Diapering

Changing your baby’s diaper will take up a good portion of your time during your first month with him, and it’s a chore that will continue for at least two years. You will soon become very familiar with the ins and outs of diapering equipment, but for now, here’s a starter guide.

Diapers

Pampers is the best brand we’ve tried. We registered for both Pampers and Huggies because they were about the same price and we figured we’d give both leading diaper brands a shot. (We haven’t tried Luvs, which is slightly less expensive.) It turns out the Huggies material feels like stiff plastic while Pampers feels like soft cloth. I have no idea how Huggies competes with Pampers on the same price level. Perhaps Huggies manages to snag customers with its coupons, which are more readily available.

I recommend registering for no more than two jumbo boxes of the Newborn-size diapers. Who knows how fast your baby will grow; he just may be onto Stage 1 by the time you’re done with those two boxes. If you want to register for more diapers, get two boxes of the Newborn size, two of the Stage 1 size, two of the Stage 2 size, etc. You can’t go wrong this way.

Wipes

I can’t tell a difference between wipes brands. We’ve used both Pampers and Huggies, both scented and unscented. Our baby doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. Get at least one tub of wipes—those plastic boxes that dispense the wipes. You can reuse the dispenser over and over again, and purchase jumbo boxes of wipes to refill it.

Baby Powder

Talcum powder is no longer sold because apparently it’s not safe for babies to inhale talc. But now companies have moved on to making baby powder out of cornstarch. After our baby’s first bout with diaper rash, we started using Gold Bond Baby Powder, which has worked very well to prevent subsequent outbreaks.

Diaper Waste Basket *

When I put a Playtex Diaper Genie II Elite on my registry, some coworkers warned me that they’d had terrible experiences with their Diaper Genies years ago. Apparently Playtex took the complaints seriously because the II version is wonderful. Gone are the complicated bag system and the problem with leaking odors. Our Diaper Genie works like a charm, allowing us to not have to worry about throwing dirty diapers away for about a week at a time.

We use the Diaper Genie for poop diapers only, to put off having to buy the refills. (Pee diapers, which are more plentiful and don’t smell as bad, go in a regular garbage can, which we empty every three days or so.) But if you’re able to dispose of your garbage daily (i.e., you live in an apartment building with a garbage chute), I’d avoid buying a special diaper waste basket altogether. The whole point is to contain the smell of poop until garbage collection day rolls around each week.

Changing Pad and Covers

Changing pads keep things sanitary. You could technically change your baby on the bed or couch, but when you’re dealing with a leaky diaper, you want your baby to be on a changing pad. Our Basic Comfort model has worked just fine. You’ll also want to purchase at least two changing pad covers http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2304876 so you’ll be able to throw them in the wash instead of having to clean the pad over and over again.

Not recommended:

Wipes Warmer

This product, which keeps the wipes warm in a heated dispenser, seems sort of gimmicky to me, although I’ve read positive reviews from parents who love it. Maybe your baby will enjoy the warm wipes, but honestly, I don’t think she’ll care. We didn’t register for this, but someone gave one to us as a present, and we used it for about a week. The heat dried up the wipes, and it felt like we were just wasting electricity. Plus, our baby didn’t seem to notice the difference. We ended up passing it to someone else.

* Nice to have, but not necessary.

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