If you currently live in quite a small apartment, you might be wondering how you’re going to manage when your baby comes along. The thing is, you don’t necessarily have to buy a big house in the suburbs just because you’re having a baby and expanding your family.
In fact, you can manage pretty well looking after a baby in a small apartment if you just get yourself organized.
It’s important to remember that babies don’t need big houses.
Your one-bedroom home is not going to be too small for a family of three people, and living in a tiny house, even an apartment, is possible and practical and should be done until you are ready to move into somewhere bigger.
You shouldn’t allow the pressure of being pregnant with a child to push you into a house purchase you aren’t ready for.
It’s exciting to know that you have a baby on the way, so you need to get yourself organized, and you can be just as organized in a small apartment as you can in a big house.
We’ve got some tips for you below so that you can get ready for your baby no matter the size of your apartment, but especially if your current one is very small.
You don’t have to have an entirely decked-out adorned nursery when you can use small cribs, or you can have a small changer that’s over the top of the crib. Transitioning into parenthood is not easy, so don’t put any more pressure on yourself than is absolutely necessary.
Making your small apartment ready for your baby is so much easier.
So let’s take a look at how you can get ready for your baby in a smaller apartment setting.
- High chairs are not a necessity. Right at the beginning of your journey with your baby, you have at least six months before they can be eating solid food and require any kind of high chair to help them to do that. You don’t need to go out and buy a high chair right now, and if you’re in a smaller space, but you have enough chairs around a small dining table, then a booster seat is still a good idea. There are plenty of feeding booster seats that you can use from six months old, so you just have to find one that’s a great space saver. You could even find one that is second hand and this will allow you to save some money along the way. You don’t need to be giving your baby any kind of solid food before then, so keep that in mind when you are shopping for baby equipment.
- Invest in blankets. If you are super tight on space, you might choose to have your baby sit on the floor to eat. Six month olds usually can sit without assistance, but if yours can’t then that would be a bit different. If they can sit alone using washable blankets for meals.It’s not a perfect way to keep things clean, but it does get the job done if you want to protect the flooring. So if you have plenty of blankets around, you’ll be able to dedicate some colors for food, some colors for changing and some colors for sleeping.
- Pay out for multi use items. One thing you’ll find about small cribs is they can often be changed into Porter cribs or portable playpens. Small cribs can be great as a gym to contain a young toddler, so the crib that you buy when they are tiny can last a lot longer than you think. You should also consider making sure that you don’t go out and buy a giant changing table or a baby bath. Firstly, the sink is the perfect place for your baby to be bathed anyway, but you could always have the baby in the shower with you. Secondly, you don’t need to have a giant change table when you can make sure that you just change your baby across your lap or on the floor on a changing mat. Instead, a changing mat or a folded towel or a blanket is a massive space saver.
- Don’t spend money on white noise machines. White noise machines may not take up a lot of room in a small apartment, but you can save some money by using either a fan that will keep you cool or using your phone. One off items like white noise machines do just take up unnecessary space when it could be used for something else.Use your baby budget wisely for your small apartment.
- Pick baby gear that is space saving by nature. Collapsible strollers, collapsible high chairs, small space cribs and toys that can collapse and fold away are all great space savers. If you make sure that you are checking around for baby travel gear, which often is marketed as space saving baby equipment, you’ll be able to find some excellent models in great condition, whether new or used. A small apartment doesn’t need to be overwhelmed by baby clutter, so you also should look at finding caddies and baskets that are hidden away so that you can put the baby paraphernalia away at the end of a long day.
- Buy what you need, not the unnecessary things that you might want. You may want a lovely fold out baby gym, but honestly, your newborn baby is not going to care. You might want to have the pram with all the bells and whistles, but again, the baby’s not going to care. A newborn is actually much happier being worn against your body rather than a cold pram, so think about how you can save space when you are shopping for baby things.
- When your baby is ready for it, buy a bigger car seat. There’s no use in buying a head for bigger items until you need them. So make sure that you are shopping for the age your baby is and not in the age that they’re going to be in three years. It might be tempting to spend out on baby furniture as well when it comes to the sales, but unless you need it, you don’t need to buy it. There are so many space-saving ideas when it comes to cribs and nurseries, so you have to get creative.
- Plan the space. A good way to get ready for a baby in a small apartment is to plan the space effectively. A small crib can fit in a closet space, and that makes for a tiny baby room. You could have a crib that’s attached to the side of the bed to space safe and to Co sleep at the same time. You can get the apartment ready by clearing out a closet for their clothes, their burp clothes, and their feeding equipment.
All of these things are excellent ways to get your apartment ready for a new baby moving into the space.
Taking the time to plan ahead can and will make a big difference to the way in which your home feels.
Welcoming a new baby is a big enough transition but there’s no need to make a song and dance about buying a brand new house – a new baby is a change enough as it is.
Upgrade what you need to and remember that your child is slotting into your new life.