I'll never forget standing in Target by myself, 8 months pregnant, trying to finish buying stuff off our baby registry and being completely dumbfounded when it came to the aisle with mattress covers/mattress protectors/changing pad covers/changing pad protectors/sheets. Holy. Cow. There are a lot of pads and protectors and covers. I had no idea what we needed, how many of each we needed, or even what the hell half of them were. This is pretty much what I looked like except my belly was the size of a small planet.
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| I need a protector to protect the cover to protect the pad? |
So here's my list of what we actually needed and how many of each and what the difference between these things even are. Enjoy.
Crib Stuff
1. Zippered mattress protector. This is basically a zippered bag that encases and waterproofs your mattress. This is the last level of defense of your baby's mattress. In most cases, a baby mattress itself is supposedly waterproof, but I don't want to take that chance and I don't think you do either. You need one.
Note: There is a lot of controversy out there about mattresses and chemicals and SIDS risk. Educate yourself and decide what you feel comfortable with as far as purchasing a mattress and protector. There are mattress protectors out there that claim to hold in any toxic gases that may or may not be in your mattress and help reduce the risk of SIDS. SIDS is scary business and I am not advocating for or against these special covers and/or any type of mattress.
2. Crib pad. There are two options: fitted and flat. This pad goes on top of your mattress (in the zippered cover) and under the sheet. This is probably the pad that is going to absorb the majority of wetness that "appears" in a crib under your baby. When I was shopping I completely missed that the fitted and flat things were two options of the same thing. I bought the flat versions. They work just fine but they just lay on top and don't go over the sides of the mattress. But the fitted versions don't really have an absorbancy down the sides either. And crib sheets are so darn tight that if you have to do a sheet/crib pad change in the middle of the night, the fitted versus flat crib pad isn't going to make a bit of a difference as far as an easier/quicker change. You need at least 2 of these.
3. Above sheet protector. A mom friend told me that she used changing pad covers as an extra protective barrier between the sheet and her little one since he was a heavy wetter. These covers are flat smaller versions of the flat crib pad and are waterproof. I can see how they would be very nice to use if your child is a heavy wetter. It's much easier to just whip this off the top of the sheet and plunk down a new one in the middle of the night (after changing your kid) if you have a leak instead of changing the sheet and the crib pad too.
Note: The American Academy of Pediatrics warns against loose bedding in a child's crib. Use common sense if you decide to put anything between your child and the sheet.
Changing Pad Stuff
1. Contoured changing pad. This is the long U-shaped ubiquitous white changing pad. It's sort of soft and U-shaped to hold your kid sort of in one place. Most are covered in a plastic waterproof barrier that wipes clean if wet. If you are going to use a changing table you need one of these. If you decide that you don't really need one and will just use a bed/floor/sofa as a changing station, please see #4 for on the go changing pads.
2. Fleece changing pad cover. These are the covers you think of when you hear "changing pad cover." These are the soft and fluffy and warm and pretty covers that dress up the changing pad. These go directly over the contoured changing pad and protect it from getting soiled during a diaper change. You need at least 2 of these. More if you don't get something to act as a changing pad cover as outlined below.
3. Changing pad cover. Ok, here's where the cover/protector for another cover/protector starts seeming crazy. But hear me out. Changing the nice fleece changing pad cover sucks because you have to pull those seatbelt straps through every time. And if you're a good parent and have the changing pad strapped down to the wall/changing table, you also have to pretty much unbelt that too. And the changing pad cover will get dirty. A lot. Like multiple times every day, especially with a newborn. I think newborns are programmed to pee the instant the diaper comes off. It happens every time. Sometimes three times during one diaper change. I wish I was joking. The smartest thing we did in the whole cover/pad/protector realm was to invest in some lap pads and use those as an extra barrier between the fluffy changing pad cover and the diaper/baby. So we have our nice fluffy fleece cover and then a little lap pad that's about the size of a paper towel (but waterproof!) right where the baby's bottom goes. So when the diaper comes off, the lap pad protects the fleece cover. And in the event of any messes, we just pick up the lap pad and put down a new one. I think we had like 8 of these in the beginning, but after the first week at home with our newborn, we made a very quick purchase on Amazon (thank you two day shipping!) for more. I think we have somewhere in the 12-16 range. We went through those things like butter at first. It saved us time and time again from having to take the fleece cover off and change it. Those things were just big enough to contain nearly all the messes (and sop up all the pee) yet small enough where you could still actually see the pretty fleece cover and the baby could still lay pretty much on the soft cover. We use less now because
4. On the go changing pads. I think these are also called "changing pad covers" but the size of them throws me way off. If you put one of these on your changing pad, it will cover your entire changing pad. That means you will not get to see your pretty fluffy fleece changing pad cover because it will be buried. Maybe that won't bother you. Maybe it will. But even if you decide not to use these on your actual changing pad at home, you still want some of these to serve as on the go changing pads. Like mentioned before, you can use these as an above sheet protector in the crib or as a changing pad around the house for a quick diaper change in a different room. These are also really nice to use as the changing pad in your diaper bag when you wash the one that came with your diaper bag and it falls apart (not that that's happened to us...). I also like these a lot because they're larger than the dinky changing pad that comes with diaper bags. Those are fine when your baby is really little, but after 6 months, they outgrow that pad. And these on the go changing pads pretty much cover the entire area of those pull-down Koala Kare diaper changing things in public restrooms. I have no idea how filthy those are, but I imagine they are pretty bad and the less area of them that my kid has to touch and lay on, the better. We have about 8 of these, but we probably only actually need about 4.
So there you have it. That's my quick run-down of what covers, pads, and protectors you actually need and what to use them for. Like I said in the intro, the names and sizes of each are very confusing and I had no idea what was what or how many of each to get. Hopefully this helps.
What are your thoughts? Any other tips and tricks of the trade you've found from your experience?
Hope this helps,
Me
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