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Advice wanted: Buying a home with a baby
We have finally decided that we want to buy a house, preferably one with a backyard. Our son is 5 months old and has just started rolling everywhere. DS is our first but we would like more children eventually.
I have no real preference for ranchers, split level, open floor plan or whatever but I?d appreciate your thoughts, opinions, personal anecdotes on a few things (feel free to pick one or all to comment on):
1. Having your kids? bedroom(s) on a different level than your own.
2. Do you need to baby-proof railings? If so, any creative solutions on how?
3. Is planning to do kitchen/bathroom renovations with a baby just asking for trouble?
4. If you have a dedicated playroom (say about the size of a bedroom) at what age/at how many kids might it become too small or no longer used?
5. How do you baby-proof an outdoor hot tub? Do you need to?
Any other words of wisdom? Thoughts?
Thanks in advance.
Re: Advice wanted: Buying a home with a baby
My child is a bit older (2.5yo), but some of these I can offer my opinion on:
1. Having your kids? bedroom(s) on a different level than your own.
We seriously considered a master on main but ultimately I was not comfortable with having my children on a different floor. I worry those middle of the night nightmares or sicknesses--I don't want sleepy, sick or upset children navigating stairs in the dark to find mommy and daddy. Call me parnoid, but having had a small house fire (lightning struck our roof once and caused a fire in the bathroom), I want my babies close to me!
2. Do you need to baby-proof railings? If so, any creative solutions on how?
Our railings are too close together for a child to get through. A head could certainly get stuck. We have not felt the need to baby-proof the bannisters. We do however have baby gates on the stairs.
3. Is planning to do kitchen/bathroom renovations with a baby just asking for trouble?
Kitchen is tough no matter what age the kids are--just because it is such a hub of the home. It might actually be easier with an infant--after all, their food is easy
Bathrooms wouldn't be a big deal as long as there was always one working. Again, with an infant, it really isn't as big of a factor.
4. If you have a dedicated playroom (say about the size of a bedroom) at what age/at how many kids might it become too small or no longer used?
We have a dedicated playroom and plan to use it through the "toy" years (I'm thinking that it will get phased out around 12 or so. By then, we plan to finish off the basement. Our current playroom is a converted bedroom off the family room (it has french doors leading to it), so the proximity is great.
5. How do you baby-proof an outdoor hot tub? Do you need to?
I imagine you could baby-proof it in much the same way you would a pool (alarms, etc.). I've never owned one, so I really don't know.
My Valentine Bookends (2~13~13, 2~15~09)
We are in the process of starting to build a house so my answers are based on that.
The other thing I wanted to mention because you had in your original statement that split levels are on your list of considerations. I just wanted to say we have a split level and there are so many stairs that we have to block off it's ridiculous. We had to use some creative solutions to block them all and it looks awful!
Good Luck!
1) With young children, I would want all of the bedrooms on the same floor. I don't want to be that far away from their bedrooms until they're much older (like teenagers).
2) We bought a childproofing kit from One Step Ahead (or whatever that company is) that worked really well - it was basically clear plastic that zip-tied to the rails. You could see through it, but it kept baby from falling through it. We had a split level with a railing on one floor that looked down the staircase, this was perfect.
3) Yeah, I think trying to do any type of renovation with a young child would be a huge headache. Not impossible, but nothing that I'd care to do.
4) N/A, we don't have a dedicated playroom.
5) Is the hot tub in-ground? We have one that isn't, so it really doesn't require childproofing. If it was in-ground, we'd definitely put a fense around it and probably an alarm on it.
1. Having your kids? bedroom(s) on a different level than your own.
This was a no go for us. I know people do it, but I did not want to be away from DS.
2. Do you need to baby-proof railings? If so, any creative solutions on how?
We have no baby proofed our railings, but DS can't fit through them without sliding through sideways. We do have gates on our stairs.
3. Is planning to do kitchen/bathroom renovations with a baby just asking for trouble?
I wouldn't. DS is into EVERYTHING and picks up the tiniest specks of whatever he can find on the floor and immediately puts them in his mouth. Feeding him in other places is no problem, we've done it while doing small projects to the kitchen and dining room, but the mess is what would make it hard for us. That, and my MIL watches DS at our house.
4. If you have a dedicated playroom (say about the size of a bedroom) at what age/at how many kids might it become too small or no longer used?
We don't have one.
5. How do you baby-proof an outdoor hot tub? Do you need to?
I don't have one of these either, but I agree with pp. If it is above ground I don't think you need to do anything to it. I did some google searching, apparently there are hot tub covers available that you lock so children can't get in.
pinterest
1. Having your kids? bedroom(s) on a different level than your own.
We considered it - I honestly don't care if they are on the same level BUT I DID care about HOW close they were. I do not believe in co-sleeping for our family and I did not want kids bedrooms across the hall from ours. I thoroughly believe in couple time and a couple sharing a bedroom. This isn't a soapbox other people but that really was a large part of our decision in a home. When we decided to build and design our home I decided to have a ranch style with the master suite on one side of the and the kids on the other side (the family room/kitchen/pantry/laundry all separate the two halves). When the kids are older they might choose to move to the bedrooms in the lower level - which is fine with me.
Kids are only 'babies' for a short period of time - you have to think longer term with a home unless this is just your starter house and you know you will move in a few years. Our son's personality along with our parenting style has = a child that has not needed us during the night since he was 6 months old (2 years 5 months now) and he does not get out of his bed during the night (he is in a big boy bed now too). So we really have not had a reason during the night. Perhaps if I had a child more dependent on us during the night that might change how I feel.
2. Do you need to baby-proof railings? If so, any creative solutions on how?
I guess it depends on the railings. As long as they close together and sturdy - I would say no. In the house we are renting temporarily, if I had a small baby crawling around I would have to do something about the railings as they are 'industrial' with 'wires' and a small child could slide under them.
3. Is planning to do kitchen/bathroom renovations with a baby just asking for trouble?
I am not a renovator ... I think it sounds like an entire pain which is why we just decided to build and get what we wanted entirely.
4. If you have a dedicated playroom (say about the size of a bedroom) at what age/at how many kids might it become too small or no longer used?
In our previous home I used a bedroom as a playroom and I could see how quickly it would become too small. In our custom home we a dedicated play room that is like 23 x 15 in size. It has a door out to the backyard (a fenced backyard) so that the kids can play in and outside. When they are older it can serve as a game room, study room with family computer (I will not allow our children to have computers in their rooms). After that it can be another guest room, exercise room or craft room.
5. How do you baby-proof an outdoor hot tub? Do you need to?
I suppose a hot tub is fine with the cover locked. City regs don't usually require a fence as long as it has a locked cover. Our home will have a pool and potentially hot tub - so the back yard will be fenced into two sections. 6' fence around perimeter and a 3-4' fence down the middle to block them off from the pool/hot tub side. This will just allow me peace of mind as they roam between playroom and outside. The fence will have an alarm on it and the doors will have an alarm that chimes when it is opened.
Good luck - what works for one family is not necessarily for another.
1. Having your kids? bedroom(s) on a different level than your own.
It wasn't planned, but our room is on the main level of our split level, and DS's room is upstairs. It's not a big deal. Our house isn't that big and we're not that far away. We actually put a babygate across his door to keep him in his room.
2. Do you need to baby-proof railings? If so, any creative solutions on how?
We didn't.
3. Is planning to do kitchen/bathroom renovations with a baby just asking for trouble?
I would avoid as best I could.
4. If you have a dedicated playroom (say about the size of a bedroom) at what age/at how many kids might it become too small or no longer used?
We ahve one in our new house. It's a good sized room, though, so I don't expect it to ever be to small.
5. How do you baby-proof an outdoor hot tub? Do you need to?
Can't speak to this.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10