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Anyone else have a baby, or gonna have, baby in 1 bed flat ?

Hi, I'm 22+5 due in Sept with my first baby. We live in a 3rd floor one bed flat. We've been trying to sell for the last couple of months so that we can have another bedroom for the baby. But the way the housing and mortgage market is I'm starting to worry that we won't sell and we'll have to manage in our one bed flat.
Has anyone else done this or is planning on doing this ?
I'm worried that I'll never be able to get up and down 3 flights of stairs with the baby and pram, making me a bit of a prisoner unless hubby is there to help etc (maybe prisoner is a bit melodramatic but that's how I'm feeling just now ! ) I know for 1st few months baby will be in with us anyway but what then ?

I'm probably getting carried away with myself but I'm worried that trying to manage in the little 1 bed flat flat is going to get me down and I'm already worrying about post natal depression.
Any hints and tips would be great as I'm starting to really stress about it.
Suz x

Replies

  • Me, hubby and lo will also be in a 1 bed flat (ground floor) at first I was quite nervous about it but as we are planning to have lo in with us for at least 6 months anyway it doesn't really matter - my issue is where am I going to put the pram?! at the moment it is also in the bedroom but I want to leave it under the stairs in the hallway but I'm totally paranoid someone will steal it.

    lo cot is right next to my side of the bed so if lo stirs in the night I am right there, we will look for somewhere new to live closer to the end of this year.

    Caz
    xx
  • You're right the market isn't great at the moment - but you never know what will crop up...Can you advertise it anywhere else like rightmove and other well known website to get the maximum exposure for the flat.

    If it doesn't sell by the time the baby's born, it won't be as bad as you think. You'll just adapt to it. If you;ve got a travel system and you want to go out, you could get the baby dressed and strapped into the car seat and leave him/her inside the flat (with the door locked) while you take the pushchair down. then collect the baby and car seat and attach the seat onto the pushchair.

    I know it's not ideal, but try no to panic about it. Think positively and something will happen soon!! Fingers x for you!

    xxxx

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  • Hi Suz, i'm due the end of aug with my 2nd baby. When we had our first, we lived in a first floor 1 bedroom flat and our little boy stayed in our bedroom with us until he was 2 but i didnt find any problems with that so dont worry. When he eventually got his own bedroom i was worried that he wouldnt sleep or he'd be scared because he was on his own but i had no problems with that either! And with the stairs, I just left the pram at the bottom of them when we'd been out, took the baby in the flat then went back out to get the pram whilst baby was inside.
  • You will have to leave pram in car and just take car seat into flat? Not ideal I know but needs must and all that.
  • Gemzy I wouldn't worry. I have a 2 wk old and me & oh live with his parents, sister, brother, and LO of course...6 people - 5 adults!! - in a 4 bed which is actually only a 3 bed with a garage conversion so pretty small. Also my OH mum is a childminder and looks after 3 toddlers 8-5 Mon-Fri as you can imagine its crowded lol.
    Having said that his sister is in process of moving into her own home so we'll have an extra bedroom for storage.
    And so far we are coping really well and its not that bad at all, space is an issue but the only one we've had as yet. I cope on my own with lo (oh is useless lol) but its great to know I have loads of support around if I need it.
    I also know a couple who have a 6 month old in a 1 bed flat and they seem to be OK!
  • I live in a 2 bedroomed house but my issue is that my hubbie already has 2 kiddies (boy 5 & girl 9) which we have to stay on a very regular basis. At the mo they have bunk beds in the 2nd bedroom but i want this as a nursery so i can get baby (possibly twins) into a routine from the start. This obviously leaves a predicament as to where the kids will sleep when they stay over.
    We have considered moving but the market is just so unstable at the moment we dont think it would be a wise move. We went and viewed a 4 bed house on Saturday and it would mean having to mortgage another ??70k. This works out an extra ??500pcm. This would be fine if i was staying full time but as im going part time once baby is here we would be on the breadline each month and i really dont think the added stress will do us any good.

    Anyone else got issues with space and step kids and if so how has it all worked out?x
  • Gemma, is there no chance you could have a loft conversion or extension until your financially in a position to move? works out alot cheaper!
  • Hiya, I can sympathise with the lack of space thing, we technicaly have two bedrooms but the 2nd is tiny and at the other side of the bungalow from our bedroom. I have nowhere to store a pushchair but i think we'll get a travel system with a detchable car seat, that way the pucchair can either be kept in the car of left in a shed and the only thing that need to be brought in and out of the house is the car seat, this may be easier for you to get up and down the stairs if you have somewhere to store the rest of the pushchair. We'll keep lo in our room for 6 months anyway maybe more as I'll be so worried about the distace between the rooms.
    I dont want to have to move as we live in a lovely little wooden bungalow, it's in the midle of nowhere with loads of outside spce but we cant get planning to add an extra room and its no bigger than a staic caravan really, we'll have to find somwhere else before we can have baby number 2.
  • Hi jmp, unfortunatly we are unable to extend due to the positioning of our property and a loft conversion is just not possible either. We can have a large conservatory which will cost ??13k as it would be done to such a standard that it can be used as a room all year round(heating, electrics, air con etc) . Im just worried that my step kids wont like being moved out of the bedroom to sleep in conservatory and subsequently resent baby. As hubbie says though they have there own rooms at home and there mum has just had a baby with her partner and his daughter will have to share a room with her soon so maybe im just worrying to much!x
  • i am in a 2 bedroom house and have the house up for sale as it will be way too small to fit a baby in aswell as a toddler and me and oh!!!
    we have had it up for sale for 6 weeks and have only had 1 person to look round it so i can sympathise with you on that one!!! everything is just going so slow. hope things work out for you x x x

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  • hiya hun
    i can symphathise with you, im due in october and at the moment in a first floor tiny 1 bed flat......bathroom only has shower...... no bath and no room for storing pram,cot etc......oh and i are looking at other flats to rent pref 2 beds but so far not having much joy so i know how your feeling. im sure things will work themselves out for you and for me and everyone else in the same boat. hope all works out hun take care x;\)
  • When I had my 3rd and he was old enuff for his own 'space' as it were, we were living in a 2bed council place. We put the girls in the biggest room and gave our son the smaller room. We then had an 'everyday' use sofa bed in the lounge for us. It wasn't ideal but it did work.
  • We lived in a 1 bed first floor flat until my eldest was 14 months. Was a mission getting up and down the stairs but I coped. Just had to lift the pram up and down it each time. I got well fit! Then when she was 14 months we moved to a 2 bed first floor flat so I still had to do the stairs thing! Luckily we moved to a house b4 my 2nd was born.
  • I'm due in October and we're in a 1-bedroom flat - ground floor, luckily.

    We're planning on keeping the baby in our room for the first 6 months-year, then letting it have our room and moving us into the living room. Not quite as crazy as it sounds, as our living room is huuuuuge, so it shouldn't be too much of a deal to put up a screen or something and keep the bedroom bit separate from the living room bit, and there's plenty of room for everything.

    So not brilliantly ideal, but I do like how close it feels we're going to be, as opposed to a nursery on the other side of the house or something.
  • We live in a one bed flat with two kittens and have recently found out we are expecting a honeymoon baby! We were debating moving before the baby comes but have decided with current economy we will stay put and be squashed. Figured that newborns only need a few basics e.g. cot, pram, etc. and its only when its older that we'll need larger toys, play pens, etc. and hopefully we will have moved by then as we are planning to move not long after baby.

    I figured we will buy a travel system and I will keep the buggy part in my car boot and will only bring the baby seat in the flat. Everything will need to be on the small side and suitable for small spaces.

    Good luck! I'm sure you'll make it work. x x x
  • Hiya

    Just to say you could also use a baby sling as that might just be easier for going up and down 3 flights of stairs leaving both hands free. Am not sure where you live but if you are in walking distance of most of your shops etc then it would be quite easy for you to get out and about this way.

    Just dont get the mothercare 3 in 1 sling as I have it and I think it is crap!

    C.xxx
  • hi suz,
    the housing market is such a bummer isn't it - they should just dish out free family size houses to nice pregnant ladies :lol:
    ok i'll be serious now! as terrifying as the thought is, i'm sure you will manage, and in a way if you can make yourself accept that you MIGHT be ok in the 1 bed it makes looking for a new place wasier, cos you're not in such a desperate emotional state, if that makes sense??
    regarding pushchair on stairs - yup that could be tricky. i'd say make sure you get a light, easy to fold, small one (the bebeconfort streety looks pretty good and is good value). some maclaren's also have an attached carry strap so you can put it on your shoulder.
    or as carolyn says slings are brilliant. i have a freedom sling and i love it, it spreads the weight really well and lo always looks cosy and falls asleep in it, and it's still cosy now he's a quite big 3 mth old. obv it might not be ideal for long shopping trips round town, but you could always keep it in the basket on your buggy, take it out and pop lo in and fold buggy to go up the stairs??
    hope it all works out for you hun xxx
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  • Thanks for all the replies. It's so nice to hear that it is definantly do'able in a one bed flat. We don't have a car so leaving the pram outside in the car isn't an option. But getting a sling is a fab idea. I'll have to do some research.
    I know we'll be fine I had just hoped to move before baby arrives. Still got 3 months so fingers crossed but I'm already de-cluttering cupboards etc so we have as much room as possible for baby stuff.
    Thanks, starting to think as possitively as I can about it. S xx
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