Mom: Diaper Bag Essentials

As your baby grows and changes, so do the diaper bag essentials.  When Susan was an infant, her diaper bag was well stocked with spare formula, pacifiers, diapers, two or three spare outfits and maybe a rattle or other toy.  Now, it is stocked with entirely new and different stuff.

Here is our diaper bag.  We love it.  It holds everything we need, it has a handy pad for use at various changing stations, it hooks onto our stroller and it holds a LOT!

We never leave home without it!

Here is a run down of everything that the diaper bag is always stocked with:

1. Two pacifiers (Rarely used but you never want to leave home without!)

2.  Wipes of all varieties.  Wet Ones, Stuffy Nose Wipes, Regular Diaper Wipes

I mean, all the assorted wipes probably aren't necessary but make me feel good to have!

3.  First-Aid Kit to-go.  Now that Susan RUNS everywhere she goes, this is important.  We haven't had to use any of the wonderful things in it, but I know its just a matter of time.  It is small, compact and fits perfectly in our bag.  I found it at Wal-Mart.

4.  Various creams.  We slather Susan with diaper cream/butt paste with every diaper change.  She had one diaper rash when she was still an infant (right around the time of her first tooth).  We used a lot of Lotramin for that one (and you thought it was just for Athlete's Foot).  But now we use Parents Choice Diaper Cream (same as Desitin) or Boudreaux's Butt Paste.  The Butt Paste is our favorite but it is more expensive.   We also keep an extra A&D ointment for her cheeks, etc.  She gets big time drool rash when she is teething (her cheeks get super red, and sometimes a few blisters).  The A&D Ointment is awesome because it has both petroleum jelly and lanolin, so it is almost instantaneous relief.  We discovered it when all of her runny noses during the winter were making her mouth area so raw.  I highly recommend having one for the diaper changing area in your house and your diaper bag.

Diaper Cream and A&D Ointment

4.  Travel Messy Mat - see pink and green pouch above.  I found this one through a friend.  She sells them on Etsy.  We also have a Summer Green Place-Mat (I know a lot of you use those too) that we use at home.  And that one rolls up for fit in your diaper bag but we like this one for ours simply because it's small and compact.  The little pouch is great and then the mat unfolds with six suction cups.  

5.  Toys!  We always have Sophie, a set of keys and at least two books in the bag.  For long trips, the airport, etc., we add in a few extras.  But having these in the bag is great for trips to the grocery store or to Daddy's office.  You just never know when they might come in handy.

Sophie really is a staple for most babies, I believe.

 6.  Spare hair brush and nail clippers.  We just recently made this a Diaper Bag Staple.  This way we don't have to remember our set when we travel.  We travel pretty often with Susan (she has flown five different times since she was born) and these are good to always have.  We put them in a separate pouch so we don't have to worry about losing them.

Brush = necessity for curly mop on my daughter's head

7.  Diapers!  Obviously, you want to always have about four spare diapers in your diaper bag.  Because YOU NEVER know.  When we took Susan to the zoo a few weeks ago, she stayed very hydrated with water all day.  She was filling up her diapers fast and finally, over filled.  Which brings me to number 8....

8.  Weather appropriate spare outfit.  Because you never know when a blow out will strike.  

Those are pretty much our main staples for the diaper bag.  We add extras depending on where we are going.  For examples, on Sundays, we always go to lunch at Jason's Deli after church.  So we pack her bag with two sippy cups, one empty (to add milk at lunch) and one full of water (for her to enjoy at the nursery), a snack cup of Multi-grain O's, and her plate and utensil set.  

I am sure our staples and diaper bag essentials will change as she gets older.  I would actually love to hear what all of you have in your diaper bags.  New ideas are always welcome!