Approaching Newborn Life with Minimalism

As some of you know, we are in a bit of a transition period in our lives right now. We are currently in an AirBnB in Anchorage while we wait for Baby Middleton to make her arrival (which is now apparently going to be a late arrival). After she arrives, we are moving out of this AirBnB and into a new downsized house in Palmer, Alaska. Because of this, we’ve been really trying to approach life with a newborn from a minimalist place. We haven’t bought furniture yet because we don’t have a house to put it in until May, we haven’t really bought any clothes because Cody and I both have older siblings who happily supplied us with hand-me-downs, and we are trying to be a bit creative with what we already had available in our AirBnB rental.

Our current set-up is pictured above. We’ve got a pack-and-play, which features detachable newborn napper and diaper changing station. The pack-and-play also has a newborn bassinet feature, so that’s where we plan for her to sleep for now. Next to the pack-and-play, we’ve got a comfy chair, which I am hoping to use for breastfeeding. I’d love to have a glider when we move into our actual house, but this chair was the next best thing using the furniture we have available at the rental. On the other side of the pack-and-play there is a diaper pail. We probably could have used a regular trashcan, but there aren’t any trashcans with lids at the AirBnB and we didn’t want to be smelling diapers, or for the dogs to get into it (Note: we are switching to cloth diapers once she’s out of the newborn size).

Not pictured are our tote of baby clothes, which fits snugly under the pack-and-play because it is one of the those super flat, long totes. Also, next to the chair we have a small three-drawer organizer that contains diapers, wipes, a breast pump, and other essentials. We also have a baby swing downstairs and a small box filled with a few special toys, blankets, and books.

And that’s pretty much it! I have lots of ideas for Baby Middleton’s room once we get settled into our new place in May, but until then we will make due with this set-up. I don’t want to clutter her new room up either though and hope to keep that fairly minimal as well. I’m getting anxious to get into the new house and start on all of these little projects, but until then we are happy just relaxing and waiting for Baby to make her arrival, which is hopefully soon!


9 Responses to Approaching Newborn Life with Minimalism

  1. Looks great! A diaper pail is one of the few baby “must haves” in my book. We’ve tried scented bags, putting diapers in plastic baggies before tossing them (which feels extra wasteful), and a variety of lidded cans. Nothing kept the smell from permeating like a diaper pail.

    My biggest tip – stay on top of the clothes! As soon as she outgrows them, organize what you want to keep if any future Baby Middletons are in the plans and then return or donate the rest! Same with toys. This will save your sanity down the line.

    • I felt strongly about the diaper pail. Cody thought that we didn’t need one, but he’s also never really been around babies. I did my best explanation of just how stinky a can full of poop and pee becomes. Haha.

  2. Not long to go now, but you sound very organized. That chair looks perfect for breastfeeding from – we had an old low Victorian sort which worked well. I hope the baby minimalism plans work out well for you – I cannot claim to any success in THAT direction!!

  3. Looks good 🙂 all i would add is some mum supplies next to your feeding chair (think box with drinks, snacks, tv remote, magazine, muslins and nipple cream – from day 1 *before* it gets sore, seriously). Good luck!x

    • Good suggestions! I already have the muslins, breast feeding supplies, and my Kindle over there. No TV, but I’m thinking maybe my iPad should be over there to easily stream shows. Snacks are going to be a must-add!!

  4. Baby stuff minimalism is so sanity inducing. We bought one or two specialty things, but it was really satisfying to stick primarily to stuff that would grow with kiddo or that could be repurposed later. The less stuff you have, the less you have to deal with it while exhausted by newborn.

    We had a similar pack and play, and it was very useful! Other than the pack and play and the car seat, there are very, very few baby gadgets that were worth it in the long run.

      • I think those are a good idea – reduces the stuff/cost of switching beds so that you can just do it whenever you’re ready. We had a similar plan, but by the time we got around to it after a move he was cozy in the pack and play and almost ready to transition to a bed (he’s a climber, so he outgrew crib/pack and play quickly). He went straight from the pack and play to a low futon we happened to already have before we had a chance to buy the crib.

        That happened a lot for us. We’d plan to do x, set up a simpler y “temporarily” and then realize we didn’t need x after all. It wasn’t true all the time, but most things we thought we needed weren’t really necessary in the long run. That said, I’m totally for buying things to make parenthood more pleasant/convenient (like your diaper pail). I personally cracked and bought a bottle sterilizer. I had to pump *a lot* and we were in the midst of a long string of boil water warnings. I just decided that having a sterilizer that used waaaaay less water and waaaaay less of my time that boiling huge pots of water multiple times a day was worth it. It’s a balance.

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