Extension with a newborn

[92underas]

Please give me some hope!

Our extension is due to start in October and we are due a baby at the start of December.
We do not have any family nearby that we can stay with but are not opposed to airbnb'ing for a few months.

I know it's going to be horrible but please give me your tips and tricks to get through this alive!

We don't really want to put the extension off as there's probably never going to be a good time once baby arrives.

Edit to include pretty typical kitchen extension - knocking back wall down and knocking through current kitchen diner.

What kind of extension and how much disruption will it cause?

If it’s a loft conversion move out, if your kitchen will be out of action move out. If it’s a side or back extension that won’t affect the main house until doors have to be opened up then it might be ok to stay put.

My main piece of advice - don’t assume it will be completed when the builder says.

Ah I see you’ve added it’s about the kitchen. I would move out of your kitchen is out of action

How exciting! I would suggest packing up as much stuff as you can downstairs before work starts to limit the dust getting to things. Make the upstairs as fully habitable as possible so you can retreat there. Consider where you can put an electric kettle and air frier / small hob as a temporary kitchen for any times you don’t have a functional kitchen. I would hope by a couple of months in, when baby comes, the really dirty work will be done and things will be much more manageable. If you go to an Airbnb make it very local so you can pop by every evening to see how things are going - it’s much easier to rectify issues when you’re on site regularly so things dont go too far in the wrong direction. let go of having a clean house until it’s done and remind yourself as soon as the builder finishes and leaves, it will be like they were never there and all the stress will be gone instantly. If you can afford it, get a professional post build clean when it’s all done.
We had a similar extension, but also extended a bedroom on the first floor, when the kids were both really small. We stayed there - it was dirty, but absolutely fine. You just have to remind yourself it’s all temporary and think of the long term benefit.
Hope the extension and birth go well! Such exciting times for you!
eta: I have quite a high threshold for living through the dirt and chaos of building work having done it a fair bit. Totally fine not to want to if you can afford not to - I have never moved out as I have always prioritised spending more on the build as we were always doing it on a tight budget. If you can do both though, do move out!

I think you will need to move out. I am pretty resilient to renovation but with a tiny baby you wont be able to keep anything clean because there will be building dust everywhere. Plus they will end up breathing it in which wouldnt be good.

We had a similar extension ans didn't move out. However, we had another room additional.to the living space that we could move a temporary kitchen into, and we didn't have a newborn. Things will get dirty and dusty, but it depends kn the layout of your house- we could compatmentalise ours!

We are lucky in that upstairs we will have a loft as our sleeping bedroom, then 2 other double bedrooms and an office space to play with for a makeshift kitchen and living area. I was also thinking of asking the builders to partition off the staircase to upstairs so we are almost living in a self contained flat to reduce the dust.
This was the idea pre baby though so I have no idea what itll be like with one though!

Newborn in midwinter and a house that may not have proper heating? Even if just for part of the build until they've got the build up and windows in, I'd be moving out for a time. For any sterilisation requirements, make sure you've got stuff that can be bunged in a microwave - and somewhere clean to put one. If you have a box room upstairs, I'd move the fridge, microwave and enough crockery/cutlery to manage for a while into it. Washing up can be done in a bowl in the bath. That's what we did. And yes to the person who said get an Airbnb close to home. We popped back and forth and we're only a 5-7 min drive away. It helped being close enough to get there if needed for anything.

Can you get a washing machine and tumble drier in that makeshift kitchen?

Great point, no! Looks like moving out for a short period of time from just before baby is due until water tight might be worth the extra expense for everyone's sanity

I had no roof when I had a newborn. It was stressful but we all survived!!!! Plan as much as you can. Xxx

I had a baby while our house was being renovated. Honestly it was fine! (yes not ideal and i guess hard work but not unworkable at all) No need to move out in my opinion.
As others have suggested get yourself set up with a temporary kitchen somewhere. Try to plan the works to do as much of the disruptive stuff before baby comes home (like anything that requires turning the water / electric off) Discuss a plan with your builder so you know what to expect.

My Mum did a bit of laundry for me to help out and I had a stash of pre-prepared meals that just needed to be re-heated available. Honestly - its much easier with a newborn than with a toddler!

Were you still living at home? How did you manage!?

You don't have to limit yourself to airbnbs, the new renters rights mean you can give 2 months notice at any time, so as long as you want to stay out for 3 months, you can rent anywhere.

Another thing to think about is if your soil pipe will need to be rerouted, in which case you might be without a toilet for a period of time. That on top of the boiler over winter, I would definitely move out!

Also to add, we're going through it at the moment and I could not believe the amount of dust that got into the house even whilst they were doing the outside works before even knocking through! It's really does get everywhere a closed door won't stop it :(

I would move out...it's going to be very noisy all day and will make it tricky for you to nap..which is the only way I made it through the newborn sleep deprivation. you will also sporadically and for days at a time (and with no warning even if you nag them to let you know) lose electricity, your water supply and also drains as they connect in the new kitchen. the only reason to stay and camp is if you really really can't afford to move out. Even getting through post partum hormone shifts will be hard with a building crew downstairs from 7am to 3pm 5 days a week.

I would definitely move out. It will be very dusty. We had our upstairs sealed with tape and dust still got into rooms.
It's so disruptive and with a newborn, you really need space, peace and freedom to feed, change your baby without noise. Your baby needs to be able to sleep too. A little household noise is fine but your house will be like a construction site.

We did a major extension and renovation on our home we purchased in January 2025. Similar situation to yours but without baby or pregnancy.

We never moved in to the property until 95% of the works were done. We are landlords and ironically we had a tenant leave a few months before so we just gradually over time moved in there.
It was a massive job - a 3 bed bungalow that still had the original kitchen and bathroom from the 70s. The whole property was completely stripped back and re-modelled & extended to create a new large kitchen area, an en-suite bathroom in the main bedroom. We also built up and had a dormer put in which created a 4th bedroom.

There was no way I was living on a building site and to be honest - with a newborn I certainly wouldn’t be neither. An Airbnb could be expensive - but it would probably be worth popping a post on your local FB group and seeing if anyone has a short term rental/accomodation. Given your situation, you’ll find that more people be willing to help.

Congratulations & I hope everything goes well.