February 15, 2006
Diaper Changing Pad
(Filed under: Baby Stuff)When we found out we were pregnant there was only one thing I knew we needed. Of all the assorted baby equipment out there I only knew of one item we couldn't live without: a changing pad.
The only diapers I ever changed before my daughter's were for a kid I used to babysit for in high school (yes, it's incredibly unmanly to babysit in high school, but what can I say--the money was too good). The family had a thin changing pad that was vinyl on one side and cloth on the other, almost like a table cloth you'd use for a picnic.
I'd spread out the pad on the floor, plop the kid on the floor and change that diaper. Any spillage would fall on the vinyl pad and when I finished up I could just wipe it off with a wipe. The surface was solid and plasticy, so there weren't any seams or nooks and crannies to make clean-up difficult. Wipe and be done.
Apparently such pads don't exist today. You can get a two-inch thick changing pad for your changing table, and while it does have a vinyl surface, it's also quilted or perforated, making clean up difficult. They also sell pad covers, though they're just cloth. So any spillage means the pad cover goes in the laundry and you still have to clean the pad itself, which is already difficult.
I turned to portable changing pads and found things weren't much better. The portable pad we put in our diaper bag has threaded seams where it folds. I don't want to think about how not easy it will be to clean anything that falls in those cracks. I went out and bought a quilted changing pad, only to find the same threaded seams. The lap pads we were given are cloth and require a spin in the washing machine after any mess.
Is it too much to ask for easy clean-up? I would expect that to be the whole idea, but apparently not.
Thus the one bit of baby equipment that I wanted I've yet to find.
Posted by kevin at February 15, 2006 4:59 PM
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Comments
Hey Kevin - why don't you just get a plastic tablecloth. It's big enough that you could cut many pieces from it and still eliminate any seamed edges where the gunk gets stuck.
Posted by: Patti at February 20, 2006 12:55 PM
Try googling "splat mat."
Posted by: anon at March 25, 2006 5:35 PM
I went out with a guy in high school who regularly babysat, and changed diapers too. I never thought anything of it. Now keep in mind that I'm going back about 18 years, to a time when most mothers still used cloth diapers, pins, and rubber pants on their babies, and the mothers he babysat for indeed used cloth diapers on their kids. Now that's diaper changing! Anyhow, because I babysat too, my boyfriend was always able to ask me questions about things he didn't know, so that was pretty neat with me! Guys who babysit and change diapers, totally manly as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Kathleen at March 26, 2006 11:36 PM
