What I Carried In Our Diaper Bag

I can’t quite believe it yet, but the days of carrying around all sorts of things for a tiny Liam in our diaper bag are already over. I remember triple checking the diaper bag contents before we would leave the house in those early days, which was usually to just drive over to my sister’s, to make sure that I had everything. I’m a planner and like to be prepared, so I would try to think of all the potential things we could need.

The diaper bag that we use comes with a changing pad, a zipper bag for anything dirty or that you want to keep separate, and a little pouch. It was nice to have a few essentials like that already “built in” to the bag, with the remaining things being packed by me. I love that it’s big enough to carry whatever we need in it. It has pockets for organization and is comfortable to wear. Once we’re done needing a diaper bag, Mike or I could easily use it for travel!

What I carried in our diaper bag:

• diapers (4) and wipes
• a full change of clothes, including socks and a bib
• a burp cloth
• a swaddle blanket
• a carseat cover
• an extra pacifier on a clip
• a pack of pacifier cleaning wipes
• a crinkle toy for entertainment
• a spare face mask & hand sanitizer
• a pouch with a few essentials for me: lip balm, hair tie, etc.
• a changing pad and zip bag for dirty clothes (came with the diaper bag)
• optional: a portable sound machine and charging cord; bottle supplies, if he was going to eat

A little tip for making sure that you’re prepared to leave and to hopefully get out the door quicker: refill your diaper bag when you return back home from an outing. Instead of checking the diaper bag and throwing things in at the last minute with a high probability of forgetting something, replace anything that you used once you get home from being gone. That way, you can just grab the fully-stocked diaper bag on the way out the door, knowing that you have everything you’ll need!

I also found post-it notes to be very helpful. If I needed to pack a bottle for Liam, I would set the diaper bag on the counter with a post-it right in front of it. That way, when we were getting ready to leave, I would see the note and remember to grab the necessary things for a bottle, instead of assuming that I would remember…because I probably wouldn’t!