Where to put the baby....?

Looking for opinions. We live in a classic un-dormered cape. Our bedroom is on the first floor (and we aren't considering moving upstairs). There is another small bedroom on the first floor, but it's directly behind the kitchen and adjacent to the bathroom.
I'm concerned about making that the baby's room, primarily because of noise. My DH is not a quiet person
Anyway, I want to use the smaller upstairs bedroom (there are 2 upstairs + a bathroom) as the nursery. I feel it will be quieter for the baby and also the upstairs bathroom has a bathtub whereas the downstairs does not.
My mom thinks I'm nuts. DH agrees with me. Am I missing something or is my mom the nutty one?

Thoughts?

THANK YOU!!!!

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I think its fine! I would also choose what you are doing. In our first place, DD's room was right next to the bathroom, where DH showered at 4:45AM! Not good!

Re: Where to put the baby....?

this was my one issue when we were house shopping, but I think the baby should be close to you in that bedroom. noise is a good thing! you don't want a baby to be set on sleeping in quite all the time

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I think at least for the beginning several mos, you may want to consider the small first floor bedroom. You are constantly going to be getting up and down for feedings, to console, to put the paci back in his mouth, to check on him, etc.

You are gonna lose all your baby weight ASAP if you put him upstairs, and will have quads of steel with all the running upstaris you'll be doing. It's prob more convenient to keep the baby in the small room. Plus, they sleep through all sorts of noise.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Posted by mrsboss

I think at least for the beginning several mos, you may want to consider the small first floor bedroom. You are constantly going to be getting up and down for feedings, to console, to put the paci back in his mouth, to check on him, etc.

You are gonna lose all your baby weight ASAP if you put him upstairs, and will have quads of steel with all the running upstaris you'll be doing. It's prob more convenient to keep the baby in the small room. Plus, they sleep through all sorts of noise.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Will the baby be in a bassinet in your room for a bit or will he/she immediately be in the crib? I personally would keep the baby downstairs in the smaller bedroom since you will constantly be in and out of the room.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Re: Where to put the baby....?

We are in a similar situation, our master is on the main floor, and the baby's room will be upstairs with a bathroom, etc... The baby will be with us for the first 3 months or so, then after that he will move upstairs. Its not like we live in a mansion where upstairs is really that far away

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I would definitely put the baby upstairs. Its the better option. I would make that smaller room downstairs the playroom and or area where you can keep all of the bigger toys.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Our nursery is upstairs but DD has been sleeping in our room since birth. My plan is to move her upstairs when she's completely sleeping through the night (she goes 7:30 pm to 4:30 am right now, which is fabulous, but still not quite 7:30 - 7:30 like I'll need her to go to have her upstairs). We check on her like every 30 minutes (err... sometimes every 10 minutes) when she's sleeping so it's really nice having her in our room which is right next to the living room on our main floor where we spend all our time. However, I have no qualms with her nursery/bedroom being upstairs in the future.

However, our living room does look like a day care center right now. There's a bouncer, a swing, a tummy time mat, an activity center, a bumbo, and a boppy all on the floor, in addition to the diaper champ, changing pad, and diapers/accessories basket all in our living room. So if you don't want your downstairs to turn into a daycare center, you may want to set up all her play stuff in the small bedroom downstairs, have her sleep in your bedroom for a while, but make her "real" room the one upstairs. Does that make any sense?

Babies should be able to sleep through a LOT. It helps not to tiptoe around them when they're newborns to get them used to it. What we do is use a white noise machine for her "daytime" naps and at night we keep it silent. I think that's how she knows to sleep 8 or 9 hours overnight but only 30 minutes to an hour for daytime naps. But I don't really know. The white noise does help if we're watching tv or banging around in the kitchen during the day.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I have a cape also. There is a downstairs bedroom that the baby can use but I am considering putting the little zygote upstairs. Our downstairs isnt that big and I am concerned between a tv, moving around, using the bathroom (which is right between our room & the babies), 2 dogs and if we have a friend or two over in the evening for dinner, the baby will always be kept awake.

I think you should put the babes upstairs. I will prob end up doing the same thing.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I have a cape as well -
Sean's room was right next to ours on the 1st floor -

(now we have moved upstairs and made that a master suite, and Sean and the baby will have the 2 downstairs bedrooms)

IMO, the best thing you can do is NOT get the baby used to 'too quiet' - Babies can sleep through anything if you get them used to the noise.

I used to vacum under Sean's swing while he was napping as a newborn - my husband watches TV at a ridiculously loud volume, I have THE single most annoying yapping Yorkie that barks like a maniac if the wind blows ........I have had parties, 20+ people in my living room playing Rock Band - Sean has slept through it all like a rock .........

Also, it was SO easy for ME to have his room on the 'main' level - No going up and down the staris, no having diapers/wipes etc in two places, no having him nap in one place and sleep overnight in another - no REAL need for that annoying monitor to be attached to my hip ...........

IMO - it was awesome to have him on the main floor w/ us.

I'm kind of bummed my room won't be easily accessible anymore to the new baby - but I'm still better off IMO w/ them being on the main floor b/c that's where we spend most of our time -

Re: Where to put the baby....?

we live in a 2/3 bedroom garden apt. i was torn between making the nursery our real second bedroom, or making it the room that is considered the dining room/third bedroom/office. ultimately we are going with the dining room/third bedroom although it is further from our bedroom. my DH uses the other bedroom as an office and we rarely are in our bedroom anyway. will sleep in our room at first so im not too concerned, and since we are in the living room a lot more (which is closer to the dining room) we can always put in their room and not really need any crazy monitors or really even a pack n play taking up living room space. is it noisier? yes, but like a PP says - the baby will need to get used to sleeping in noisy environments.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Re: Where to put the baby....?

thanks everyone who has responded with different perspectives! i am honestly torn now, ugh!!

keep em coming!

Re: Where to put the baby....?

i woudl put the baby upstairs. keep the bassinet in your room for the first few months and invest in a good baby monitor

Re: Where to put the baby....?

i dont there is anything wrong with that? my bedroom growing up was always upstairs.
will you have the baby in a bassinet in your room in the begining?

totally think its fine.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I would probably make the upstairs bedroom the nursery but have the baby stay in your room for the first few months. Although everyone does bring up really good points about sleeping through noise and the convenience of having the baby downstairs with you so its a toughie!

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Re: Where to put the baby....?

I wouldn't want the baby on a different floor than me. Plus, you want the baby to get used to noise. It's noisy when they're in your belly, so from what I hear they actually do better with noise.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Posted by karen0119

We are in a similar situation, our master is on the main floor, and the baby's room will be upstairs with a bathroom, etc... The baby will be with us for the first 3 months or so, then after that he will move upstairs. Its not like we live in a mansion where upstairs is really that far away

Re: Where to put the baby....?

Re: Where to put the baby....?

thanks again everyone for your thoughts.

Re: Where to put the baby....?

We have the same set up and opted to make the smaller room upstairs our room because I wanted to be closer to the babies. Just because I am lazy and a neurotic wreck I am sure normal people are fine with different floor rooms

Re: Where to put the baby....?

We have a similar setup. Our master is on the main floor and the kids rooms are upstairs. DS was upstairs at a few weeks old, it really wasn't a huge issue. With this baby we will probably keep her with us until she is STTN (or at least only getting up 1x) just so we aren't going up and down the stairs past DS's room too much.