What's in My Diaper Bag

I am a bag-lover. Some people love shoes, some people love sports, but I love bags. I love purses, clutches, wallets, duffel bags, backpacks, satchels, totes and even coolers. Try and imagine my excitement when it was time to shop for a Diaper Bag.

Excited as I was, to me a Diaper Bag was so much more than just a way to carry around baby items. To me a Diaper Bag was a trusted entity, something that had to capably carry all of my baby's most important (even life-sustaining) items. I wanted our Diaper Bag to serve our family. It needed to be functional, dependable and (if possible) fashionable.

Much like everything else for your baby, the market is saturated with Diaper Bag options. There are thousands of bags on the market. You will have no problem finding an exact Diaper Bag to meet your family's needs, I promise. I recommend going into your Diaper Bag search like most everything else for your baby: look for a quality investment that will sustain and serve your family. This Diaper Bag is going to serve you a LONG time.

Enough about Diaper Bags themselves. Let's get to the bulk of this article, What's in My Diaper Bag.

Regardless of the phase of life we are in, our Diaper Bag has a few Staple Items that remain in our bag at all times.

Diaper Bag Staples

• Diapers

• Wipes

• Changing Pad

• Spare Outfit

• Burp Cloth

• Nose Sucker

• Hearing Protection

Whether your child is two days or two years, you are going to want Diapers, Wipes, a Changing Pad and Spare Outfit in your bag at ALL times. I once read a joke that said something along the lines of "If you need your kid to poop: Dress them in nice clothes, take them out in public, don't bring any spares." If that ain't the truth! Trust me, you do not want to be in that grocery store dealing with a poop explosion and no spare clothes, TRUST ME. Our son had such bad acid reflux that we even kept a spare adult t-shirt in the diaper bag his first few months.

Burp Cloths (aka vomit catchers, boogie wipers, stain protectors, etc) are in my opinion one of the most under-acknowledged baby items on the market. The difference between a stained shirt and a clean shirt? A Burp Cloth. The difference between snot in your hands or not? A Burp Cloth. Burp Cloths are extremely versatile and essential, so we ALWAYS have one in our bag, most of the time we have three.

Everyone deserves the right to breathe. Sometimes babies/kids need help. As a parent, it's now officially your job to keep your child's nose clear of snot. So, you never want to leave home without a Nose Sucker. Unless of course, you don't mind getting creative with a straw.

This last thing may not be something everyone thinks about, but hearing protection is very important in our home. I have sustained hearing loss, which now requires me to wear a hearing aid. My husband has experience working around aircraft, thus has his own experiences with loud sounds. We agreed from day one that we always wanted to do everything in our power to protect our son's hearing, so we keep Hearing Protection in our Diaper Bag at all times.

Now that we understand the staples, let's talk about variables of the Diaper Bag.

Thus far, our Diaper Bag has seen three phases: Newborn, Baby, and now Toddler. I want to look at each of these phases of life and what we kept in our Diaper Bag During Them.

Newborn Phase

• Bottle

• Formula / Milk

• Manual Breast Pump

• Pacifier

• Gas Drops

When our son was young, I would not leave our home (even for 1 hour) without two meals for him in the Diaper Bag. Was this overkill? Yea, maybe, but when it came to feeding my child I always wanted to be prepared. What if we got a flat tire, what if the car broke down, what if we got stuck in traffic? I never wanted to have to tell my son to "wait" for a meal, especially when I could have one in the Diaper Bag for him. Because of this, we carried a Bottle and Formula / Milk with us at all times. Usually, I would also throw my Manual Breast Pump in the bag, so I could make emergency food if needed.

Some children love their Pacifiers, some don't. Our son was not the biggest fan, but would take one on occasion. We always had one on hand in the Diaper Bag, just in case.

The "medical" related item I kept in the Diaper Bag those first couple of months was Gas Drops. Babies can't have much medication for a while, so I never carried any with me. Obviously this would be different if your child required specific medication.

Baby Phase

• Pureed Food

• Spoon

• Bib

• Bottle

• Formula / Milk

• Acetaminophen

• Benadryl

Babies grow up really fast, like really fast. Within just a few months of being on this planet, your little one will start to try foods other than milk. I remember it being such a joyous and sad time. Finally, I could get a break from the bottles. At the same time, my little man was growing up. Before I was emotionally ready, it was time to add a Spoon, Bib, and Pureed Food to the Diaper Bag. I want to pause here and say how you feed your baby is totally up to you. I am NOT trying to convince you or tell you that your child needs to eat pureed food. Some families skip this phase of life entirely, our family just didn't, so we needed to have pureed food with us whenever we left home.

It took several months of overlap with Pureed Food before we finally stopped feeding our son Formula. Up until he took his last bottle, we still carried a Bottle and Milk / Formula with us at all times.

Around the same time we introduced our son to food, he was also old enough to take some over the counter medicine. I made sure to always have an Acetaminophen and Benadryl in the Diaper Bag at all times, just in case.

Toddler Phase

• Snacks

• Disposable Placemats

• Toys

• Acetaminophen

• Benadryl

• First Aid Kit

Like everything else about raising a child, just when you get used to the routine, the child changes it. I became a Pureed Food expert right about the time my son switched to solid foods and started eating off our plates. Welcome to the Toddler Phase.

This is the phase of life where we currently reside. Bottles and Pureed Foods are over. We live life in the fast lane, with lots of Grab-and-Go Snacks, Disposable Placemats and Toys in the Diaper bag. We've also had to add a full First Aid Kit to our Acetaminophen and Benadryl in the Diaper Bag. Like I said, we live life in the fast lane now.

Life is never dull these days, but it's never been so special. We're constantly exploring the world through the eyes of a Toddler, and it's certainly remarkable.

Just a Few Final Thoughts

When I kicked off this post, I suggested you find a Diaper Bag that serves your family. I stand by this recommendation. I would however, like to leave you with this link to our Diaper Bag, simply because it's served our family SO WELL and I highly recommend it. If you don't know where to start your search or if you are overwhelmed by the higher price tags some Diaper Bags carry, this one is a great place to start.

With that, I hope you were able to take away something from this Blog Post. Find it helpful? Let me know in the comments below! Think of something I missed? Drop a comment below so we can all get smarter together!