Mommy's Favorites: Diaper Time

This will be the first of a series of "Mommy's Favorites" posts. They will probably be a little spread out in time, but they'll all come eventually. The reason that I'm posting this is that when I was getting ready to register and buy things in preparation for Annabelle, I sent emails out to my friends who were recent moms to find out what their favorites were. Their input was invaluable and even if I didn't use the exact same products that they used, their reasoning for their likes and dislikes made me think about things that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise. So, if you're a mom and have an opinion about anything that I post, please feel free to add your own 2 cents in! So, here's the first entry...

Diaper Time: Diaper Changing Favorites

The Changing Table: Instead of purchasing a changing table, we decided to use our window box in the nursery (just like the people who lived here before us did). We had to get the window box fixed because it was ruined in hurricane Jeanne, but it was well worth it! The thing that I absolutely LOVE about this changing table is that it is big enough to have lots of things on it besides just the changing pad. If you can find one that is big enough for this, I highly recommend it. I've heard some moms say that a changing table is a waste of money because they just change their babies whereever, but when I'm at home, I only use the changing table because it's so convinent. I think it just depends on the layout of your house, so just figure out what works best for where you spend the most of your time.

Changing Pad: Because I don't have a rail to keep Annabelle from rolling off of the changing table, I registered for the contoured pad (the sides are raised). Annabelle still isn't rolling over, but she's already scooting around so the "contour" part helps out. For the changing pad cover, my favorite is a chamois-type texture one that I bought. It's white, but it is pretty stain resistant (and even a little bit water-proof) so I just spray some Oxy Clean on it before I wash it and it comes out clean. I also have lap pads that I put on top of it which cover the most "messy potential" area (under her butt) so that usually catches any "mess" that occurs and I just toss that in the hamper and get a new one. The lap pads save me from having to wash the changing pad cover every couple of days or more (THANK YOU MOM for showing me this!).

Diapers: Admittedly, I haven't tried too many brands, but I LOVE Pampers Swaddlers! I've used them on Annabelle since she was born. At first she was too small for size 1, so she used the NB size, but now she's in the size 1-2 and has been for a while. I tried Huggies and hated them! She leaked nearly every time that she pooped and even sometimes when she peed. Pampers Swaddlers were recommended to me by a few moms, and I have to say I'm now on that bandwagon. A tip: Toys 'R Us seems to have sales quite often where they have a coupon for $5 the value pack of Pampers (which is ~200 size 1-2 diapers... the size is inbetween size 1 & 2, but they worked just fine to use right after NB... not too big at all) so go and buy a box each time you go there and stock up on the diapers ahead of time. Of course, don't buy TOO many because you never know how long they'll fit, but buy at least a couple of boxes especially if your baby is a multi-diaper using baby. A friend told us when Annabelle was born to always have the clean diaper ready to put on her IMMEDIATELY once you remove the other one because she may "output" right away, and she was right! One time we used 4 diapers at one changing because everytime we got the clean one on her (not even secured on her, just under her butt to clean her up from the dirty one), she'd mess the clean one up! Annabelle has just recently stopped doing that (THANK GOODNESS!), but we went through a lot because of that early on.

Baby Wipes: Here I'm the opposite of diapers when it comes to the brands, I love the Huggies (for sensative skin), but didn't care for Pampers. I don't hate Pampers, but I don't prefer them. I tried the lavender ones of Pampers, and they seemed too greasy to me. The Huggies have just the right amount of softness and don't feel greasy at all. I don't use a wipes warmer, so I can't speak from experience about them. However, I heard that one of the main reasons to get one is so that babies don't wake up too much from the cold wipe when changing them at night, and I haven't ever had a problem with this. In fact, I think Annabelle prefers that the wipes be a little cold because when she poops sometimes her butt gets a little red and the cold probably feels good. I've never had a problem with it waking her up too much though.

Diaper Disposing Container: I don't have a diaper genie or diaper champ. Before getting one, I decided to try just using plastic grocery bags, then dump the tied up bag into the trash. We're fortunate to have a trash shoot that goes down into our garage, so we can get the diapers out of the house immediately. This seems to work well for us. Of course, Annabelle is breast fed and I've heard that breast fed babies "output" doesn't smell as bad (at least until they start eating other foods) so keep that in mind (maybe I'll update this posting once she starts eating other things). Also, to store the plastic bags, I emptied a kleenex box and stuffed it full of grocery bags. I use a decorative tissue box cover over it, so it fits in well with the decor and isn't at all an eyesore. :)

Diaper Creme: My favorite is Balmex diaper creme. I've tried the butt paste and Desitin, but like Balmex best. The Desitin smells to medicine-ish to me, and I don't remember why I didn't prefer butt paste. Balmex is not greasy and doesn't smell like medicine, so I like it. I also only apply it to the area that's red when she shows sign of a rash, so I use barely any even when I do use it. She's nearly 3 months old, and I still have most of the tube left so a little goes a long way with this stuff. It seems to work really well on her too. She's never really had a bad rash, but still any time that I've used it, it seems to clear up the redness by the next diaper.

Hopefully this information will help other new moms out. If you have any opinions on Diaper Time related products, please feel free to leave your comments!