How to organize a nursery dresser – 5 streamlined secrets parenting experts love

A nursery dresser is one of the most important and multi-purpose pieces of furniture in a baby’s room. It often acts as clothes storage, a changing table, emergency supplies store and part of the decor all in one go.

Organizing your nursery dresser well will transform and optimize its functionally so our professional home organizers and parenting experts explain how to best to do it, including keeping essential on hand and where best to keep essentials.

From quiet morning routines to middle-of-the-nigh blowouts, organizing a nursery to work well for you is definitely time well spent.

How to organize a nursery dresser

Organizing a nursery dresser effectively goes beyond organizing baby clothes (although that is arguably the cutest part). It also needs to hold diapers, baby wipes, creams and ointments, and all the other essentials to help keep a wriggling baby healthy and happy.

With that in mind professional organizers have developed a set system for storing supplies.

1. Keep essentials at the top

As with organizing a dresser in your own bedroom, you want to keep the items you reach for the most in the top drawer to make changing simple. While this might be your underwear and socks, it is often diapers, baby wipes, and lotions for your baby.

James Lott, Jr. CEO and founder of The Super Organizer, shares, ‘I’ve raised two daughters and have been involved in my grandkids and nieces and nephews lives as babies. So my tips come from my trials and tribulations. We need to keep it simple and easily accessible. The top drawer should be filled with items you always need and need to grab quickly and easily. Diapers, wipes, baby lotion, powder, nail clippers, thermometer, nasal aspirator, and other grooming and health essentials.’

Head of solved at H&G and mom-of-one, Punteha van Terheyden added a changing pad with curved edges which was easy to pop down and away behind the dresser when not in use and saving her back from having to change her daughter on the floor. She says, 'I also added a nice waterproof changing pad cover to it so it matched the rest of my daughter's nursery and didn't look like an eye sore if I decided to leave it on top of the dresser.'

This curved changing pad from Amazon has curved edges, a waterproof cover and a waist strap to keep wiggly baby safe.

2. Keep medical essentials below

We don’t like to think of our little ones being ill, but it is always best to plan ahead for the eventuality. James Lott, Jr., expert home organizer, suggests always keeping baby medical supplies in nursery storage – preferably in the next drawer down.

He says, ‘This should be filled with burp cloths and washcloths for easy access during feeding and bathing, a small, baby-specific first aid kit and any medications or supplements that are safe for infants.’

If you have older children, make sure this is out of sight and reach for them. You can alternatively add a set of floating shelves (available on Amazon) above the dresser and use cute shelf bins from The Container Store to hide the medical supplies, which will still be in easy reach – and you can grab with one hand – should you need it.

Make sure to label the front so you know which box will have what you need at a quick glance. Bestselling label makers from Amazon are packed with handy formats, templates, font choices and inkless tape, too.

Just keep your supplies away from sunlight and humidity.

3. Keep clothes compartmentalized in their own drawer

Given how cute baby clothes are, we often end up with a lot of them. Who knew something so small could take up so much space when organizing your home for a new baby?

To tackle this and ensure you can find everything you need quickly, Jessi Gholami, licensed PCIT therapist, dedicated clinical social worker, and senior editor at Start Here Parents, suggests, ‘Compartmentalizing clothing into separate bins or drawer dividers – one for soft onesies ideal for quick changes, another for sleepers and two-way zippers that allow dressing from the bottom a third for lightweight swaddles and warmer sleep sacks.

‘Stash backup apparel like pants and sweaters in lower drawers, still visible but out of the way. Streamline further with smart organization tricks like rolling clothes for compact storage with everything visible at a glance. Use labeled dividers as reminders for each zone. Relentlessly edit out any non-clothing clutter creeping in.

‘These micro-organization efforts may seem trivial, but shaving even 30 seconds off two AM clothes hunts preserves precious mental capacity during that fog of delirium,’ Jessi says. ‘Having one supremely streamlined space provides a semblance of control amid the newborn chaos. It simplifies routines to ruthlessly efficient essentials during those overwhelming first months.’

Mom and head of solved Punteha van Terheyden adds, 'Ahead of midnight changes, I made sure I had rolled up outfits for my baby ready to go in the top drawer. I usually kept a row of these bundles consisting of nappy, vest, and romper in the front of my top drawer, or running along the right side as I'm right handed, meaning I could keep my baby safe with one hand, and grab a full outfit change with minimal fuss, even when bleary eyed in the dead of night.'

4. Sleep essentials at the bottom

When designing children’s bedrooms and nurseries, it helps to keep their spare bedding in the space ready for quick changes in the middle of the night. Where you have the space, it is wise to keep bedding in the bottom drawer, says Amanda Schmitt, occupational therapist turned parenting blogger, owner of Life As Mama.

‘The bottom drawers should contain extra linens, towels, sleep sacks, and other sleep-related necessities. Using drawer dividers and bins keeps everything neat and contained.

‘An organized nursery establishes a routine for the baby and gives me peace of mind. Keeping only what I need in the dresser avoids feeling overwhelmed, especially during the early days of parenthood,’ she adds.

Punteha van Terheyden, head of solved, adds, 'I also kept sets of bedding for my daughter's underneath her crib. It was a waste of space otherwise so I retained the plastic packages her bedding came in which had zippers, and after washing, stashed a full set in each of those packs.

'When I needed new bedding in an emergency, I would simply have to grab any of the packs underneath her cot and it had everything I needed, freeing up vital space in her dresser.'

You can also buy uniform bedding folders for a uniform under-crib storage look.

5. Keep the top clear

In the chaos of looking after a baby, it is easy for surfaces to quickly become cluttered and messy. This will only make your job more difficult, experts warn.

Jessi Gholami, licensed PCIT therapist suggests that all you need is ‘A dimmer lamp to illuminate late night changes. Otherwise, keep it minimal so supplies remain accessible.'

Wriggly babies have a tendency to grab what they see and put it in their mouths, so avoiding clutter on your nursery dresser will improve safety in this space. Punteha adds,' In my top drawer, I kept a little pot of baby-safe toys to keep my daughter occupied and her little hands busy.'

Organizing a nursery dresser might not be the most exciting part about setting up your nursery ideas, but it is arguably the most essential. Getting this one storage zone right will make your life ten times easier at a time when minimizing stress is crucial.