It appears that an inordinate number of Ramshackle Glam readers are about to give birth at any moment. I say this because I’ve been getting completely bizarre numbers of diaper-bag-centric emails in recent weeks…and so I figured I’d do a little chatting about this endlessly fascinating (kidding…sort of; I was pretty excited about this purchase pre-baby, and am much less excited about it now for reasons that I’ll explain shortly) topic.
Here’s the thing: I don’t really use my diaper bag all that much.
Early on, I decided that a great diaper bag was one of the things that I’d allow myself to splurge on; I figured I’d carry it everywhere, all the time, for years (and maybe even for more than one baby)…so it might as well be pretty. I bought a navy Marc Jacobs (pictured above) that felt seasonless and chic, and for the first month or so I totally did carry it everywhere.
And then I started realizing that my diaper bag was not a bag at all, but rather a black hole that ate up rattles, hand sanitizers, and pacifiers (it has tons of mini exterior pockets that serve little purpose other than to hide small things from me when I really need them, and one big central pocket that is way too big to keep anything organized).
And so I started just tossing the handful of things I’d need for short outings into whatever bag I was already carrying (my diaper bag comes with me on longer trips, of course, but certainly not everywhere-all-the-time). And that’s worked out just fine.
So: in my experience, you do absolutely need a diaper bag (which should always be kept stocked with the essentials – diapers, changing pad, wipes, change of clothing, a couple of toys, cooler pouch for bottles and snacks – so that you can grab it and go at a moment’s notice)…but it doesn’t actually need to be a diaper bag. All you need is a roomy tote (preferably in a washable fabric; I’ve had a bottle or two explode in my day) with a decent number of variably sized compartments, and you’re good to go.
To those of you with small ones: do you use a for-real diaper bag, or do you make do with a regular old tote? And if you’ve found one that you absolutely love, please share!
