Simmons Contoured Changing Pad

When I was expecting baby number three I spent a good deal of time going through all of the baby items I had stored in the attic. I laughed at myself for having even bothered to save our Simmons Contoured Changing Pad since it was falling apart, but I just can t throw out anything it seems!

The Basics
The Simmons Contoured Changing Pad is a vinyl covered changing pad that measures approximately 16 x 32 . It is contoured so that the long sides are about 3 higher than the middle. There is a simple strap in the middle of the pad to secure the baby. There are also two straps off one side of the pad so that you can screw or nail the pad to a changing table or dresser. The bottom of the changing pad is covered in foam to help it resist slipping. The surface and straps can be wiped down for easy cleaning.

Our Experience
When I was pregnant with our first child I wanted the perfect nursery, but we really did not have a lot of money for extras such as a changing table. So we opted to purchase a Simmons Contoured Changing Pad and attach it to the top of a dresser we all ready had. My husband had no trouble nailing the changing pad straps into the back of the dresser and the pad absolutely did not move.

But the changing pad did not look very comfortable. I wouldn t want to lay naked on a piece of cold vinyl so I assumed that my baby wouldn t want to either. So of course I purchased several Simmons Contoured Changing Pad Covers. These were nice, thick terry covers with elastics edges to keep them on the changing pad. It really looked nice.

And then I actually had the baby! We probably had the pad attached to the dresser for a month and used it only a couple of times a night. It just wasn t always convenient to take the baby upstairs to change a diaper during the day. It was about that time that we realized this baby was not going to sleep in her crib any time soon so we removed the pad from the dresser and brought it into our room. Our dresser is too high to make a convenient changing table so I just left the pad lying against the wall and placed it on our bed when I wanted to change our daughter at night. And then the problems began.

The Simmons Contoured Changing Pad Covers shrink as you wash them. Now something that is coming in contact with an undiapered child s rear is going to get dirty often and therefore washed often. When I put a cover on it no longer formed to the shape of the pad, but was suspended like a hammock over the pad. When I would put my daughter down on the pad the sides would fold in slightly on here. Not enough to make her uncomfortable, but enough to start to deform the thin cardboard bottom that the non-slip foam was attached to. As the cardboard started to deform the sides of the changing pad started to fold in more. All of this folding and unfolding caused the vinyl cover of the pad to start to rip.

I think I managed to use this pad for about 6 months before I couldn t stand the tears anymore and tossed it in the attic. I seem to remember the pad making a brief appearance with out second daughter. But she slept through the night at 10 weeks so there was little need for a diaper changing station upstairs. Finally with the third child I just tossed the ripped and bent changing pad in the garbage.

When I did use it the pad itself was easy to clean before it fell apart. The straps were easy to wash off, but did get stained. I did use the strap when my daughter was on the pad when we had it attached to the dresser and it was always easy to clip and unclip. Once I started using this on our bed I did abandon the use of the strap as it seemed to get in the way as she got bigger.

Final Thoughts
If for some reason you want to use this vinyl changing pad without a cover then this is a nice changing pad. I am sure our durability issues had a lot to do with the shrinking covers and the fact that it did not spend a lot of time attached to a changing table. The high sides did make me feel more comfortable about my daughter not rolling around too much. In the end, simple quilted pads have served us much better than the Simmons Contoured Changing Pad.