Having a baby in a 1 bed flat - help please!

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We are due to have our baby in December and had hoped that we would be able to move out of our 1 bed flat by now. COVID has caused many issues with this and a purchase now won’t happen in time so we tried looking to rent. The market is equally sparse and properties getting snapped up and even over paid the moment they get advertised.
We’re left feeling hopeless and upset that our dream will not happen. Whilst it would be a dream, it also feels more practical to have the space, too.

How many people have brought a baby into a 1 bed flat and survived, please? It’s looking like this is our only option for now and to put our dreams on hold whilst the market gets better 😔
Desperately need some reassurance 🙏

Well as you are supposed to keep your baby in your room for six months (not the recommendation when my kids were born) I'd say you have at least that plus another six months before baby becomes toddler and needs more space.

This will be fine.

Baby will spend the first 6 months sleeping in your room anyway.

My friend was in a similar situation when having her first. They moved when baby was about a year old to a 'family' house. She's due her second any day.

She actually said having a newborn in the flat was so easy. She had a tough c section so the lack of stairs was amazing. She could also see the baby no matter where she put her or what room she was in. Great for leaving newborn on the play mat and nipping to the loo.

Yes we did and lived there until he was 2yo (and I was 9 months pregnant with DC2!)
You just learn to live minimally and keep the place as tidy as possible. We were 1st floor with no garden so we went to the park a lot and had a bugaboo bee which folds small and was light enough to carry up the stairs.
His cot was in our bedroom obviously and we bought all his toys 2nd hand so we could rotate and donate regularly.
You don't actually need that much for a kid. A bed, a small set of drawers for clothes, a highchair, a trunk for toys. All the other stuff is superfluous.
Good luck and congrats!

If it makes you feel better we've just moved a toddler and a 5 year old back into a 1-bed while we renovate our house ... (6 months min).... tbh, it's fine and actually quite nice! Don't go overboard on stuff so you can stay in control a bit of mess etc. There will be advantages.. you won't need to keep running up and downstairs for nappy changes, clothes, feeding equipment etc. It will be easier to stay tidy. Good luck!!!

We were in a one bed flat for the first year of our daughter’s life. It was absolutely fine to be honest, you need to think about storage especially if you want to keep your baby clothes once outgrown - vacuum bags will help with that and get them stored away out of your way. Honestly we more than survived, it was absolutely fine and lots of advantages as people have said, you’re likely to be keeping your baby very close by for that first year anyway!

Babies are in parents room for first 6-12 months usually, so a one bed flat should be fine.

I would look at storage areas, can you declutter and get rid of stuff to make room for babies things (pram, nappies, changing stuff, bottles etc)

Hire ,storage locker for stuff you don't need to make the room for pushchair etc.
Get foldable stuff.
Use what you have for baby chest of drawers becomes changing unit

It will be fine
If you own the 1 bed you could rent it out and rent bigger one for yourself

We did this. It's not ideal but we didn't really get squeezed until number 2 came along. The biggest issue wasn't space for us - it was managing visitors and keeping the place tidy.

My DD spent her first two years with us (we converted a one bed into a two bed). Due to her crap sleep and breastfeeding, I could easily have kept her in with us until she was 18 months or so.

My first spent 9m in with us and second the first 15m of their life! Just make sure the sofa is comfortable so you/your other half can escape for some shuteye if you take turns doing the night feeds.

Our babies stayed in our room until 2yo

Do you have a car? If so buy a buggy small enough it fits in the boot and can live there most of time. Parent facing is nice but far from essential and the ones without this option tend to be smaller..
Second hand is your friend. Babies only need things for a short space of time and if you buy well, they don't lose money second to third hand (they lose loads first to second hand). It means once you are done with it you can sell on.
Get a decent baby carrier with a waist band and a rucksack rather than changing bag. I lived in a third floor flat for first 9 months and was much easier than lugging a buggy up stairs. I left the car seat in the car and transferred to the carrier. Lugging them is terrible for your back anyway.
You don't need a high chair for 6 months and if you do stay that long, either get one that attaches to a dining chair or table or the IKEA one.
If you lack storage can you pull sofa away from wall to create a gap? I had a baby mat that folded in half a zipped up so could be put behind sofa when not in use.
You only really need baby gros and a few cardigans. Comfier and easier than fancy.outfits so one decent drawer will suffice.
Good luck. You'll be fine

Oh and changing tables are really not necessary, especially if you have a wriggly baby. A changing mat on the floor is fine. Somewhere to keep nappies is all you need. I used the footstool for the sofa!

You may also be better with a small crib than a Moses basket. In a one bed flat you are always going to be close by. Mine both only liked the basket for about 6 weeks and then wanted to stretch

I recently bought a one bedroom flat from a couple who had a 15 month old. They kept the flat nice but it was bursting at the seams. It seemed like they had too much furniture such a dining table set with six chairs, four in the living room with the table and then two random ones in the bedroom. They had a spare bedside cabinet in the living room as there wasn’t space in the bedroom as the cot was there. They were obviously hanging on to all their furniture until they moved to a bigger place.
There were toys stored behind all the furniture, overall they had a lot of stuff. So like others have said try and minimise stuff you have and maybe try and limit the number of toys.

We might end up doing this… our chain has collapsed three times this year, and I’m also due in December. Thankfully, we now seem to have a motivated chain, but who knows…

Everyone has told me not to buy too much. We’re lucky in that our flat is pretty spacious, but there’s still not masses of room. Buy the clothes you need now and a few pieces in the next size up. Skip big bouncers and Mamaroo type things, which take up loads of room. Keep your pram in the car, if you can. We went for one that is approved for night time sleeping, so the bassinet can be in the living room for babies naps, and we’ve got a next to the bed cot for the first six months in the bedroom. Baby doesn’t need much else, other than nappies and things… I’ve saved so many play mats and things, but they aren’t essentials.

I have a friend who was in a one bed council flat with her three children until the youngest was four, and the older two were six and ten, and they did fine… it wasn’t easy, but they did fine. You will too, as will I, if needs be.

Remind people nicely that you don’t want loads of fluffy toys/masses of clothes/etc, due to lack of space.

We’ve also boxed up things we don’t use often and put it in the garage, but we’d have gone for storage again if we didn’t have that, it used to cost me about £45 a month for fully insured storage at a unit.

I hope you find somewhere but if not, you’ll be okay

Totally fine, I had 2 in a 2 bed but they couldn't share so DS slept with us. Obvs wanted a bigger place but it was fine.

• if you get a mini jumperoo or trampoline get a good up one (Fisher price / fold up trampoline from the tricycle company
• get Rid of coffee tables etc

Yes we did it. First 6 months baby is "supposed" to sleep in your room anyway.

We made a nice cosy area in the living space for baby so it felt like she had a special place. In the end we were obviously desperate to get a 2 bed. But we made it work and it was fine.

Yes, for 12 months. And it's not that difficult, one small baby does not take up huge amounts of space.

Towel on the floor rather than a changing table, make sure that you have a comfy couch in case you need to sleep separately. Plan your storage carefully.

You'll be fine

Don't panic, it's completely do-able!

We managed 2 yrs with DC1 and then we moved into a 2 bed flat (rented from a friend)

The 1 bed made things so much easier with a newborn, everything on one floor so no going up & down stairs constantly

Also baby was just a few steps away, when they napped in the bedroom I'd sit on our balcony to get some air

It all felt nice & cosy

We also luckily had a great lift so there was no problem going up & down with the pram

Also where we lived at the time there were loads of parks nearby so we were always out & about

Having people round was always tight but it was ok

I think so long as you have a plan to upsize at some point in the future, it's completely fine

Once you have another DC or they start becoming v active & mobile, it really might be time to move on!

How many people have brought a baby into a 1 bed flat? Well, pretty much everybody needing and accepted for social housing on the grounds of homelessness whilst pregnant with their first child between 1965 and around 2010.

The baby needs somewhere to sleep near you. You need somewhere to store the buggy/car seat. Clothes go into a drawer, bottles and other paraphernalia goes on the kitchen countertop or in drawers/a cupboard. Other than that, you don't really need more than a safe, warm and soft floor on which the baby can be changed on a waterproof mat, laid on a mat for playing and maybe a plastic crate to put the toys back into afterwards.

Ideally, being somewhere with a second bedroom would be nice after a year, but you've got plenty of time to plan that. You'd still be spending your time with the DC mostly in the living room for some time yet, when you might like to have a high chair, but it's all still very doable and normal.

Tl;dr - You'll be fine. They don't take up nearly as much space as you think they will for around 2 years.

I had two babies in a one bedroom flat for 18 months. It was really fine.

I did. Baby slept in the bedroom. Then we went to bed.

I left abusive ex when I was pregnant, my parents had downsized from our family 3 bed house to a 2 bed flat to be mortgage free as one of my parents had had to give up work due to a medical issue. I ended up moving back in with them. 5 of us in a 2 bed flat for almost a Yr. My brother slept in his room, my dad slept in the living room and DD, my mum and I slept in the other bedroom. If we can survive that without killing each other, you and your partner will manage.

There are advantages of living in a flat with a baby, they are small so quick and easy to clean. Apart from any external steps everything is on one level which makes life easier. If you can fit a cot bed in then even if you don't move in the next few years the baby will have a bed and if they outgrow that you can get bunk beds that are a double on top and a single underneath.

People manage all over the world in all different living conditions, it'll be fine.

A bit over dramatic OP, people all over the world raise families in small spaces, a baby doesnt really need their own room for quite a while.