At what age does a child need its own room?

My husband I are going to start trying for a baby very soon. I am 40 years old, so we don’t want to wait any longer. However, I am very concerned that we don’t have enough room for the baby. We currently can’t afford to move to a place larger than the flat we live in now.

When the baby is newborn, I want to keep the cot in our bedroom because I want to be able to hear right away if there are any problems. It would also make things like nighttime feedings more convenient. However, I realise that at some point in its life, the child is going to need its own room.

We have a two-bedroom flat, but one of the bedrooms has been converted into a home office, so our flat consists of the one  bedroom, the office, the bathroom, a living room and a small kitchen. Our dining table is in the living room. We are comfortable now when it’s just my husband and myself. My husband says that around here there is no such thing as a rented flat larger than two bedrooms, and I don’t think we can afford to purchase a house or a luxury apartment.

I have a problem with using the living room as a bedroom for either my husband and myself or for the child, because when I was growing up, we had a two-bedroom apartment.  My brother had a bedroom, my sister and I had a bedroom, and my parents had a foldout couch/bed in the living room. (My cot was in the living room with my parents when I was a very small baby; I don’t remember how old I was when I moved into my sister’s bedroom.) However, my father worked nights and during the day, rather than open up the couch in the living room, he would either sleep in my and my sister’s room, or in my brother’s room. So I would come home from school some days and I couldn’t go into my own bedroom because my father was sleeping there. I had no privacy at all. (Sharing a room with my sister was great; not being able to keep my father out was the problem.)

When my husband’s ex-wife was growing up in Japan, she also didn’t have her own room and slept in the living room, and I understand that she had similar problems.

So how long do we have before we are going to have to move out and get a larger place? How much time do we have to save up for this? 

Well someone I know who lives in a one bedroom council flat with their 2 1/2 year old has been told by the council a child does not need his/her own room until they are 3! But really it is down to personal preference.  Some people have baby in their own room from the word go.  I did read somewhere that the younger they have their own room, the easier it is for them to get used to sleeping on their own.

 Personally I would want to have baby in the same room as ,myself for at least 6 months.  We moved from a one bedroom flat to a two bedroom house when Ethan was 7 months old and he has loved having his own room since then, goes off the sleep straight away and won't sleep anywhere else at night but his own room.   My parents said I didn't have my own room til I was 20 months old and I always had trouble getting off to sleep as a child.

Aillidh slept in our room until she was nearly 2.5, even tho we had a two-bed flat from the time she was a little over a year.  She made the transition w/no problem.  A contented natured child will always have few sleep problems.  That's just how some folks are.

Now, b/c this is only a two bed, whoever sleeps w/the newborn sleeps in the living room w/her on a foldout couch.  The walls are paper thin here and the baby doesn't sleep all night, she wakes her sister up if she sleeps in the other bedroom.  She'll share a room w/her sister later on.

My sis didn't have her own room till she was nearly 4.

Hell, my dad has NEVER had his own room - he had to share w/his brothers at home, then went into the Army, then married my mom.  He seems pretty well-adjusted.

Aillidh slept in our room until she was nearly 2.5, even tho we had a two-bed flat from the time she was a little over a year.  She made the transition w/no problem.  A contented natured child will always have few sleep problems.  That's just how some folks are.

Now, b/c this is only a two bed, whoever sleeps w/the newborn sleeps in the living room w/her on a foldout couch.  The walls are paper thin here and the baby doesn't sleep all night, she wakes her sister up if she sleeps in the other bedroom.  She'll share a room w/her sister later on.

My sis didn't have her own room till she was nearly 4.

Hell, my dad has NEVER had his own room - he had to share w/his brothers at home, then went into the Army, then married my mom.  He seems pretty well-adjusted.

Thanks guys. I feel a bit better now. 

Expat, when I was talking about a child  having its own room, I meant having a bedroom at all. I don't have a problem with sharing with siblings.

We kept a Jacks crib in our room till Jack was old enough to stand up and take notice of things if ya know what I mean. I guess he was about 7 months old when we started noticing his little head popping up in the middle of the night.
Jack has his own room which is about 7.5x8ft. Its the smallest of our three bedrooms. We have the back bedroom witch is about 11x12 and we have three boys in the front bedroom which is about 13.5x12. We are cramped as hell in this house but the kids are happy.
As a kid I always had my own room but here in the UK it's not as easy or affordable for us to get a 5 bedroom house.

We had a one bedroom flat when Jess was born and Jess slept in our room for the first few months. We moved to our 2 bedroom maisonette when Jess was about 6 months but even then her room was what is our dinning room now. It wasn't until she was about 2 years perhaps when she actually had her own proper room.

We plan to keep Jr in the room with us for at least the first 3 months, or until he grows out of his moses basket (This is what my SIL did very successfully)  The second bedroom will be converted into a nursery of sorts until we move in the fall to a three bedroom house. (That could change too)   Of course Rich could decide that we are going to move to Canada next week (This is more in the future like 2 1/2 years) and we could pick up move and buy the 5 bedroom house we could get for the same price as our tiny 2 bedroom

Sweetpeach, is there anyway you could move the office to the living room?  Being so important to you (And I can understand why) It seems like a good solution.

New evidence is suggesting that children who sleep in their parent's room until they are one are less likely to die from SIDS (I think I started a thread about this elsewhere). We are VERY fortunate to be able to rent a very large 3 bedroom house. We could have the crib and changing table in our bedroom along with all the other furniture already there! That said, we're going to play it by ear. If I can breast feed, junior will definitely stay in our room for the first 6 months. If I have to go back to work or if breast feeding doesn't work out, we may consider putting him in the nursery which is the next room from ours.

Balmerhorn,why would bottle feeding or your having to go back to work make you consider putting him in the nursery, when you wouldn't put him in a nursery if he were breast fed or you were staying at home?

Balmerhorn,why would bottle feeding or your having to go back to work make you consider putting him in the nursery, when you wouldn't put him in a nursery if he were breast fed or you were staying at home?

b/c babies are NOISY roommates.  a baby that sleeps all night can still make a lot of noise.  enough to waken you but not them.  not a good combo if you work.  if they're in their own room, you don't hear as much.

Sweetpeach, just wanted to say congratulations and best of luck in your decision to try for a baby and don't worry, everything will fall into place, it always does

We but DS in his own room as soon as all of the company left, at about 8 weeks.  He was almost to long for the bassinet we had anyways.  As the bedrooms are on opposite sides of the flats here, we just used a baby monitor.  We had it in his crib turned up real loud to start with  and now 1 1/2 years on we have it on the other side of the room and just loud enough to hear if something is wrong. 

We all sleep in the same room when we travel and DS is the loudest sleeper I know.  He tosses and turns and loses his pacifier and fusses until he finds it.  I can't wait until I get to the UK where the bedrooms are all together so I don't need a baby monitor, I can just leave the door open and if he needs me, he'll let me know.

Jackson at 2 months old went into his own room since he is such a loud sleeper, he is 2.5 now and still makes so many noises when he sleeps.  Jackson puts himself to bed about 7pm, by telling us "nigh nigh", then wakes up in the morning between 7-9am.  He also naps for 2-3 hours a day, it is great!   He loves his own room and always has.  I am hoping baby number 3 will inherit his brothers sleep habits.

I think worrying about whether my baby is OK in the other room would cause me more sleep loss than any noise it could possibly make. In fact, the noise would probably reassure me that it's OK.

Before I moved here, I lived just up the road from an ambulance depot.

Thanks UKMisgirl.

Jackson at 2 months old went into his own room since he is such a loud sleeper, he is 2.5 now and still makes so many noises when he sleeps.  Jackson puts himself to bed about 7pm, by telling us "nigh nigh", then wakes up in the morning between 7-9am.  He also naps for 2-3 hours a day, it is great!   He loves his own room and always has.  I am hoping baby number 3 will inherit his brothers sleep habits.

Aillidh is just like that!

So far,however, Roisin is . . . not like that.