One bedroom apartment and baby on the way!

duzngivup

Super exciting time for us, especially as this is our first baby

But we are having some square footage issues. We only have one bedroom, and not a lot of spare space in our apartment. 

Does anyone have any small space ideas for where to put the crib and everything???

Thanks!!!

LittleFish1

In the beginning, you don't need a lot. Rock n play, or bassinet or mini cosleeper would cover you for the first 3 or so months (until LO is sitting up or rolling). Mini cribs are another option, in addition to pack n plays.

PeachToadstool

We have been looking for a house for awhile now and will be in a one bedroom for a few more months it looks like. For now, we are just using a pack n play instead of a crib and putting that off to the side of our room. We also got a little rocker/swing to put the baby in when they get fussy, and that's about it for baby "furniture." My sister did the same thing for the first 6 months for her newborn.

egsquared

We lived in a one bedroom when DD was born and used a mini crib in our bedroom. We moved when she was 18 months and kept her in the mini crib in her own room. DS sleeps in the mini crib now. We didnt buy any other furniture - just made room in our closets/dressers. It was a little tough, but we made it work.

morgarita

We are in a one bedroom and we plan on doing a bedside crib until they are to big for that. We are also planning on getting a dresser to put baby stuff in and use as a changing table. We only plan on registering for a swing for other big items. So if we get anything else we will keep it in storage or return it. I wanted to stay in the one bedroom until we get a house to help save for a house and because it's just more room to clean. Even if we had a two bedroom we would do a bedside crib. This helps us keep down the need for "stuff"

peanut701

I'd do a rock n play for sleep and a simple changing table in the living room with canvas bins underneath for diapers as well as clothes. We were in an apartment when our daughter was born. We skipped a swing and didn't miss it, although Bright Starts makes a nice portable swing.

arlissa

We were in a small 1-bedroom until DD was 5 months, and I mean SMALL (less than 500 sq feet!) but we made it work. We got a mini crib (lots of different mini cribs from Da Vinci) and we put it in the same room with us. Just scooted out bed over a bit and rearranged the furniture. We had a small portable swing, a sponge bathtub for the sink, a bouncy chair, stroller that we kept on the porch outside, a changing pad that we laid on the bed, and a Brestfriend pillow for nursing. Those were the biggest items we had back then. I made room in our dresser for her clothes and kept sizes she wasn't yet using or had outgrown under the bed in a storage container.

You can make it work! Just have to be creative and willing to compromise on your space a little.

amief

We live in a relatively small apartment and some things we did: 

- put bins on a bookshelf we already had.  This was great for holding baby clothes and other stuff.  You don't need one of those special bookshelves to use the bins on them. 

- used the blooming bath instead of a baby bathtub. We got a small shower caddy for his stuff and just bring that out when we bathe him. 

- we got the Bjorn Babysitter bouncer which folds pretty much flat and can go under the crib. 

a lot of it depends what furniture you have and how you use it alreaedy.  Almost every piece of furniture we have does double duty:  

- bed is a platform bed set on a higher level, so we have 10 bins under the bed for storage

- coffee table is a chest which can be used for storage

- we used an old tv stand as our changing table... just added a pull out shelf with basket (bought the shelf on amazon and attached it ourselves) and put a changing pad on top

- they sell stroller hooks that go over the doors so we keep our stroller on the back of a closet door

- we only buy what we need for the current stage... so we didn't register for plates/silverware, a high chair, jumper or anything like that

- now that we need a high chair we are looking into the ones that hook onto the table, or a space saver that goes on a chair.  

- if you get a crib (even a mini crib) you might consider if there is room to slide things underneath for storage.  Ours isn't great about this and I wish we had thought of it. 

- get creative with your space... our "changing table" for instance, doesn't sit up against the wall... it backs up to the end of a day bed so the short side is against the wall and it takes up less wall space

- some people recommend the Stokke crib for small spaces.  We didn't like it enough to spend that much $$ but it is an option.