Comments on: Baby room clutter: The changing table

By: Hanmee

Hanmee — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 16:34:27 +0000

We also got a changing pad that fit onto a “combo” dresser (one that is designed to operate as a changing table/small dresser). The elevated side is where I put the bins to organize the diaper cream, diapers, wipes. The drawer holds small tidbits like creams, medicines, thermometers. The door (with a shelf inside) holds the full supply of diapers. The three dresser drawers holds things like burp cloths, bibs, onesies, sleepers, PJs (Depending on the size of the baby).

The room is very small, but there really wasn’t any closet space to work with. We hang clothes in there, but it’s very narrow and it’s not a full length, as the floor is over the stairs so in our case the changing table has been helpful, but if we didn’t use the other portion of it, we probably wouldn’t have it. Once there are no more babies to use it, we will simply take off the changing pad cushion and use it as a regular dresser.

I actually wish we had a changing table type item that was big enough to accommodate my son b/c the baby likes to crawl all over him when I’m trying to change his diaper!

(We live in a townhouse so we have a small basket in the basement that just has a changing pad and diaper supplies.)

By: Kersti

Kersti — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:13:52 +0000

I remember laying my sisters down on the floor to change them. I’d first lay down a soft blanket on the carpet and change them there - easy to do and the added bonus that the little ones could not possibly fall off!

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:28:00 +0000

Instead of a changing table, we used a card table pushed up into the corner of our son’s room. It was great! There was plenty of space for the changing pad and three small open plastic storage boxes we used to keep all the supplies. The diaper genie easily fit underneath, along with spare supplies.

Now that our son is well out of diapers, the table is used for the more traditional card table uses (i.e., everything BUT playing cards!)

By: loki

loki — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:39:05 +0000

We had a very energetic baby, the one who will NOT stay on his back to get changed, and will relentlessly try to flip and crawl everywhere. Changing him on the floor was not an option, nor changing him on the bed. The changing table was a way to control his activity. Now, at 15 months, he’s understood what changing was all about and stays calmly on his back, but between 6-12 months, it was a real pain!

By: Ellen

Ellen — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 22:33:18 +0000

I changed my firstborn almost exclusively on floors and beds. By the time our second arrived, my back was four years older, and I figured I’d give a secondhand changing table a try. It was a huge relief (like others here I’m tall, as is my spouse), and we liked it so much that when it fell apart I replaced it with another, even nicer, garage-sale changing table — even though our secondborn was by then out of diapers! We use it in our room to store clothing; it’s a beautiful piece of shelving, and for $20, who can beat that?

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:21:13 +0000

I loved my daughter’s changing table and initially we lived in a small apartment in Manhattan. It’s transitioned to, baby storage and eventually a toy shelf. Now, we are getting rid of it, finally. She loved it, because it was just her size. I loved it because I can move it when I need to. But that was just us.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:05:09 +0000

Of course I wouldn’t claim our approach is any better than any others, but we have gotten by with minimal furniture for both our kids.

I’m 6′5″ and have changed both of my boys on the floor. We have a storage spot for wipes/diapers both up and downstairs — and both the up and downstairs have floors, so that works well for us.

Kids rooms don’t have dressers either. Just a bed and a bookcase — all the clothes are on shelves in the closet.

By: Stimey

Stimey — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 23:06:57 +0000

Oh, I beg to differ. I LOOOOOVE my changing table. We got one for our first baby and have used it multiple times every day for the past five and a half years. (We have three kids now.) I think that makes it the exact opposite of clutter. If you use a unitasker, isn’t it better than a multitasker you don’t use?

By: William

William — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:45:53 +0000

We used the pad on the dresser method for our twins until we moved. Now the bedrooms are upstairs so we bought a cheap changing table from Ikea. The bottom shelf we filled with plastic drawers that hold wipes, socks, other stuff. Its the baby supply station for the downstairs. Upstairs we just change them on the floor now since we dont have that big dresser for them and they are in separate rooms now. Even when we stop using it as a changing table, its a pretty good shelf unit and it fits well in the corner we’ve got it in. We also have an underbed storage drawer underneath it that works as a toybox. I really prefer the wide flat boxes instead of a deep toybox. Its much easier to cleanup, just pull it out and you can pretty much throw stuff into it from across the room, and its easier for the kids to get stuff out without digging and emptying the whole thing.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:16:37 +0000

We bought ours with the intention to use it as a mini entertainment center for the basement or the kids rooms. The pad will come off, TV will go on top, and it’s got a shelf for the movie/video games when it comes time. Of course, my 3 year old doesn’t know this, nor do our twins incubating now. It’s been good to both of us for back reasons as well, my wife and I are both over six feet tall

By: Groovymarlin

Groovymarlin — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:10:12 +0000

We have a changing table very like the one you have pictured and we love it. I agree that a dresser top works just as well, but we didn’t have a dresser for our daughter and a changing table was vastly cheaper than a new dresser. We are also very tall (me 5′8″ and him 6′1″) and find the table is the perfect height for changing diapers, dressing and undressing, etc. I have canvas bins (two large on the bottom shelf, three medium on the middle) that perfectly fit on the shelves, and store all of her diapers, wipes, first aid supplies, changing pads, etc. I have no doubt that once she’s potty-trained, we’ll get more bins to put on top of the table and continue to use it as storage, maybe even in another room. It’s a very attractive piece of furniture and I feel it was money well spent.

By: m

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:29:28 +0000

We initially resisted buying a changing table. But because I am tall, 35 and had a c-section bending over to change him on the couch in the baby’s room was backbreaking and painful. I ended up buying the changing table you pictured, although with wood shelves. It will be pushed into a corner to house books and toys once he is out of diapers. $70 is worth it to eliminate the back strain. But if your back can take I wouldn’t buy one!

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:12:59 +0000

We ended up doing what Heather did for both our kids and attached a changing table to the top of a dresser. Worked like a charm for the time the kids needed it - and our oldest kid is now using it as a dresser in her room.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:10:00 +0000

Our baby’s room is cleaner than our own most of the time.

We did the dresser with a changing pad as well to cut down on stuff. Downstairs we use the bassinet for changing her, although she is quickly getting too big to even change her in it. We will probably migrate to the floor at that point.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:51:27 +0000

We “invested” in a diaper bag that had a changing pad included. And then we either used the floor, or our bed (the bed is TALL and so is my husband) to change our daughter. She’s now 2 and if you have any advice for stubborn toddlers and toilet training….. *grin*

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:36:28 +0000

I’m with others above. We by-passed a change table and just used a mat on the floor. No clutter and no risk of falling. Another recommendation, skip a toddler bed. For our son when he was too big for the crib, we placed his crib mattress on the floor, against the wall, surrounded by folded blankets and there he slept until we no longer found him on the blankets. This only took a week or two and then we switched him to his double bed. Fingers crossed, we won’t have to upsize to a queen until he is at least 12 (he’s very tall, like dad who is 6′5″).

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:05:30 +0000

Any way to tactfully say, “Hey, Grandma and Grandpa, instead of buying baby all this crap, why don’t you do something useful and kick in to the college fund?”

No, probably not.

By: Phil B

Phil B — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:02:16 +0000

Our daughter is three months old and the only time I’ve changed her on anything but the floor (on a £10 mat) has been in shops’ changing facilities. She can’t fall off, and you get decent elbow room on all sides. My wife and I are both tall (around 5′11′). It also means you’re used to changing on the floor when you have no alternative (e.g. this weekend we changed her twice on the ground in a park with just a thin mat and she didn’t object - well, no more than normal )

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:40:17 +0000

Beds, floors, sofas, countertops, even chairs and the front seats of cars work just fine. (Actually, the back seat of the car would work better, if the baby car seat weren’t in the way.)

By: jgodsey

jgodsey — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:39:31 +0000

aside from a high chair and a cradle, nearly all baby furniture is an invention of the 20th c manufacturers. you don’t need any of it.
booster seat = yellow pages
changing table = bed