So, our first born is approaching the finishing chute, could cross the line any day now. Actually we’re at 35 1/2 weeks but my wife started nesting on Monday, so she’s convinced it could be any day now.
We have pretty much everything we “need” to bring a baby home save for a couple of items. 1. The dirty diaper sausage maker thingy, 2. Breast pump, 3. diaper bag.
So what’s the best diaper bag out there that both Mommy and Daddy can use. It makes no sense to buy 2 bags. I’m pretty comfortable with my manhood and all, but if I can avoid carrying around something that will complete emasculate me, all the better.
We use a backpack diaper bag, not a name brand. In my experience, two girls, 3 1/2 and 2, what you need is easy access and the ability to carry without it sliding off your shoulder. Some people like name brand diapers, some (us) don’t care, but as far as wipes go, my opinion is that the Pampers wipes that pull out of the top are the best.
Regarding the diaper sausages, I would suggest Diaper Champ over Diaper Genie (or any other sausage maker), because the Diaper Champ uses regular trash bags which are cheaper and easier to handle. Don’t be fooled by the marketing language that tells you a particular product makes the smell disappear. It doesn’t. The only way to avoid it is to throw it out asap, which for us has given the nod to the Diaper Champ for the convenience and expense.
Congrats on your impending fatherhood! We have a 10 month old and it’s the best thing ever-you can’t imagine how your life will change.
My wife has 2 diaper bags, both of which are fine for me to carry. The first one is all the rage among new mothers in our area: it’s made by Kate Spade(?) and it’s all black. My wife got it for her shower. I know it was expensive but it’s really held up and it looked presentable when we went to a wedding, out to nice restaurants, etc.
The second one is from Land’s End online. IT cost like $25. It looks rugged like a backback. Does everything you need it to and came monogrammed with my son’s name on it. Either one will do the job.
As for breast pumps: Of all the mothers in my wifes mothers group(they came over for drinks one night so I was privy to this info) none of them found store bought breast pumps strong enough to do the job. And, the one’s that actually needed a breast pump(very few of them) rented the professional one from their doctor’s office. You may want to hold off on that purchase.
Someone gave the woman who gave birth to my child and myself an American Tourister brand diaper bag that was blue and looked just like a carryon bag. Im not generally a fan of American Tourister brand stuff but the bag has held up well over a few years.
We just ended up using my old Timbuk2 messenger bag. Waterproofing actually turned out to be pretty useful when things spilled.
No significant pockets etc., just a nice big open space and comfortable to carry.
One thing I can’t stand about many backpacks is their inability to stand up when you set them down. They can tend to get lopsided when you have the heavy things in the outside pockets, all of which are on one side.
Just embrace your feminine side. If you are walking around with a feminine looking diaper bag and a baby, most folks will, quite reasonably, assume that your wife picked it out. Maintaining multiple diaper bags is more of a pain than it is worth (which one has the little one’s current favorite toy? supply of wipes? are the diapers the right size, I know they fit last week? yadayadayada.
Speaking as a proud, manly man father of the most beautiful 9 month old baby girl in the world, who happens to carry around a quilted floral print diaper bag when on babysitting duty.
Timbuk2 is very roomy, has lots of compartments and looks cool to tote around. They’re pricier than your “rugged diaper bag” so it’s either sacrifice your manhood or pay the moolah.
We have an Eagle Creek backpack style diaper bag. It has held up pretty well over four years now. We were diaper genie users for a while but by the time baby #2 came we switched to the quick throw away method. No need to store all those diapers inside. You are in for a great adventure. Good Luck.
Whatever bag you get, may I suggest adding a really strong magnet to the bottom. That way when you leave it on top of your car, it won’t fall off until you get to where you are going or you realize you left on top of the car.
Also, forget any form of indoor diaper storage. The best thing is to just run them out to the garbage as you would any other “Hazardous Waste” that you found in your house.
And rent the Madello sp? breast pump (but buy the kit new that actually touches flesh). These are available at most Pharmacies.
My wife is very opposed to renting a breast pump. She had talked to some other “mommy” friends and they all said she should buy her own. She is planning to go back to work, so it will not be just a couple times a week issue, but likely daily or several times per day, however that works.
She had also heard that eventually renting can be just as expensive or more expensive than just purchasing your own. Being in the Navy, I can get a good tax-free deal through the Navy Exchange.
I assume from your magnet recommendation you are speaking from experience. It reminds me of the Jackass episode where they put a baby car seat (empty of course) on the roof of the car and drove around town filming the onlookers reactions. Quite funny!
We’ve gone through three diaper bags, and ended up with one like the backpack shown above. …
multiple pouches
easy to open zippers
insulated bottle warmers
waterproof finish
I’ve never had problems with the backpack tipping over, even when fully loaded. We had to get rid of a few of the single strap bags. They tend to slide off at the worst moments. Backpacks have been tried and tested for so long and they don’t look so girly.
As far as diaper storage. DONT get a diaper genie!!! Seriously. They are just not airtight and they will always stink up your house. They plain suck. The name is great, but the fumes will pour out just like a genie out of a bottle. We ditched ours and got a “Neat! Diaper Disposal System.” $20. It has three seals, can be used with one hand (with some practice), has double layered plastic bags, and will not stink. even when you open it to put in a new diaper, there is no smell (unlike the genie which gives you a nasty whiff every time.). We have have ours crap loaded for a few weeks at a time, with not even a bit of stink from a few inches away. Seriously.
I see your point on the breast pump. Looking back we were so worried about spending money that renting was the only way.
The magnet was kind of a joke but not really. There is just so much more to think about and making sure the little thing is in the car seat, secured, and all that; leaving the bag on the roof happens (at least to me). I’d say at least 6 times though I don’t think I ever lost one. It just a drag to get where you are going and not have what you need, when you need it! (Wife never did this, must be a paternal thing).
It looks like you’re set for diaper bag recs. I will, however, plug the Diaper Genie. I had mine for 6 years and it worked great. I also bought my breast pump; renting seems icky to me.
P.S. Just thought of something on the diaper bag issue. Try to get one with a diaper pad – the kind that you can wipe down with a wipe. You don’t want to put your baby on those diaper changing stations without some sort of barrier. And, there will be times you have to change your kid on the bathroom floor (really, really icky). Oh, and if you’re changing the kid in the back of the SUV (my favorite), you don’t want to mess up your car:)
There are things I just don’t miss… last time I changed a diaper: 20 years ago. But congratulations, I wouldn’t trade the experience for the world.
Jay
Congrats on becoming a dad…it’s unbelievably cool!
As far as the bags are concerned, we got this one made by Eddie Bauer…we found it at TJ Maxx for half the price. This thing has everything, including the removable changing pad.
With regards to diapers, the single best investment you can make is to use cloth diapers.’
for an inital outlay of $200-250 we had a couple dozen high-quality cloth diapers taht we continuously over the course of 5-6yrs for all 3 of our sons. The only things that had to be periodically replaced were the wterproof cover that go over the cloth. A current prices for a box of pampers or whatever brand just do the math on how much they are going to cost you. not to even mention the shear volume of non-biodegradeabel material that goes into the local landfill.
you might change baby a bit more often but that is certainly better than letting Homey sit in the same chemical as the ones that were causing women to get toxic shock syndrome from some of the femine hygenie products.
We did a load of diapers everyday with a hospital-grade dissenfectant, so the stank factor was never an issue other that when you first pull that puppy off, but that’s with any diaper, but I never once had to run out at 10 o’clock for a bag of diapers.
can’t remember what kind of diaper bag we used, Mrs. RGR195, changed almost as often as she changed her shoes… but we always caried a couple of gallon zip lock bags for soiled ones.
the few time we did use disposable diapers ( usually when we were travelling) we were completely appalled at how our garbage can always seems to be full.
I Literally still have a dozen+ of the diapers we first bought in 95 out in the shed. great for washing the bike/car.
Definately worth looking into, they are nothing like they were 20-30 yrs ago.
good luck and remember you not really a dad until you’ve been pee’d, pooped, and vomited on…
So, here goes…and I really should be trying to get in that one hour bike ride (trainer) right now while my tenth-month is having her 65 minute afternoon nap… Don’t buy a diaper bag–if you are on this forum, you are probably very athletic, which means that your closet is probably full of all sorts of sports bags. We use a Deuter brand mtb backpack that my brother-in-law gave my husband for Xmas three years ago. (He gave me a “picnic” backpack that year and I promptly “traded” with my husband. I probably shouldn’t be posting this in response to your message since my b-i-l is active duty and stationed in the D.C. area and when you PCS–I remember your last post–you will probably sit in the office next door to him for all of my luck.) Backpakcs are the greatest b/c those over the shoulder things are a pain in the a** when you are getting a baby out of the car seat, into a stroller, etc. they just fall off. AS far as a pad for changing–we bought one and a small “box” for keeping wet wipes in from Babies R Us for about $2 each. If your wife is going back to work, you might also want to wait and see what kind of thigns she needs to bring to daycare with her and how much volume she’ll need for that.
I bought a Medela breast pump since they are not as plentiful or cheap for renting in the U.S. as they are in other countries. I don’t work, but in order to train for IM, I needed a pump. I bought mine from babycenter.com to avoid sales tax and shipping charges (they were free). If my LBS had sold breast pumps I definitely would not have gone online to shop!!!
Don’t have a Diaper Genie–the breast milk poops don’t stink enough to need one right away. Now that baby is weaned, I just take the poopy ones, tie them up in a plastic bag and take them out to the trash when I leave the house.
The nesting = exhaustion. Tell your wife it’s very normal to just want to nap all day at this point.
