Competitions
Luschka 75

One of the many things we didn’t have for our first baby is a changing table and changing mat. In fact, it was only when she was over two years old and I was struggling to get down to the floor or sofa to change her over my ever expanding belly that we got ourselves a changing table off Freecycle.  With the new baby coming we decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have our nappies and changing goodies in one place – the living room, since that’s where we spend the majority of our time.

What we didn’t have for our changing table was a changing mat, so we were thrilled to receive one from By Carla who have a stylish range of pregnancy and baby accessories you’ll have seen around these pages before.

So, what don’t I like about the mat? Well, it’s made of PVC and where possible, we try to avoid PVC. Fortunately it has a removable, washable towel liner, so your baby isn’t lying on the PVC, if that helps at all.

Also, I’m not sure if our changing table is an unusual size, or if the mat is wider than standard, but it folds up on one side in order to fit into our changing table – not a crises, but it would be better if it lay flat.

Those are the two niggles. There’s a much longer list of things I do like though.

The changing mat is colourful and unisex. In teal, purple, orange, yellow and blue, it is perfectly suited to either a boy and a girl, which makes a nice change from the standard everything pink, blue or yellow, and particularly good if you don’t know what your baby’s going to be, or you have one of each.

I love the removable liner too. It means if things do get a bit messy, you can just pop it in the wash, no mess, no fuss.

I love the activity arc too. It can pop in or out, so you don’t have to use it, but you can if you want to. It has a mirror to keep baby self entertained during nappy change and it has a hanging mobile with black and white pictures on one side for your up-to-3 month old who does better with simple contrasts, and the ‘cushions’ can then be turned around so you have pretty hand, foot and smiley face pictures to keep (even your two year old) entertained.

About four months ago we really started struggling with nappy changes and Ameli just suddenly started resisting them and kicking and fighting. It was only when we started using this mat that she stopped. Now, even if we’re not on the mat, she doesn’t fight as much, so the distraction is a blessing.

Also, you can swivel the activity arc so that it moves in a semi-circle so as to be above the baby or out of the way, and anywhere on the arc, it can be out of your way.

Additionally, the mat can be used anywhere in the house, so even if we did want to use it elsewhere, like in the garden in summer, it’s light and easy to move.

The By Carla Activity Arc change mat is a really lovely, and if you’re in the market for a changing mat, this one for £29.99 (at Amazon) is a luxurious, but lovely place to start.

Competition

By Carla have offered one Diary of a First Child reader the chance to win a Changing Mat with Activity Arc. In order to enter the competition, leave a comment below telling me one feature of the mat that you like.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like By Carla on Facebook, and leave a message on their wall saying I’ve sent you.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 12 March 2012 and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won. 

Please read the competition rules.

 You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions onlyRSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

 

Tags:
Categories: Competitions Products Top Picks

Author: Luschka

75 Comments

By Carla Changing Mat With Activity Arc Review And Competition

  2. What a great idea with the activity arch! Esp when needing to air a sore bottom and keep a wriggly child still! the removable liner is great too!
    Liked By Carla on Facebook too : )

  5. The mat has a remnoveable liner for easy cleaning of mess . @chanson2010 on twitter / Nicci Jane Cowdell-Murray on facebook

  6. I love this change mat. I think it’s a great idea to be able to entertain whilst changing baby. I love the designs on the mobile, my daughter has sensory impairments but is able to focus on black and white and simple patterns.

  7. I love the fact that this changing mat would keep my baby calm and entertained whilst I’m changing her – no more screaming!

  15. Wow how great and what a clever idea of the activity arch would love to get 1 of those
    Gr8 blog 🙂 xx

  16. I love the toy arch, its a fab idea. No more need for trying to pin babies still while cleaning them up 🙂

  31. The activity arch is brilliant, nice distraction for baby! I was looking for a changing mat for my grandaughter, things have changed so much since my son was a baby!

  32. Best feature’s definitely gotta be the removeable liner. Accidents happen all too often in my house lol.

    1. Congratulations on your win! Please email me your address at diaryofafirstchild @ gmail.com so I can have this sent out to you ASAP. Thanks!

  48. Oh Wow! The activity arch would make changing times so much easier. I’m sure lo would enjoy it more too!

  52. I really like this changing mat. The bold colours are great, the activity arc with reversible attachments is really clever but what i like the most is the removable towel liner – such a great idea and very useful!

  54. The activity arch is a brilliant idea, I love to let my baby have a kick about without her nappy on during changing and this would be perfect to keep her amused while I bag the old nappy etc.

  59. The activity arc is genius to stop my youngest from rolling off and trying to escape mid nappy change. The neutral colours are genius though, so much now is gender specific

  62. I love the activity arch, that would def keep my little girl entertained while I’m getting her changed.

  73. We never used a change table at all. The cot was only used a few nights for the first child, then they slept in bed with us until they were about a year old. I do agree though, the activity arch is a great idea.

Comments are closed.