Shopping for the
Change Table

Somewhere to Change

First decision, and the biggest: what does bub actually lie on, and where does everything else live? These four all answer the same question in very different ways.

Change Table with Drawers

Everything about a change station multiplies: nappies, creams, spare clothes, the mystery items Grandma keeps buying. Drawers underneath swallow the lot and keep the bench clear for the actual job. Whichever style you choose, look for raised sides or a safety edge, anchor it to the wall, and never step away while bub's up there. Not even for the doorbell.

Change Table with Open Shelves

Same table, no drawer fronts, so everything sits in view and within reach. You can grab a nappy one-handed without wrestling a drawer, which matters more than you'd think when the other hand is holding a leg. The trade-off is that the whole world sees your nappy stacks, and so does a crawling baby a few months from now. Baskets on the shelves solve both.

Trolley

The change station on wheels. A three-tier trolley (the IKEA one has its own fan club) holds the full kit and rolls from nursery to lounge to wherever you happen to be. Renters and small-space families use it instead of a table altogether, changing bub on a mat on the bed or floor and wheeling the supplies to the mat.

Changing Basket

Lovely enough to leave out in the loungeroom, which is exactly why it gets used. The padded insert means the change station is wherever you set it down, and it's lighter to shift than a trolley. Same rule as every raised surface: your hand stays on bub, and it only goes somewhere it can't tip or slide.

Wall Anchor Kit

Toppling furniture is one of those risks nobody thinks about until the news reminds them, and a change table gets leaned on, pulled at and eventually climbed. An anchor kit straps or brackets the table to the wall studs for a few dollars and twenty minutes. Some tables come with one in the box; check before you buy a second.

Padded Change Mat

Nappy changes happen at 5am, 3pm and every hour in between, and a cushioned mat with contoured sides keeps a wriggling bub in place while you work. Wipeable is the feature to check for, because things will end up on it that you'll want gone with one swipe. Some come with a safety strap; use it as well as your hand, never instead.

Change Mat Covers

Wipeable plastic is practical right up until you lie a bare bottom on it during a winter night change, at which point everyone in the house finds out. A soft fitted cover fixes the cold-shock problem, and a spare in the drawer means the 3am change doesn't stall while the first one's in the wash.

Night Light

A decent chunk of your changes will happen in the dark, and flicking on the big light at 3am wakes bub up properly, which defeats the entire point of a quick change. A warm-toned night light near the table gives you enough to work by while keeping the room sleepy. Plug-in, portable and sensor styles all do the job.

Heater

A bare baby in a cold room lets you know about it immediately, and winter night changes are where a small heater pays its way. A low-set panel or oil column heater takes the sting out of the room before you undress bub. Keep it well clear of the table, cords out of reach, and never leave it running unattended.

Terry Toweling Cloths

The most useful thing on this whole list, and it isn't even a nappy any more. Lay one over the change mat to catch surprises, throw one over your shoulder for burping, mop up whatever needs mopping. They wash more easily than towels and dry faster, too, and a stack of them will still be in circulation when bub's at kinder.

Pee Teepee

The purpose-built version of that strategic draping. Cold air on a bare bottom is the classic trigger for a mid-change fountain, and this little absorbent cone sits over boy parts to catch it before it reaches your top, the wall or bub's own face. A folded cloth does the same job for free; the teepee just stays put better.

Nappies & Disposal

The nappies themselves, and the surprisingly involved question of what happens to them once they've done their job.

Disposable Nappies

The mainstream choice, and the one most hospitals send you home using. Sizing runs by weight, not age, and newborns move through sizes faster than you'd expect, so go easy on stockpiling any single size before bub arrives. Eco-friendly ranges have come a long way if landfill is on your mind.

Cloth Nappies

Modern cloth nappies are a different species to the pin-and-fold ones your mum remembers: shaped, snap-adjusted and genuinely cute. The maths favours them over a whole nappy career, especially across more than one child, but they front-load the cost and add a washing routine. Lots of families run both, cloth at home and disposables out and about.

Nappy Pants

These pull on and off like undies instead of fastening with tabs, which sounds like a small difference until bub learns to roll mid-change. They're built for the wriggly stage, roughly from crawling onwards, when getting a flat nappy onto a moving target becomes a two-person job. Not a newborn buy; a "why is my baby upside down" buy.

Nappy Bin

You've never smelled anything until you've caught a day-old nappy on a warm afternoon. A dedicated nappy bin seals each one away, some by twisting them into a sausage of wrapped bundles, and holds the smell until bin night. The alternative is walking every single nappy out to the wheelie bin, which some families genuinely prefer.

Nappy Bin Liners

Most sealed nappy bins run on their own brand of liner refill, and the bin is cheap while the refills are where the money goes. Before you commit to a bin, check the ongoing cost of its liners and whether generic refills fit it. That number matters more than the price on the bin itself.

Nappy Disposable Bags

Little scented bags that tie off one nappy at a time and stop the stink. They're the no-bin system: wrap, tie, straight to the outside bin. Even bin-owning families keep a roll in the nappy bag, because the change table stays home but nappies happen everywhere. Biodegradable versions exist and cost about the same.

The Wipes Aisle

This is where change station shopping gets confusing, because five different products all call themselves wipes and only some are allowed near your baby.

Baby Wipes

You'll go through more of these than you imagine you ever will, on bottoms, hands, faces and eventually the wall. Look for wipes free of alcohol and artificial fragrance, since newborn skin reacts to less than you'd think. Water wipes are the gentlest starting point, and your health nurse can point you to samples before you buy in bulk.

Dry Wipes

Soft dry cloths you wet yourself with plain water, so bub's skin gets nothing but cloth and tap water. Midwives often suggest them for the first weeks when skin is at its most reactive, and for nappy rash flare-ups when even gentle wet wipes sting. Reusable versions go in the wash with the rest of it.

Disinfectant Wipes

A completely different job to baby wipes: these clean the change mat, not the baby. A quick once-over after messy changes keeps the mat hygienic between proper cleans. They're for surfaces only, never for skin, so keep them in a separate spot from the baby wipes, because at 3am every packet looks the same.

Tissues

For the endless small dabs that don't warrant a wipe: milky chins, watery eyes, your own face during week three. A box living at the change station saves you cross-contaminating the good wipes on jobs a tissue handles fine. Cheap, boring, used daily.

Cotton Balls

Cotton and cooled boiled water are the old-school eye and face cleaner your health nurse will demonstrate: one ball per eye, one wipe per ball. They're also handy for dabbing cream onto sore spots without getting it all over your fingers.

Wipe Warmer

Somewhere out there is a baby who screams at the touch of a cold wipe, and this plugs in beside the table and keeps the packet warm for them. Winter households and cold-climate mums are the ones who use these. Everyone else warms a wipe in their hands for a few seconds and saves the powerpoint.

Wipes Case

A refillable hard case that keeps wipes moist and dispenses one at a time, instead of the packet's own seal giving up in week two and drying out the top layer. Handy at the table, handier in the nappy bag where the soft packet gets crushed. Refill it from the big bulk boxes and the savings add up.

Bottoms, Skin & After the Bath

Newborn skin is not the flawless peach the ads promised. Dryness, flaking and the odd rash are all normal, and this is the shelf that deals with them.

Nappy Rash Cream

Most families keep one within reach of the table, though not every bub needs it often. The choice runs from barrier creams to soothing ointments, antiseptic creams, Paw Paw and coconut oil, and different bottoms respond to different ones. Ask the chemist or your health nurse for samples before committing to a full tube.

Talc-Free Baby Powder

Keeping skin folds dry is half the battle against irritation, and talc-free powders made from cornstarch or tapioca do the drying without the talc concerns of the old tins. Shake it into your hand away from bub's face and pat it on, rather than dusting it through the air where little lungs are breathing.

Skincare

The baby aisle sells lotions, creams and balms for skin that's mostly fine on its own, but dry patches and flaky spots are common in the early months and a hypoallergenic, fragrance-free moisturiser handles them. If a rash looks angry or won't budge, that's a health nurse or GP question rather than a shopping one.

Baby Oil

For cradle cap, the crusty scalp business that looks alarming and isn't. A little oil massaged in before the bath softens the flakes so they lift away with a soft brush. It also stands in as a massage oil and softens dry patches, which is why one small bottle tends to last the whole first year.

Massage Oil

Baby massage is a lovely wind-down before bed, and the change table is where it tends to happen, right after the bath while bub's already undressed. A rub-down with an edible-grade or baby-formulated oil relaxes tiny bodies and gives you ten minutes of the good kind of quiet. Your local council or health centre often runs free baby massage classes.

Hooded Bath Towel

Babies lose heat fast out of the bath, mostly through their heads, and the hood solves exactly that on the trip from bathroom to change table. It also makes bub look like a small towelling wizard, which you will photograph. Two is a washing-cycle decision, not a rule; one family's spare is another family's clutter.

Little Jobs While You're There

The change table is where you'll notice things: the warm forehead, the blocked nose, the tiny talons. Having these within arm's reach means the job happens on the spot.

Thermometer

Fevers often show themselves when bub wakes, and the change table is usually the first stop after the cot, so this is the drawer it should live in. Digital under-arm and ear thermometers are the common picks for babies. Whichever you choose, learn to use it on a well baby so you're not reading instructions on a sick one.

Nasal Aspirator

Babies can't blow their noses, and the first cold turns up sooner than anyone's ready for. A blocked nose means nobody feeds well and nobody sleeps, so an aspirator does the clearing for them, by bulb, pump or the parent-powered tube style that's less gross than it sounds. A few saline drops first loosens everything up.

Hair Brush

Some bubs arrive nearly bald, some arrive with a full head of business, and both kinds get cradle cap. A soft-bristle baby brush smooths down whatever hair there is and helps lift softened cradle cap after an oil treatment. Ten seconds at the change table and bub's looking presentable for the day's visitors.

Nail Clippers

Newborn nails are papery, fast-growing and directly responsible for those little face scratches. The change table is the natural spot to check and trim them, ideally while bub's milk-drunk and floppy. Baby clippers, scissors and files all work from birth; plenty of nervous first-timers start with the file until their hands stop shaking.

Hand Sanitiser

You can't leave a baby on a raised surface to duck off and wash your hands, so the washing has to come to you. A pump bottle at the table sorts your hands after the change, before you pick bub back up. Pump-style specifically, because one hand is permanently occupied at this bench.

Keeping it all Together

The last shelf: the organising, the laundry and the entertainment committee. Because a baby who's distracted mid-change is a baby who isn't rolling toward the edge.

Caddy

Nappies, wipes, cream and a spare onesie in one carry-handled basket, so the essentials move around the house with you. Even with a fully stocked table, a caddy earns its spot the first evening you realise the baby is asleep in the lounge and the nappies are not. Restock it each night and future-you says thanks.

Laundry Basket

A baby generates a frankly unreasonable amount of washing, and most of it comes off at the change table. A basket right there means soiled onesies and mat covers go straight in instead of forming a pile on the floor that you'll trip over during a night change. A lidded one keeps the smell to itself.

Onesies

The outfit you spent forever choosing will meet an almighty spit-up roughly forty seconds after you fasten the last snap. A stash of spare onesies in the change table drawer means quick changes happen on the spot instead of a full expedition back to the wardrobe. Zips over snaps for anything you'll be doing in the dark.

Dummy

Some babies find change time fascinating and some find it deeply offensive, and for the second kind a dummy within reach can settle things long enough to finish the job. Red Nose suggests waiting until breastfeeding is established, around four to six weeks, before introducing one, and a dummy should never be tied to a cord around bub's neck or the furniture.

Cot Mobile

Hung above the change table instead of the cot, a mobile gives bub something to study while you deal with the other end. Fix it firmly, keep it well out of reach of little hands, and plan to take it down once bub can push up on hands and knees, around five months. Enjoy the trance while it lasts.

Board Books

A high-contrast board book propped beside the mat gives a newborn something to stare at, and by six months bub will be gripping it, chewing it and occasionally looking at it. Change table reading is also sneaky language time; the health nurse will tell you the same thing at every visit. Board specifically, because paper doesn't survive teething.

Toys

As bubs grow they get curious, then impatient, then acrobatic, and a small rotation of change-table-only toys buys you the thirty seconds a nappy change requires. Links, soft rattles and crinkly things all work. The trick is keeping a couple in reserve, because a toy bub hasn't seen all week is twice as interesting as the favourite.

Every product here solved a very specific change station problem for somebody.

You won't know which problems are yours until you're a few weeks in and you've met your actual baby. Start with a mat, nappies and wipes, do a few hundred changes, and come back to this list once you know whether you're dealing with a serene bub who lies still, a wriggler who treats every change as an escape attempt, or a skin situation that needs the chemist on speed dial.

None of it sells out.