Baby in a 1BR?

megstriesagain

I live in L.A., but I'm thinking NYers deal with this problem more than out here...

Anyone else have a baby in a 1 BR apartment?  We have a very small 1 BR/1 BA house, but we rent, and have no immediate plans to move if we do get PG later this year.  How do you make it work?  Do you plan on moving when the baby reaches a certain age?  We're planning a move to NYC in about 4 or 5 years, so housing will continue to be an issue, I guess...

mrs.lizzieb

We had DS in February and we were in a 1bed/1bath apartment until July.  We just moved into a 2bed which is so much better.  It's definitely doable if that's all you have to work with, but honestly, it's not easy.  In the beginning it's okay, but over time, you accumulate so much baby stuff, and eventually the apartment turns in to an obstacle course.  And the hardest part is the sleeping issue.  We had DS's crib in the living room in the beginning, and then eventually moved it to the bedroom.  But with him in the bedroom, we would wake up at every sound he made (and newborns make tons of grunts, snorts, etc.), so our sleep suffered.  The last few weeks, my DH and I slept on the couches.  If you're going to do it, I suggest trying to borrow most of the bigger baby gear (swing, bouncer, etc.) so when you're done with it, you don't have to store it anywhere.  And definitely do a clean sweep of your apartment beforehand and get rid of unnecessary clutter, because you'll accumulate lots of baby stuff.  GL!

BossySmurf

A friend of mine was in a similar situation.  The reached out to NY Sliding Door Company...(i think they are in LA and maybe Chicago too).  Anyway, they literally took a studio apt and converted a "nook" next to the kitchen into their baby's BEAUTIFUL nursery!  They take any size space and attach these metal sliders/hinges to the ceiling and hang walls from it.  www.nyslidingdoorcompany.com  it was quick and really affordable. 

myoung4279

i live in a 1Br and my baby is due in Dec.  We've decided to try it out for the first year and see how it goes.  We've already begun slowly cleaning out the unnecessary trash and we're going to put up some shelves in one of our closets.  I've seen many people get along fine with a 1BR but i dont recommend staying in one for too long.  Its nice to have your own BR for yourself and the hubby minus all the baby stuff, ya know? Good Luck!

megstriesagain

Thanks for the replies, and the link! 

c446784

I was born in manhattan and had two cribs in a 1 b/r thank god it was a large bedroom... Be creative is there any space in the rest of the house that can be utilized as a space for the baby. Growing up in manhattan I have seen many small spaces used as bedroom fr my friends or kids I baby sat for. 

TarheelsInNJ

We are in a larger 1br, and will likely move when our lease is up next July - that would make the baby about 8 months old (may make the suburban jump!).

For now, we bought a mini crib, and we're using one piece as a large changing table/dresser/storage combo (it's actually a 6' butcher block table from Ikea, which doesn't fit in our kitchen!). Our glider is actually an upholstered armchair rocker that looks nice in our living room.

We have a "nook" space in our hallway where we'll eventually move the crib. Not sure when that will be... we'll just play that by ear and see how we're all sleeping.

We also made sure to keep a lot of open floor space in our living room, so he'll have room to play. Eventually, I'm sure our living room will just become Baby Central, but at first we'll just have the swing and his playmat in there.

I think the biggest challenge will be our kitchen, honestly. It's not a bad size, but we don't have much extra room for bottles and things.

Luckily, our apartment has pretty decent closet space, so I think general storage will be okay for a little while. Definitely don't know what we're going to do once LO outgrows things we want to keep though!