How do you manage a baby or toddler with a very small kitchen

[Aprilendings]

I've already got a child, and pregnant with dc2.

What do you do with a baby or toddler whilst you are cleaning up in the kitchen or preparing food?

When dd was born, we were living in a flat. The kitchen was large and semi open plan. When dd was a baby, I'd put her in a bouncy chair in the kitchen with me. When she hit mobile, I partitioned off part of the kitchen so I could supervise her whilst in the kitchen.

We've moved to a house. The kitchen is very small and narrow, and our bathroom is beyond the kitchen. There's literally no where to put the baby whilst I'm in there.

The kitchen is off the dining room, and I want to knock the wall through. This won't be cheap, as it will require steel joists.

When I go back to work after maternity leave, I'll be working full time. I think we'll need to be able to multitask supervising the baby and being in the kitchen. Dh thinks I'm overthinking it. He is self employed and usually working in the evenings, he works long hours (I have no problem with this as it means he earns more money than if he stopped work at 5pm.)

We have a similar set-up - small narrow kitchen next to living room, and you can only see part of the living room from the kitchen. When DD was a baby, I’d either leave her on a play mat or in a bouncy chair within view of the kitchen door. When she was mobile, I’d leave her in a play pen with toys (as it wasn’t possible to baby-proof the whole room), and check on her every few minutes. There was no need to have her in the kitchen with me.

If you’re working full-time, there won’t be that much time between collecting children from school/ childcare, getting dinner ready, and getting the baby/ toddler to bed. The youngest should be fine for a short period of time while you cook. Leave the cleaning until after bedtime (or DH does it while you do bedtime)!

so your bathroom is behind the kitchen -you could put db in baby swing fitted to door frame or bouncy thingee or as pp have said playpen next to kitchen so you can watch
as for cooking - when I was cm it was either oven cook/slow cooker until dh came home & their was 2 of us
you can freeze prepared veg like onions or prepare extra prepared meals at weekend & freeze so all you have to do is reheat especially useful if you are also working or even if your not. There was a discussion on a link here about jacket pots & omelettes being a meal

• they are! & use frozen prepared veg they are just as good & healthy

We had a tiny galley kitchen while DC was a baby/toddler. When she was tiny, I put her in a bouncer in the doorway between the kitchen and the hall. She was an early crawler and walker, so it did become harder quite early on. I gave her toys as distractions and did a lot of meal prep/slow cooking so she wasn’t under my feet as much. Knocking through to the dining room will probably make a nicer, family space though. We’ve done that now and I love it.