We went house hunting this past weekend and most of the newer houses we looked at had the master bedroom on the first floor and the other bedrooms on the 2nd floor. What are your thoughts on this? If you have this situation, how has it been with a LO (both as a baby and an older child)?
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I can speak to this as a kid, but not as a mom. All of the houses I lived in from age 9 and up (with twin sisters who were 3) had the master on the 1st and our rooms on the 2nd. We all loved it. It meant we could be noisier upstairs, and my parents had a lot of privacy. We never had a problem getting to them, or them getting to us. We could yell pretty loud if needed
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We have two bedrooms including the master upstairs and three bedrooms downstairs. The bedroom next to ours has been the nursery for both kids but eventually the baby will move downstairs. Toddler girl has already moved downstairs. I think it will be really great when me and DH can have the upstairs to ourselves and the kids can have the run of downstairs.
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@Bookworm: ha yeah my DH and I think that we would really appreciate it when the kids are older, but wonder what it would be like when they're little
I'm sure as a kid it would be awesome to have your own floor!
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My parents house is set up like this, it's super nice to have the extra bedrooms up and away. In the early months DD was in our room so it wouldn't have mattered, once she dropped down to one night waking and she was ready to go to her bedroom, it didn't matter so much traveling to get to her.
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I think it would be okay to have a baby on another floor. I would make sure to have a monitor and then the hardest part would be trudging up or down the stairs in the middle of the night.
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@Andrea: does she still wake up at night, like when she's sick or has nightmares or something? I worry that a toddler might have difficulty going up/down stairs to get to our room if they need us (of course we could still use a monitor with them). @prettylizy: so it hasn'tbeen difficult going up stairs to do a MOTN feeding?
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@mediagirl: yup that's my concern! the stairs would be tricky at 4am
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My SIL's house is like this. She keeps the babies downstairs for a couple months, then transitions them upstairs. She definitely uses a monitor. It seems like a lot of work to me
But now that they are older, it seems to work out just fine. It's nice that she has a play room/loft area that separates the two rooms, too. All the kid crap stays upstairs!
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@blackbird: ha good point! I'd love to limit the kid stuff to the upstairs of the house.
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@hilsy85: I've only done it at my sisters house when I'm visiting her, but I think it's like everything else, you just get used to it. Our main living space is all on one floor but most night after I fed her I'd leave the bedroom area, go pee, grab a glass of water from the fridge etc.
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@hilsy85: no, our toddler does not wake up. And she has been fine going up and down stairs for a while now, but I told her that she is not allowed to leave her room so she never does. I would keep the baby in your room until you have no more wake ups. Stairs would be a pain in the middle of the night.
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When we were looking at houses we saw a lot of tri-levels and we absolutley were against having a floor inbetween our room and the kids. But I think having on the master on the main level and the kids upstairs would be much more doable, especailly if they aren't waking up during the night.
Plus when they are older it would be a lot harder to sneak out:)
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Right now the house we're in has two bedrooms upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs. It made the most sense to have the kids upstairs since there is also a playroom up there for them, so we're a staircase away. It's really not that big of a deal for us. DS is still up every night (and he's sick right now, so last night he was up every hour) but it's not much more work than stumbling down a hallway in the middle of the night. I actually like that someone would have to go through baby gates and up the creaky stairs to get to the kids, since that seems a little safer to me. DD is a 2.5 and doesn't get up much at night, so having her on a different level is not an issue.
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My sister's house is set up this way and she really doesn't like it. She has a 10 month old and he still sleeps in the PNP in her room because she doesn't want him so far away from her. She IS a little (lot) paranoid in general though
I'm not sure how it will play out when he gets older though
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@mrsmenow: ha good point! They'd have to sneak by us
@Honeybee: yup there would also be a playroom upstairs at one of the houses we're considering so its nice that it would be right by the kids' bedroom.
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That is the best, seriously. I never get why that is an issue for people, because sure it's annoying for the first year or so but if you plan on being there for the long haul, you will never ever regret having your kids rooms upstairs. It's more privacy for both parties, and you don't have to worry about being quiet to wake the kids, your kids can have their friends over and stay up late without bothering you. I grew up in a house like that and I love it. That is what baby monitors are for
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@MrsTiz: Totally agree with you. We purposefully bought a house with this layout for this exact reason. You get 1-2 years of slightly annoying and 16 years of awesome!
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@MrsTiz: @lawbee11: good point--this is a house we'd have for hopefully a long time and our kids won't always be little!
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@hilsy85: And it's a vacation house, right? When your kids are older they can bring friends along and the kids can be upstairs while you and DH are downstairs...seems like the perfect set-up! And you could always put a baby gate at the top of the stairs if you're worried about them navigating the stairs when they're little.
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Our home is master down, with a small bedroom down as well, and the remaining bedrooms upstairs. We turned the small bedroom into the nursery for DS, I believe this bedroom is meant more to be a study since the doors are french doors. DD sleeps upstairs by herself. I think this is an ideal setup if you eventually want all the kids upstairs, which is what we plan when DS is more comfortable with stairs. DD does get a little scared upstairs sometimes, but she is getting used to it. We actually loved living in a one story home, but we ended up feeling like we were on top of each other!
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@hilsy85: Good point there - think of your house as long term, your babes won't be babes forever. If you need to, you could hole up in one of the upstairs bedrooms as your master until your lo is old enough to sleep through the night.
We're considering buying a house that has two beds up and one down. We're not sure which we would pick for ours but I think it would be fine to have her on a separate floor from us (and she would love it) when she's a little older.
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We have a three bedroom. Master and one of the bedrooms upstairs and other bedroom downstairs. DD who is 9 is downstairs and Nursery is upstairs. It wouldnt bother me regardless. With a good monitor I feel OK about it. For example when DD #2 arrives and is napping in her crib, I wont be upstairs anyways. So I wont be on the same level unless its a night and when I am sleeping too.
If the house is right and its everything you want and thats your only concern, I would not let that stop you.Good luck and have fun house hunting!!!!
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@lawbee11: yup it's a vaca house. That's a good point! We plan to have a lot of guests so it might be nice to have our own separate space. @mediagirl: also true! We've discussed using one of the upstairs bedrooms til LO is older as an option.
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Our house is like this. No little one yet but it should be nice for when we are much older and may not be able manage stairs easily.
I'm sure as a kid it would be awesome to have your own floor!
But now that they are older, it seems to work out just fine. It's nice that she has a play room/loft area that separates the two rooms, too. All the kid crap stays upstairs!
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