apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We've only got two bedrooms so when out of town guests and relatives come to stay the night, we let them use the blow up queen mattress that we put up in our son's room and we bring our son's toddler bed into our room. It usually doesn't throw off his sleeping schedule and our guests can have some privacy. Once they leave, the blow up mattress goes away and my son gets his room back.

we have the guest room/nursery combo. i think it works if you are willing to give up your bedroom to your guests, and sleep in the nursery with the baby.
we are finding that as she grows older, we will have to remove the futon to make room for a dresser and other things that she will need.

my baby is 15 months and so far it's worked for us. when she was first born my mom, mother-in-law and father came to visit (in successive order, not all at once) and for those visits, the baby was sleeping in a bassinet in our room. I was worried that the guest situation wouldn't work once she started sleeping in her crib. it was tough while Chase wasn't sleeping through the night. we put her down in her pak 'n play in our room. now that she's sleeping through the night, it's easy. she goes to bed at 7:00 and our guest goes to bed after that. they do have to be quiet. as long as they don't mind being woken up by 6:30 a.m. "Hi!", it works just fine. I'm not sure this situation would be the best for friends. but family doesn't seem to mind.

Here's our set-up by the way.

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/nursery-tours/nursery-tour-chases-bed-and-breakfast-057692

If we have guests we would sleep in our daughters room with her and let them have our bedroom. I just could not see having family or friends sleep in the same room as her. I would actually find it rude if we were to sleep in our friends babies room with their baby while they got to sleep in their own rooms alone.

I think that any guest staying in a small place with a new baby is going to hear baby noise no matter where everybody sleeps. I'd probably just have the baby sleep in our room and give the guests the guest room (if we had a guest room -- we don't).

Well, we don't have a combo room, but we've got three bedrooms and two (soon three) children. So no guest room. We don't have many guests, but when we do they stay in my four year old's room. She doesn't mind giving up her room because she thinks it is cool to spend the night with mom and dad. Though far from ideal, it does work well for us.

I agree with what the previous posters said though. You certainly couldn't put the guests IN the room with the baby. I would either put the baby in your room for the night, or move yourself into the baby's room.

Thank you! I feel so dense. OF COURSE we'd have to sleep in the baby's room and give our guests our room (or move the baby into our room while the guests are there). I don't know why that solution didn't occur to me. I guess I thought I'd have a hard time getting the baby to sleep in a new room/set up. Clearly, I have a lot to learn...

It's very helpful hearing how different people have solved the problem.

In all honesty, you may find the extra bed in the room with the crib very useful for yourself, not just guests! When dad (or mom) has to work the next morning and needs a good night sleep sometimes the parent on night duty will just end up sleeping in with baby. Sometimes its a rough night with a lot of wakings and you just fall where you can...and closest to the source is good! Sometimes, if the first few months are anything like mine!) your baby will only sleep next to you, or on you, and a second bed where you can spread out and not worry about the other parent waking or rolling over, etc is helpful too. Especially when you are first getting used to nursing lying down if you choose to do that.

I'm all for the bed in the nursery. We just moved into a 3 bedroom and have 1 son, with plans for more! I bought two single beds and for now they are set up 1950's style in the guest room (quite cute and a novelty for couples who come to stay! I got the idea form our friend's cottage which only has single beds!) with plans to have him in a toddler bed with a single bed in one room and a crib and a single in the other room for new baby! I think it will work well!

i agree with complainypants- an extra bed in the room can be helpful, our baby had a decent sized room so we put an extra bed in there, just in case we had a guest- but mostly for me to sleep in! im a sahm and my husband worked at 5am an hour away so he was sleeping early and getting up at 3am. id sleep in my sons room most nights so he could get a decent nights sleep for work.

if we did have a guest id sleep in the baby room and give them our room for the night.

I think the bed is most often used by one of the parents, caring for their infant at night. When you really have guests, they usually stay in the parent's room.

But seriously, what parent with an infant wants a house guest. Seriously people, get a hotel room!

We just had the baby sleep with us all the time, and she always slept through the night right from the start. I personally don't think it is natural to stow a baby somewhere else. Think of caveman days: of course a baby is going to scream all night to get attention when it finds itself alone somewhere. It doesn't want to get eaten by a coyote! We bought a crib and put it next to our bed, but in reality, we never used it. We just kept her in our bed, and then no one even has to wake up for feedings. Baby nurses and keeps on sleeping and everyone is well rested and happy.

Please don't tell me you expect a guest to stay in a room with your child. When I've beenasked to do that I flat out refused. You should warn your guests if you intend to do that. It isn't fair if you don't. And don't put it in a way that makes them feel bad if they decline. If that's the only choice you can provide (i.e. you don't want them crashing on your sofa), they might choose a hotel and be happier for it. Be a good host by not putting them in an awkward position.

We have a nine-month-old daughter and a seventeen-year-old son from my husband's first marriage who stays with us a few weekends a month. We live in a two-bedroom apartment for the moment, although we're in the process of buying and renovating a house. Right now our daughter is still sleeping in our bedroom, but it's possible that we may end up moving her into the second bedroom before our new house is ready (it might be months and months.) If she's in there when my stepson comes for the weekend, she'll just sleep in our bedroom for that period in her pack & play. Not a huge deal. The same thing will go for any guests who might stay with us, they will have the second bedroom, the baby will move back in with us.

I'd watch out for using kids rooms for guests just in general. Even the cleanest kids rooms always have the faint odor of pee. They just do.