the spare room out and put the clothes in vacuum space saver bags and left the guest bed in there. Plan is my mum will stay a few days in there, as she lives other end of country and then once she goes and hubby is back at work, I'll sleep in there on the guest bed and little one in their Moses basket. Friday and Saturday nights will be back in our room. Then when baby is 6months we'll try and move them in to their room.

We did this and it worked well - we found it really helpful to have a spare room when our baby was little so we could take turns doing night wakings etc. It also meant we could do the room up once we had a better sense of what our child was into.

The only thing I would say about your plans is that I think decluttering pre baby is really useful, you have so much more time now than you will. I get your point about your clothes but I bet there are some things that you already know you won't rewear

Of course they don’t, my 4 year old is still in my room and has never had her own room

I was mentally planning all the things to put in the nursery and the furniture I wanted to buy, until the hospital gave us the safe sleep leaflet all about SIDS and it said that sleeping the baby in your room for the first 6-12 months really reduces the risk.

Once we read through that we decided we'll get a bedside bassinet for the first six months and maybe convert the nursery after that. No room needed at first.

I think changing tables are a waste of money. I just used a changing mat on the bed or floor.

No, dd1 shared with me in my childhood bedroom along with my older sister until we moved out when she was 3.

When DD1 was born, we knew we would be moving in the first 6-8months. She never had a room in that flat... The cot was in pieces in the spare room for example. All her clothes were in our room, changing table was in bathroom. We moved at four months.

Similar with DD2... we moved at 8 month that time. She then moved in with her sister at 18 months old.

You don't need anything in the room at all. I think you can continue to use it as you were- maybe storing some baby things there.

You really NEED very little things for a baby- there's a lot of companies that want to sell the idea of the perfect nursery etc- and if it makes someone happy to set up a nursery they should go for it- but it's going to impress Instagram more than a baby...

I never used a changing table- easier to have a mat to move around- and as baby got bigger I just used a towel.

My nearly 3-year-old is still in our room

You'll definitely get more use and benefit out of it as a spare room for now! DD1 was in with us til she was nearly a year old due to various things and DD2 doesn't have her own space yet, she has her clothes and kit in her sister's room, we do have a change station that's in our room, and she's in a next to me crib. So you can keep your baby paraphernalia in your guest room until you're ready for baby to move out, we found that worked well for us.