HawthorneVillager.com

Hi Everyone,

Just looking for some baby advice. I have three things which are on my mind, and I'm hoping that I can get your two cents.

Change Table:
Is a change table worth buying? If not then what would you suggest we use.

Diaper Disposal System
Are these worth buying?

Bathing Baby
What tub, etc would you recommend to bath your baby.

Thanks,
Reena

Hi Reena,

I am a mother of four. I had my last child 7 weeks ago.

It really all depends on the person. I had a change table with my first two children, but found it much easier and safer to use my bed with a change pad under them. I also used the disposable diaper pail and I did not like that to much. Especially when they do a number two. As for the baby tub. My children never liked it. They felt more secure being washed in the bathroom sink. If you really want to wash in a baby tub my suggestion would be to find one not to big in which they will feel secure.

I hope this helps.

We use a short Ikea dresser as a change table - it's just the right height and has sides and a back to keep the change pad in place. I prefer it to the bed because it's a bit higher and therefore easier on my back. With the number of diapers you'll change, it's important to be comfortable!

Never had interest in a diaper genie. Friends of mine had one and hated emptying it; they ended up leaving it full for weeks, afraid of opening it to find the built-up stench. We empty solid waste into the toilet each time and take the diapers out to the trash every day or two. Works fine.

As for a bath, we had a plastic baby tub at first, but he quickly out-grew it and never really liked it. When he got a bit bigger we got an inflatable one for in the big tub and he loved it. Ever since he's been able to sit reliably without risk of falling over, he's been straight in the big tub.

Wow, great advice thus far. Thank you so much.

Oh, I forgot to mention - I live in Mississauga in a townhouse (I move to Milton next year). That may affect decisions about garbage as we have weekly pickup and there's a dumpster out back.

Also, I know most people don't do it, but you really are supposed to dump the solid waste in the toilet. Landfills aren't equipped for human waste.

If you DO dump the diapers like you're supposed to, cloth diapers aren't too much more work. When we move to Milton and have the upstairs laundry, we're switching to cloth. Modern reusable diapers are pretty awesome now and much cheaper. Just something else to think about.

As for diapers....we use www.comfycotton.ca.

Diapers are picked up every Thursday and a new set dropped off (70 in total for the week).

$40 start-up(get back after 1 year)
$18 for diaper pail(they provide bag every week and a new carbon filter every month or so...)
$15.95/week + GST....buy 12 weeks get one free. You can also cancel service if you are going to be away on holidays.

They are great...no smell like disposable. You just put the diaper in the pail, no need to rinse.

PM for any additional information.

Chris and Courtney

I could have done without a change table. Most of the time, if I'm downstairs, I'll just change my daughter down here, rather than run upstairs just for a wet diaper. Even when I'm up there, when my daughter was a newborn, she slept in my room, so I would just change her on my bed. I could have done without a change table.

As for a Diaper Genie, COULD NOT live without it - I love it! I have the II Version as well. We actually ended up buying a second one, and now we have one on each floor! It's fantastic to have a place to store dirty and stinky diapers, without having to run out to the garbage cans all the time! And the refills last us a long time, especially since we have one on each floor. This was just so we had a place to put diapers on each floor, rather than collecting them and carting them to another level.

Also, by looking at that above service, I would say it's probably the same price or more expensive than disposable diapers. Even if you use 1 package a week, you can easily find them on sale for about $15/pkg (same price as their weekly cost), and you don't have to pay for a pail or anything else up front, unless you have a diaper genie. A package also lasts us much longer than a week - so it's cheaper than this service for us.

I'm trying to think what else I found was great, and what I didn't use. Oh, I had one of those Close Sleepers which you lay the baby in between the two parents and it keeps them safe. Well, the plastic inside of it is not comfortable for baby, even with blankets, my daughter hated it! I guess it was always cold, and she would rather cuddle against me than sleep in this contraption.

I found a travel infant swing to be fantastic as well.

Good luck and Congrats!!

Laurie

_________________

Congrats Courtney,

All my babies enjoyed the swing. I also learned with my first born that when they are newborns they prefer to be snug. I was living with my parents and we had used the playpen for the first few months and I found he did not like this at all. he would rather sleep in the car seat. He did not like large surroundings. When I had my second I purchased a bassinet and found that to be a lot better. I always had my babies sleep in the same room with me until they were around 3 months.

As for baby monitors. You will develop super hearing ears. You will always hear your baby. You tend to become a light sleeper after you've had children. I just have a normal, nothing fancy monitor that works just fine.

I know when I found out I was pregnant for the first time I wanted all kinds of gadgets for my child and then came to realize that half of it was useless.

I always had a change table in the nursery with everything needed close at hand, but also had a change area set up in the family room as well since we had four young kids and didn't want to leave them unsupervised. I never used a diaper geenie. I just throw them out with the kitchen garbage each day.
The best thing for a new baby is a bassinette. We put the babies in it on the main floor during the day and in the crib at night so that they were used to noise. They are all great sleepers!
If you haven't found the Milton Mom's site yet, you may want to check it out. You will find lots of useful info there.

www.famivu.com

I'm a mom of 4, with my youngest being almost 4 months now....I personally didn't find the diaper genie useful...we re-use all of the rabba and other shopping bags as "diaper genies".

Change table, I have and use often...though I remember with my middle 2 I changed them anywhere throughout the house...just kept a basket of supplies handy, and that was portable.

As for an infant bath...I personally find them useless....and this is often the most popular gift item you will receive. As long as you have a kitchen sink, you have a bathtub for a baby!! When they don't fit in the sink, they fit into the normal bathtub

Good Luck! And Congrats!!

You should also go on the milton mommy website, tonnes of ideas and advice on there..the link is www.famivu.com

Jessica

Wow its nice to see I am not the only one with four children. Usually now a days the normal family would consist of only two children. Now I don't feel so alone.

I did not use a change table either.
I chose to use a dresser with a thick 3" change pad attached to it, the pad was purchased at sears and had strap's to attach to back of a change table/dresser with screws. I did not use this while I was down stairs, (changing was done on floor on a thin change pad), but did enjoy the change pad on dresser in the middle of the night.

As for diaper genie, a stinky poo is a stinky poo get it out of the house ASAP
You know those green bins the city gives away, they make a great diaper pail. If you place it out side your back door or Garage door pop the lid lock it no animals can get in and holds smell...

Bath time... I enjoyed a product made by Daphin. It is a bath bed/chair that is placed inside the infant tub then can be used in the larger tub as the child grows. It has a suction cup that is VERY strong will not tip in bath. The seat can be adjusted as the child grows this will fit your child until he/she is ready to sit up in tub. You can purchase this at the Super Safety Store in Mississauga Winston Churchill/Dundas it cost $28.00.
Bath tip: place the baby lotion bottle in the baby bath while bathing. This will warm up the lotion, so your baby's lotions is warm while applied.

The Super Safety Store is a place worth visiting It's a huge warehouse that has everything... Strollers, Cribs and most important safety products

Good luck with you new baby and enjoy him/her.

Hi,

I didn't even bother getting a change table because having seen my gf. in action with her kids the diaper changes would be happening in different areas of the house, and like many people said, mostly downstairs. It would be too much of a hassle running up to the change table.

We got an infant tub similar to this one http://www.babyproofingplus.com/item530 ... Search=yes that fits across the top of a regular bathtub (regular meaning the kind of bathtub that you would normally see in the main bathroom upstairs). I loved it because you don't have to set it down on the floor of the regular bathtub so your back doesn't hurt so much. And there are two ways that a child can fit into it, one way is more reclined and the other way the child has to be able to sit because there's not much extra support unless they are able to sit on their own. Our daughter loved it too.

Like a pp said, safety superstore is a good place to check because you get to see a large selection. However I also find many of their products a bit pricey so it's good to check out other stores to compare prices.

I didn't have a change table either. Like a pp I had a dresser that we strapped a special change pad too. It was great because once the kids were out of diapers it was still in use.
I did have a baby bath seat, only used it for the first month of so when they were really tiny..after that it was the sink, just so much easier.

As for my "couldn't live with-outs" :
1) The baby swing, some nights it was the only way I could get my guys to sleep and they would sleep there all night. It was great when they had colds as they could sleep comfortably with their heads elevated and breath easier.
2) I never had a high chair, I got one of those 3 in 1 reclining feeding seats. It was the best, strapped to a regual chair, didn't take up any space and they used it from 3 months-3 years PLUS I could take it anywhere...all that for under $40.00.

FYI-Direct from the Halton Website.

Why are diapers not accepted in the GreenCart?
Diapers, sanitary products and pet waste are difficult to compost. By not including these materials in the program, the Region has more options when it comes to processing.

The less contamination there is in the collected material, the better the quality of the final compost product making it easier to market the compost. Including these items in the compost could result in the compost not meeting Ontario provincial quality guidelines resulting in the compost having to be disposed as waste.

Diapers will still be collected in the garbage.