Wondering how early you should plan on ordering nursery furniture? It’s great that you’re thinking ahead. We put this question to our users, and the general consensus was to go ahead and decide on a style or theme as soon as you want, and then start getting your furniture together in the second trimester.
Some things to ask yourself when working out your timing: How long will my furniture take to ship? Will I be able to help move the furniture around when it arrives, or will I be too big? Have I waited long enough in my pregnancy to be sure everything is going as planned? Am I giving myself enough time to have things ready if baby decides to show up early?
Still not sure what to do? Here are a few tips from the real experts—the new moms on our message boards:
“We did pretty much everything during the second trimester, when I had the energy to help get things ready, and wasn’t too big to help put things together. By the end of my pregnancy, my belly was so big and I was so exhausted that it would have been very stressful to have to deal with organizing and decorating a nursery.” — bicoastalgirl
“I would suggest as soon as you find out the sex or know the theme of your nursery. Our crib and dresser took 14 weeks to come in and we were finishing up the nursery one week before I delivered.” — chihuahua26
“I think I was maybe 28 weeks when we ordered our furniture. I didn’t want to do everything too early and be twiddling my thumbs for months before she got here!” — ValSept10
“General rule of thumb is to have everything done and set by 37 weeks (not just the nursery either — have your car seat installed and inspected by then too) because baby can come at anytime after that.” — ErinCB
“We got the furniture when I was about six months pregnant. Main reason was to be sure everything was ok with the baby.” — MLK97
“We waited until I was about 25 weeks along. The nursery was finished by about the time I was 32 weeks along. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.” — N5ssa
“Earlier the better. At least start looking around because some companies take longer than others for ordering times.” — Mestroud
