We seem to have finally gotten our three year old into a good sleeping schedule (thanks for all the great advice regarding that on earlier posts). She is sleeping through the night again without waking us up. Hallelujah! :)
However, I'm anticipating a future problem. We are due to have another baby in two weeks. My husband will be home for two weeks right after he's born then my mom comes out for two weeks after he goes back to work. My dad will come for just one week about a week after she arrives (they're married, just coming at different times). Where do we put them?
The baby's room has the crib (he won't be in it yet but we use the room at night for diaper changes and feedings in the rocker. My daughter's room has a full sized bed where they used to sleep but she's in there now, and then there's our room. I'm afraid that if we put my parents in my daughter's room, all the hard work that we've put into getting her to sleep well over the past 3 months will go down the drain. My parents keep saying that they can just sleep on the couch, but that won't work. They're older and would wake up with terrible back pain and then complain about it all day. They won't stay at a hotel and I would feel badly for asking them.. I just don't know what to do and I'm starting to get a little stressed. We just went shopping thinking we might replace one of our couches with a sleeper sofa, but we've got some big expenses coming up and don't have tons of extra cash laying around to buy a new piece of furniture. Any creative solutions out there?
Thanks for the great input! We talked about it and decided to buy some higher end camping cots for my parents that we'll set up in either the living room or the baby's room (depends on the fit). We wanted to buy cots anyway because we like to camp so these will serve a dual purpose. Thanks!!
Easy answer. Change the baby in another room and put the rocker in the living room, too. Mom & Dad get the baby's room, with a blow up mattress. No problem!
Put them in the baby's room. You don't use that room yet so they can sleep in there. Borrow a bed from someone that has a guest room that is not being used.
Change the baby in the bathroom, and have night feeds in your room. It's less disruptive to you and the baby anyway if you're not going into another room to feed. Put your parents in the baby's room.
A newborn will NOT care where changes and feedings take place. Put your company in the baby's room. It will only disrupt things slightly...for you. I temporarily moved my rocker into another room when my parents came for a visit. It wasn't really a big deal at all.
put them in the baby's room. move the rocker into your room.
Hopefully you can get a pack 'n play like this - http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=15262786
and do the diaper changes there.....
If you have a co-sleeper crib or a bassinet - you will be fine....the baby CAN sleep in the pack -n play as well.
You have the room. You're caught in the moment...it's doable!! :) Keep your daughter IN HER ROOM!! IN HER BED!! Use the baby's room...get a pack 'n play....you got this, girl!!
I agree: don't mess with your daughter's success!
Move the baby's supplies into your room & turn the room over to the guests.
Put them in the baby's room. I changed my baby everywhere. Well, except for the dang changing table. Never used the thing. Move the rocking chair into your room and get a moses basket or bassinet. Keep the baby in your room, in her little sleeper. It will make life easier on you, anyway.
Put them in the baby's room.
Can you get an air mattress? Would it fit in the baby's room? Our baby didn't sleep in her room for the first month, so putting someone in there wouldn't be a big deal if there was room.
Before you purchase an air mattress, ask your visitors first....I detest air mattresses. I'd rather sleep on a firm couch, or a futon mattress on the floor.
Costco sells great foam futons about $40 each, twin size, and the fold up into a 'chair' that your DD could play on, or hide under bed for the next visitor.
Get one of the tall air mattresses, it will make it easier for them to get on and off of it. Remember to place a mattress pad on it. They can get cold with air conditioning running.
Another thing to consider is moving the changing table to a temporary spot till these visitors leave. even if it seems strange.
And the rocking chair either to your room or another room? This is only temporary.. Things can be moved around the house for a few weeks. and then put back once everyone leaves,
Bed, Bath & Beyond sells blow up mattresses. You plug them up in the wall and they inflate. They are easy. I think that if they are willing to sleep on them, you should try it. They'd be a lot more comfy than the couch. And you deflate them every morning and put them away.
I like them better than a futon. Futons feel hard to me...
Put them in your daughter's bed and let your daughter sleep on the couch. My kids LOVE to sleep on the couch. It's fun, like camping out.
Get an aerobed for your daughter and give parents her bed. No matter how you slice it, her routine is going to blown out of the water. A new baby and Dad home for two weeks, then Granma and then Grandpa. If you were coming home with baby, husband home for a few days, you chance of no
interruptions. However, it will be like Grand Central Station for a month, so be prepared!
Buy a high air mattress and put it in the the baby
My kids went through a stage when they were about 3 where they would wake up early mornings and come and sleep on the floor on my side of the bed. They didn't wake us nor did they get a cozy bed to sleep on. They brought their pillow and/or blanket. They only did it for a month or so then just stayed in their bed. Since your daughter is sleeping well in her room/bed, I would do my best to not disturb that. I would buy one of those full or queen aerobeds (they are lifted now higher so they aren't on the floor) and put your parents maybe in the baby's room or another place there is room. You should be able to figure it out, at least your parents seem easy to please. Good luck!
How about one of those air beds. They come with frames now. If you don't feel right asking them to sleep on it, perhaps you can offer your bed and you, hubby and the new baby sleep in the living room with the baby in a basinette right next to you.
Lets talk logic.
Don't mess with success. Leave your daughter be.
Get something for the parents to sleep on in the baby's room. It doesn't have to be gorgeous - it has to be functional. The baby will eventually need a bed. Get it now. Set it up. Put the parents in it.
Personally, I had no overnight guests when I brought a baby home. We needed time to figure it all out as a family. We didn't need "help". We didn't need the extra work. I told people they could come over between 10 and 11 am or between 3 and 4pm. I could get lunch or dinner started and they could hold the baby. We did our own feedings, so I'd make sure that baby had a full tummy when visitors stopped by.
We did things our way and I don't regret any of it for a minute.
We did what was best for us.
The extended family was inconvenienced, but it wasn't about them. It was what was best for the baby.
Probably already suggested, but in case it hasn't been, here's my 2 cents.
Take the unborn baby's crib apart for now and put it in the closet. Go on Craigslist or Freecycle and search for a free bed that you can put in the baby's room for now, or go to Costco and get a queen sized Aerobed (on sale right now for $100)
We have a baby on the way too, and he'll be sleeping in a swing in our room for the first few months; then a crib in our room after that. I will bringing the glider from my 2 year old's room into my room for night time feedings. Night time diaper changes are done on my bed, on a towel.
When people come after a new baby is born, they're coming to HELP you, not as vacationers.
DO NOT displace your family around this visit... it would defeat the purpose. Get an Aero bed and set it up in the living room (scoot some other furniture out against the walls etc) if possible. If not, set it up in your daughters room and they can each sleep in there with her.
I'm all for kids camping to make room for guests, but NOT when you JUST got her to sleep at night and NOT when those "guests" are staying for weeks at a time with the purpose of helping with a new baby.
This visit should reduce your stress, not add to it.
HTH
T.
