Urban living has its perks--museums, restaurants, culture--but it also poses challenges. One of the hardest to deal with is living in a small apartment--especially after a baby arrives. Here are some ideas that have gotten my space-challenged family through (almost) the first year.

Establish a play area. This can help keep toys localized (for a little bit). Use a couple of low shelves in a bookcase you already have and dedicate them to the baby. A crawling baby will be kept busy for a long time just taking toys off the shelf and playing with them on the floor. Plus, as baby gets older, they identify this area as a play zone and will know where to find all of their toys.

Keep the stroller outside the apartment Strollers take up a lot of space. If you live in an apartment or walk-up building, you may not even have hall space to use. Try keeping your stroller in an alternate area, like a basement. We keep ours in the trunk of my car. This is also useful because I don’t have to lug it up the stairs to the third floor every time we go for a walk!

Skip the changing table. Some furniture items are essential (like the crib), while some aren’t always needed. We found a changing table to be unnecessary. Instead, we just fill a basket with diaper changing items and use a changing pad. You can bring the basket into the room you are in and do diaper changes on the floor, a couch or even on your bed (if you are brave enough).

Don’t pen baby in; keep them out. If you are already in a small space, why pen baby into an even smaller one? Their need to bust out will just intensify. We found that blocking off an area full of wires and computers (office) and child-proofing the rest of our apartment gives our son a lot more floor space to play. Give baby as much space as you can and allow them to explore!

Get outside. It’s not possible every single day, but getting outside really helps to relieve the cabin fever that you and baby may be experiencing from being cooped up in a tiny apartment. Taking a walk, going to a local park, doing grocery shopping, or even walking around a museum in inclement weather will help break up the day and give baby (and you) a change of scenery.