I had received a beautiful cradle to use for Nick (sadly he hated sleeping in it, but that’s another story). It was older and it had a thin mattress with a plastic cover, but (even though it hadn’t been used before) the plastic was starting to rip and wear away. I didn’t feel that we needed to worry about getting a new mattress, but I wanted to find a way to protect it from the millions of ways that a newborn could get it wet and icky. Try as I might I couldn’t find a cradle mattress protector. Then I read somewhere about how someone had used puppy training pads to protect the mattress in their Pack ‘N Play. That seemed like such a great idea, and it wouldn’t cost much.
The next time I went grocery shopping I picked up a package of the puppy pads. It took two pads to make sure that all areas of the mattress were covered. It wasn’t difficult to cover the pad and put the fitted sheet over them. The sheet was wonderful because it held the pads perfectly in place so they wouldn’t get all bunched up. With that the mattress was perfectly protected.
Of course you can’t buy just one or two puppy pads at a time. Oh no, you have to buy a whole package. Now it didn’t cost a ton, but I hate waste, so I didn’t like not being able to use the others. Then I had the brilliant idea to put them on Nick’s changing pad. You may remember that I hadn’t received a changing pad before Nick was born and I rushed to Babies “R” Us while I was in the early stages of labor to buy one. This meant that when we brought Nick home from the hospital there was a place to change him, but we never got around to getting a cover for it. Honestly at this point I am totally OK with that because it would have been ruined by all of the nasty diaper changing messes anyways. This is where the puppy pads came in. We would lay a puppy pad on the changing pad and whenever it got messy we would throw it out and lay a new one down. It worked so well! Now I will say that this technique isn’t very “green,” so for those of you that like to cloth diaper this probably isn’t for you.
Puppy pads were not a product that I ever thought I’d buy, let alone use for my child, but we found them to be extremely helpful. Sadly I wasn’t able to use up the last package I bought and I have no idea what to do with the extra pads, but maybe we’ll have a use for them again someday.
Laura
Sunday 6th of June 2021
I have been using unscented dog pads from Target for 4 months and my baby never had any rash or problem. We have covered the sofas and pads are useful and cheap. Some attractants are odours we can't smell and probably they could be toxic if we (humans) ingest the pad, which is obviously not the purpose here. We should supervise the baby anyway, with pads or without them...
Elizabeth
Tuesday 11th of October 2022
I'm glad you found them helpful as well. They were certainly helpful for me, and I agree that supervising is the key. Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Jessica
Friday 8th of February 2019
Sheesh you young girls and your paranoias lol i use a fresh one for my grandchildren when those babies visit ....to use them under their bottom for a quick diaper change WILL NOT HARM THEM ...., ive been using them for years babsitting as well, those children are teens now. Not only are they clean snd convenient (who wants to keep washing soiled covers , duvets, receiving blankets !? , it will save your couches /a bed, carpet/floor, table.....Hartz lavender scented is best . PLEASE GET OVER YOUR CRAZY PARANOIAS!
im a believer in recycling caring for our earth so after a couple of diaper changes on them, ive allowed my lap dogs to use/finish them if i need to leave them alone and run an errand , then ive tossed them !
Win-win for babies, your fur babies and the enviroment!
Elizabeth
Monday 11th of February 2019
Thank you so much for your comment Jessica. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to get rid of this post because I get so many comments about what an awful thing I did using these with my son. I have never been the over paranoid parent (that would have been my ex). I have kept the post up though because these were so useful to me and a lot of people seem to be curious about using them. It's nice to hear of someone else that found them so useful. :-)
TracyMom
Friday 30th of September 2016
I definitely wouldn't use the puppy pads for baby. Anything for baby should be labeled as so. They do contain chemicals to draw a dog to them so they'll "potty" on them. They have the pads like this for human use, the kind they use in hospitals and nursing homes, at medical supply stores. I don't know the cost difference, but to me , it wouldn't matter. I wouldn't use things for dogs.
S. Grant
Friday 14th of September 2018
The cost difference is huge I've used puppy pads under an operation wound for 2 years and never had any problems at all
Kelly
Sunday 14th of July 2013
Hi, I also came across this site through a Google search... We've been using puppy pads for about 3 months with our newborn because they're cheap and work incredibly well. I just saw an ad on TV for puppy pads bragging about how the pheromones on the pads attract the dogs to pee on it. So while the pad is unscented, they still treat them with some kind of chemical pheromones that we can't smell. I've also come across a couple blogs saying not to use the pads to line squirrel or bird cages because the chemicals are super toxic to those animals. Anyone else look into this? Pretty much freaking out...
Elizabeth
Sunday 14th of July 2013
I'm sorry you're freaking out Kelly. I probably would be too. First, I wouldn't buy the scented pad, but I don't think the other ones will harm your newborn if you're just laying them on it to change them. They are not recommend to use in the other cages because those animals might try to chew/eat them, and then the toxins would be a problem. I've even read of people using them as diapers in a pinch, but I wouldn't recommend that. As parents were constantly being bombarded with warnings. Long after we started using it I found out that changing pad we bought my son from Babies "R" Us (that we put the puppy pads on) was considered to have bad toxins and we shouldn't use it. I mean really, what is safe any more? Now I'm no doctor or scientist, but I think that if you just lay your little one on them for a short period of time, and throw them away as soon as it gets soiled, than I think you should be fine. Nick is now over two years old and appears to be quite bright (this comes from what others have told me an not just a bragging Mama), so I don't think using them for a few months hurt anything. I hope that eases your worries some.
Erik A.
Monday 17th of December 2012
I wanted to make sure we weren't the only parents in the world using puppy pads as changing table pads, and thankfully your entry came up in a google search. Did you ever find that our baby had skin irritation from contact with the pads? We had some spare ones lying around, and rather than spend money on "changing pads," we opted to just burn through the puppy pads that we never used or never would use for a long time. So far they have been a godsend. Our baby is now all of 4 days old, and she has already had surprise changing table shits that would have made much bigger messes were it not for the pad underneath. Even just 20 minutes ago, we woke her up for her nighttime diaper change and feeding, and just as I had laid down a clean diaper, she shot beyond that and onto the farthest edge of the pad, but no mess on the pad!! I just laughed. I already dealt with her pooping in my arms in her hooded towel, and mistakenly setting her on our bed only to have poop bleed through and make even more of a messes. Anyway, sorry for the essay, I just wondered if you could answer that early question, and I wanted to say thanks for having the blog and reassuring me that we aren't the only ones using puppy pads. :)
Elizabeth
Monday 17th of December 2012
I'm glad I could make your feel better Erik. Those early diaper changes can be such a mess. I can't imagine how many times I would have had to scrub and clean a changing pad cover. Like I didn't always have enough spit up messes to clean! I never noticed any skin irritation from the pad. Now I will say Nick has bad eczema, so I possibly could have missed a separate irritation, but the skin that would have touched the pad really wasn't the area where he had eczema, so I'd say it never caused any problems.
Erik A.
Monday 17th of December 2012
Also, forgive the spelling and grammar mistakes, I am typing this on an iPhone keyboard at 2 am.