Jennifer
Jun 27, 20204 min
When it came to organizing the dresser in the nursery that we would be using as a changing table, I was stumped on what should go where. I had six drawers to work with to categorize all of the loose items of clothing and miscellaneous odds and ends, and wanted to be sure I put the most used items in the easiest drawers to access if I was changing baby.
After some trial and error and time to see what works best for us, below is what we've ended up with for our daughter who is now 2 months old! While this may not be what works best for you and your babe, it might be a good place to get you started!
We knew if we were standing on the lefthand side to change baby, then it would make the most sense to put diapers and all of those loose odds and ends in the top drawer on the right for easy access. Here's a peek at what this drawer looks like after two months of changing a crying baby in a hurry. It may not be as pleasing to the eye as some of the other organized nursery drawers on Pinterest, but it's real life and what has worked for us!
We keep our diapers and wipes in this drawer, along with miscellaneous items like pacifiers, nail file (we use this one and LOVE it!), lotions/soaps/ointments, and all those little things that need a home. I highly suggest getting some sort of organizational containers or baskets to keep all of the small items contained and organized as best you can. This became a great place for those little samples you acquire along the way too!
The next most important items that we thought we would need easy access to while changing baby were onesies. Baby will pretty much live in these things the first 6-9 months at least, and you'll go through several a day if they spit up or have a blowout! We decided to put them in the middle drawer on the right, so we could access while standing on the left during changes. We had so many that we put all onesies in the current size needed in this drawer, and the drawer below that holds onesies in the next sizes! After a few months of rummaging through this drawer and not having time to perfectly fold them, this is what this drawer looks like these days! Folding them this way has allowed us to easily see all options without having to make a complete mess of the clothes.
Sidenote: We've come to realize you really cannot have enough onesies those first few months. You may receive a ton at your baby shower, however, we didn't get quite enough, so we hit up an awesome sale at our local Once Upon A Child (gently used baby clothing store) where onesies were fifty cents each! We racked up and got 40 of them in various sizes LOL. At the time I thought it was overkill and I had gotten way too many that we'd never in a million years get to use before she outgrew them. Now, I am SO glad we did because she has worn every single one of them in her size at least once, and I don't have to worry about making sure I get laundry done as often if life gets a little crazy!
Next was making the best use of the top drawer on the lefthand side of the dresser. This was still a drawer we'd want to put items in for easy access, but not something you'd necessarily need while standing in front of the changing pad to change baby. This seemed like a great place for all of the miscellaneous clothing like socks, hats, bibs, burp cloths, swaddles, bath towels, and washcloths!
This drawer can get messy if you don't have some sort of divider or containers for smaller items like socks. And we keep our larger muslin swaddles rolled up in a cute wicker basket in the nursery, but this is a great place for the smaller blankets you might not want to display!
The other two drawers hold sleepers and bottoms, which we organized the same as the onesies. We aren't currently putting bottoms on our daughter that often since we're home most of the time and its summer (plus pants are a pain to put on a wiggling newborn, let's be honest!), so this seemed like the least important items, and therefore ended up in the bottom drawer.
In addition to how we've organized the drawers in the dresser, we also have floating shelves above it that are mainly for decoration, but also hold a few other necessities nearby when changing baby! We have a cheap basket from the Target Dollar Spot with all of our daughter's bows in it. Along with a few books, we also keep the Fridababy Baby Basics Kit here as well!
Again, this is two months into having our daughter, and we've somehow managed to keep this area of the nursery pretty organized and this has been working great for us! I hope you find this useful if you're trying to find a system that will work for you and your little one!