We’re expecting our first kid in, let’s see, about four months. I am researching baby gear. I haven’t diapered babies regularly since I did babysitting in my teens in the 80s.
Here is everything I know about changing tables and pads:
[ul]
[li]Three main types: single-purpose furniture (classic changing table), convertible-to-a-dresser by taking the pad off the top, or just a pad that you can put on top of your existing furniture[/li][li]They have to be either “contoured” or have four raised sides (like little rails), or they’re dangerous, according to Consumer Reports, and you should always buckle the belt[/li][li]The only parents we currently know with a kid in diapers just use the floor – but the kid is three years old[/li][/ul]
We’d kind of like to get just a pad, because we really don’t have anywhere to put another piece of furniture. We have a few things we could put a pad on top of, though nothing exactly at the perfect height. Will our backs hate us? (We’re in our early 40s.)
What do you (or did you) use? What do you (or did you) wish you had?
We had a “table into dresser” with a thick pad with curved sides and a belt. We always used it in his room - but the only time we did was when he was up at night, or before naps. Every other time was on a towel on the carpeted floor. Since the majority of the time the baby wasn’t in his room, it didn’t get used very much. And as he got older, it was used almost exclusively at bedtime, along with after-bath lotion and cuddly time.
Once he got to be about 1.5 years old, a good bookshelf/storage thing would have been 100% better for the room, since we needed more space for the 1000 little toys and books he had.
So, if you decide to go with the dresser idea, don’t spend much, since it will only be fully utilized for such a short time. I think you could do the same with one of these in the crib.
The last time I had one in diapers was in 1998 so things have probably changed since then. But for my oldest I had a full-on changing table that was a gift at my baby shower. It was (and is) a beautiful piece of furniture, but rarely was it used for its intended purpose. I think I used it when I was “new mommy” mode for the first few weeks of his life, after that changing was done in the crib, on the floor, on a blanket on the sofa…wherever was convenient (and socially acceptable). The other children didn’t have changing tables at all, we just winged it (wung it?).
Were it me, I’d go with a pad if it can be done safely and put it on something that is a good height for you, and that you can use for other things as the child grows.
When our first kid was born we got one from Ikea, which had draws on one side and a wooden prop on the other. It was just the right height and today, 28 years later, we still have the drawers set up in our daughter’s bedroom.
We had the table-to-dresser type with the raised edge pad on top.
I never used the belt since I never moved from the spot in front of him leaning against the dresser. If he were to roll he would roll right into me. Everything else I needed was within arms reach. The belt would have seriously hindered the process (picking him up by the ankles to raise his tush up).
I alternated this with using the floor just lying a cloth diaper (not for him to wear just to protect the carpet) on the floor first and kneeling beside him.
Oh, and I really wanted a diaper genie before we brought junior home cause I thought they were cool. We went with a diaper champ instead that uses any old plastic bag. Thank god I did. I can’t even imagine how much money I saved not having to buy diaper genie refills.
We had an Ikea type one with storage full of diapers, wipes, towels and spare onesies.
We also had a backpack that had a built in pad that zipped out - that thing ROCKED.
Most changing was just done on the floor with a random towel when needed.
I never once used the belt.
One suggestion for the crib room - a pair of ramp hand / shooting ear muffs. The ones you see the guys using at the airport or the shooting range. When I had midnight changing duty, I found that putting on the earmuffs made middle of the night screaming much more tolerable and my patience increased for the change. Something about the scream at 2:00 killed me, and it was completely alleviated by putting on the earmuffs.
We just used a pad and put it on an existing piece of furniture (an old kitchen cutting block as it turns out). We bought a second cover for the pad for laundry rotations. As corvidae and others have said, it is really easy to clean up.
If your house has multiple stories, a lot of times you won’t want to go upstairs (or downstairs) every time you need to do a change. Instead you just bring the pad with the baby and use it on the floor, bed, table, etc.
It does help to have a dedicated place to put the pad with supplies close at hand; it does make it easier on your back.
The pad’s belt isn’t very useful. Either the baby is young and it squirms all over (regardless of the belt) or the baby is older and it mostly lays still. In either case, you aren’t going to leave the baby alone and unattended.
With all my kids, I used portable, easy-clean, roll-up changing pads, and put them wherever was handy. I used a large, adult dresser for the changing/bathing station with Kid One. With Kids Two and Three I set everything up on a big desk. The heights were fine for my bad back.
Unbreakable Rule: Always keep one hand on the kid at all times. Even the newest babies can spastically flip like a fish.
I don’t think you’d end up using a belt. After the thousandth change of the day, or late at night when you can’t even focus, belts are too much effort.
We use a standalone table. It doesn’t have a belt but I’ve never felt I needed one. You’ve always got one hand on the kid.
Also, I’m another vote for the Diaper Champ over the Diaper Genie. Those refills for the Genie get expensive. We’ve had to replace the Champ a couple times in the seven straight years we’ve been changing diapers because the seals wore out, but I think we’re still ahead.
Now I’m depressed because I just realized I’ve been changing diapers for seven. straight. years.
My daughter is six weeks old. We just change her on the couch or our bed. On the (sectional) couch, I put a puppy pad under a towel on the chaise end of the couch. On the bed, I just keep the dirty diaper folded up under her while I put the new one on.
I’m glad we didn’t waste the money on a changing table or a pad. If you really want a contoured thingy, just buy yourself a contoured memory-foam pillow. I’ve put her on mine when I need to keep her in place while I grab the wipes or the A&D.
We use a contoured pad on top of a dresser. The dresser is the right height for me, and the diapers and wipes and other supplies go in the top drawer. When the kid’s out of diapers, take off the pad and the dresser still gets used, unlike a stand alone change table, which doesn’t really have any use other than as a change table.
I’ve also never used the belt. I’m standing right there, for pete’s sake.
We started out with a contoured pad on a dedicated table. We never bothered with a belt because you’re right there, they’re not going to fall off unless you walk away to get something. If we could have our time again we’d get more of a dressing table type thing with draws so that it’s usable as a piece of furniture after nappy changing finishes.
When we bought our first house we found we didn’t really have room for the change table (the girls bedroom was filling up with IKEA furniture) so we dismantled it and started changing the girl on the same change pad on a shelf in the laundry. She started getting a bit long for that arrangement and now we just lie her down on the floor and do it.
We had a standalone changing table. It was a handy place to store diapers and other miscellaneous baby supplies. Plus, for my son, whenever there was an unexpected “fountain” it didn’t get on anything important since the changing table was a little apart from everything else.
The majority seems to believe that changing tables are extraneous. I agree.
Most nice diaper bags come with a small vinyl pad to stick under exceptionally messy bottoms. Otherwise, just keep the dirty one under the baby until you pull up the legs, remove the dirty, and insert the clean. All done, quick and complete, wherever you are.
This is something you’re going to be doing approximately three thousand times in the next three years. Why complicate the experience?
We had an inexpensive changing table that just had three open shelves with a pad for the top shelf. Diapers and whatever went on the lower shelves, so they were always right there. The pad had a belt, and I suppose we used it once or twice…
We still have it, but now it stores all our house paint cans in the basement.
Sister used a dedicated table with under-storage and slightly raised edges. It was awesome for me since I have such bad knees.
I second the ear plugs/muffs suggestion. I’m known for being able to handle baby screams like no other and I was the go-to-guy to soothe screaming babies at my church’s day care center. Having said that, even I’ve lost patience with a late-night-screaming baby, and it’s so ridiculous to feel anger towards a fussy baby when you can easily throw some ear plugs in.
I found diaper tables a complete waste of money. I just got a study pad with curved up sides. Then I found a (used) normal dresser that was about waist high. I put diapers and wipes in the top drawers and used the bottom ones for clothes. It worked great and was cheap and useful in the long term.
My youngest is now 6 and our diaper days are long past, but we still use the dresser.
Pad. Definitely the pad. It’s portable to any usable surface and doesn’t take up furniture space. For us it turned out to have an added advantage during the first one’s first six months, too: for whatever reason, he really didn’t like the pad in the bassinet, but would sleep there perfectly well on the changing pad.
Those terrycloth pad covers are poop magnets, so if you’re going to use one, use the money you’re not spending on a changing table to get several, 'cause most of them will be in the wash at any given moment. Of course, you’ll be surprised at how low your standards for cleanliness can go when you’re in the middle of baby-raising.
Your backs may or may not hate you, but all the baby lifting does turn out to be free exercise. I’m 43, with one that just turned 2 and one that just turned 6 months, and over several years I’d been watching my cholesterol stay too high and my triglycerides stay way too high. Without any major change in diet and without having undertaken any formal exercise regimen, I became noticeably more muscular in my arms after the first baby arrived, and my general physical last fall found that my cholesterol and triglycerides had both dropped to very healthy levels.
