changing table - yay or nay?

[Marzipan23]

20 weeks with first baby and starting to think about sorting the babies room! the room is small so its looking likely we will get a tall boy set of drawers which are usually about 120cm high, expect these will be too high to change the baby on but storage is an issue so no other choice!
question is - do I need a changing table? I have also seen changing boards that fit on top of the cot that i'm thinking could be good? any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

I had one that went on top of the cot. I found it really useful. I wouldn’t bother with a changing table.

Ours is an over the cot one, works great, good height :)

Never had one for any of my babies , just used the padded change mats on the floor / bed .
My thought process is that they start rolling so quickly that it gets dangerous to have them at any height on a small piece of furniture.

Will baby not be in with you for 6 months? I used the bed and the floor to change my kids and didn't have a changing table

I loved my change table. Sure you can just get on the floor but why would you?

I never had a changing table just a mat usually on the floor or bed

In a word, no. You can very easily get by without one.

You don't need one, no. But I really liked having one and found it very handy. It's also served two other babies too (not mine!) so it was a good investment

We had a changing table with drawers under it and honestly after about 3 days I just used the top of it for storage as using a mat on the floor was just so much easier and quicker than going into the nursery every time I needed to change the nappy.

100% yes. Check out mamas and papas as you can get a chest of draws with one built in on top so it saves on space and a double use. Still use with my 3y old. Saves you bending down and he loves sitting on it for stories etc.

Of course it's not an essential but neither are many many things with babies and id you can afford it then go for it.

I personally wouldn't. I've worked with two families who had social services investigations when their babies rolled off a change table and sustained injuries. It was v traumatic for all. If you're changing them on the floor you never have to worry about this.

The investigation was most likely because they left their child on a changing table to allow them to roll off. You (obviously!) shouldn't leave a baby that can roll on a high surface. That's fairly basic. Also a baby on a change table over a cot would roll into a bed so it's much less of an issue if you did for some reason leave them unattended.

A changing table over the cot will be much easier than on the floor all the time. You will do plenty of changing on the floor too eg in the sitting room. Get a cheap mat to go under the sofa for that. We didn't have a proper changing table but put a changing mat on a chest of drawers. Worked fine for us. But I preferred to be able to change at waist height than having to change on the floor 100% of the time.

I don't see the point as baby will be in your room for the first six months anyway. We changed baby on a large bay windowsill in our bedroom but on the floor or on the bed on a mat also works well.

I had one with my 2nd and my back thanked me for it. We had ours in the front room where we spent most of our time.

We had one, and it was definitely the right decision for me as I have back issues, so changing on the floor would have been very uncomfortable. DH built me one which was longer and higher (and a lot more sturdy) than most commercially available ones. DD wasn't a roller, so we used it until she was out of nappies. We had it downstairs, as that worked better for us.

We never used a changing table. We just did changes on mats, either on the bed (at night) or on the floor/sofa/kitchen table (in daytime).

I had one on top of a chest of drawers with my first - loved it, total back saver. I’m using the floor or bed with the second, it’s ok but I miss the changing table!

One over the cot has been great for us.

No one plans to leave their baby unattended, but accidents happen- parents are tired and sleep deprived, another child distracts them etc etc. Both times parents were in the room and it all happened v quickly.

Love our changing table - still using it more than 2 years later. But I have an easy toddler who doesn't fight getting changed so is somewhat trusted up there. Depends on the kid I think!

We had one for both kids in their rooms and tbh it would only be used first thing and maybe when doing the last change before bed. All other changes are done on a change mat on top of a rectangular pouffe/footstool in the living room, which had the added bonus of us being able to sit down on the sofa whilst doing the nappy changes. In your circumstances I would skip it in favour of the tallboy, but I would 100% recommend the pouffe-route for downstairs.

Over the cot here too. Very pleased to not have to bend whilst recovering from a section. Obviously you keep a hand on them at all times whilst using it and never ever step away, even when you think they can’t roll yet.

I’ve had 5 babies and 0 changing tables. Total waste of money (like most baby stuff) I reckon especially when you don’t have room

We had a changing table from ikea and loved it. Actually just finished using it recently (my baby is 19 months old).

I had a changing table downstairs as well as upstairs! If you end up with a c-section, you’re not going to be getting down on the floor for changes.