Bumbo Changing Pad review

A sturdy, wipe clean, changing mat with a safety belt from the undisputed kings of baby seating. Suitable for use from 0 – 18 months, up to 30lbs (13.6kg). This is far more stylish than your standard changing mat and comes with a hefty price tag to match.

How did this product make your life easier?

Let’s be honest, there’s many nursery accoutrements that are nice to have but you could probably live without. A changing mat is not one of those. While you could change your baby on the floor (and will probably have to at some point once pubs etc are open again, dagnammit) or your bed, if you don’t want your carpet or sheets covered in surprise changing wees or sullied with the poo that somehow always ends up on little heels – or is that just my baby? -  you need a changing mat.

But do you need this particular changing mat?

The shape is nice and, according to the blurb, ergonomic and ‘beautifully contoured in all the right places to provide safety and support for your baby’. As far as I could tell, this translates as having a slightly lower dip for the head. The foam it’s made from is soft and seems comfortable (I didn’t get in it myself, mind). And it feels safer than your average mat due to its weight, raised sides and the safety belt. It didn’t move an inch when my little wriggler was, well, wriggling and that’s a huge point in its favour.

However, you still need to be on your guard, of course, and despite the safety belt, must never stray more than an arm’s length away.

The Bumbo Changing Pad is also a lot easier to clean than standard mats as there’s no ridges for wee, poo and all manner of delightful things to fester in. The instructions say to wipe clean with a mild detergent and not to immerse in water due to the ‘sponge like’ open cells. So, no taking it in the bath with you, I guess.

Would you recommend this to other parents?

It’s stylish (check out the aqua one – it’s dreamy), feels like good quality, and the safety belt is a big plus.

However, it’s a LOT more expensive than your average changing mat, you can pick up the changing mat my older child had for about £6.

It’s pretty hefty and needs to be on a support surface with minimum dimensions of 19″ by 29″ (483mm x 737mm), so I’m not sure how suitable it would be once your baby has transferred to a cot and you want to use a space saving cot-top changing table.

But if you have a huge house, then go for it. All joking aside, my baby loved it.

Would you choose this product above all others on the market?

Hmm…that’s a toughie. It’s really good but it feels like a lot of cash to drop on a changing mat. You can get a gym attachment that goes with it, the Bumbo Stages Safari Adjustable Play Centre, that would mean you could use it for play time as well as changing time. But that’s an additional £80.

In conclusion: I’d add the changing mat and the play centre to my Amazon baby shower list and hope that a friend or relative was feeling flush, for sure. But I’m not sure I’d spend my hard-earned maternity pay on it.

What changes would you make to this product?

There’s no getting away from it: this is a piece of hard, heavy duty, plastic. There’s no information about recycling it on the Bumbo site and while you could sell it on / give it away etc. it’s going to end up in landfill eventually. And that’s not great. So, I’d want it to be made of recyclable material and Bumbo to take it back for recycling if it couldn’t be done with standard, household, plastics. Maybe they could even offer a discount off another Bumbo product if you return one?

More shopping inspiration

Check out this Bumbo Multiseat here too!

The Bumbo Multiseat reviewed

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