Diaper Dude Diaper Bag Review

 

One thing that keeps new moms stuck at home with baby is the thought of how much stuff we're going to have to haul around if we leave the house. We've all seen mommies lumbering through crowded stores with their overburdened strollers and bags stuffed near to bursting. Going out with baby does not have to be this much work!

Babies do not need all that much stuff for an afternoon out. In fact, most days I don't even use 75% of what I carry in my diaper bag, and I carry about half as much as most mamas I see.

We use the Diaper Dude bag pictured above. I like it, it's roomy but not too big, and masculine enough that my husband isn't above wearing it. I don't carry a purse in addition to the diaper bag, either. 

What We Carry

In the large main pocket:

• One clean diaper cover (we cloth diaper)
• A small receiving blanket 
• A wet/dry bag
• Changing pad that came with the Diaper Dude
• Change of clothes for baby (a onesie and a pair of pants) in case of a major blowout
• Nursing tank in case of leakage or a major spit-up situation 
• My wallet 

In the first front pocket: 

• Two or three clean diapers

In the second front pocket:

• Wipes
• Hand sanitizer
• Diaper cream (LOVE this diaper cream, by the way)

In the third front pocket:

• My tube of Aquaphor (I'm addicted to using it as chap stick)
• My cell phone 

In the back, no-zipper slot:

• A small washcloth for easy grabbing 

Okay,  now that I typed this all out it looks like a lot! Trust me, the bag is small and definitely not burdensome. If you really can't leave the house without ten extra diapers or three extra outfits, consider packing a security bag with all the extras to keep in the car. That way the stuff will be available to you, but you won't have to schlep it around when you're out with baby.

What do you carry in your diaper bag? What kind of diaper bag do you use?

FeedYOBaby In Public! Boob Nursing Tops

As a first-time mom I was nervous about nursing B in public. Would I be comfortable? Would people stare? Would I accidentally flash some boob the exact moment that a current student happens to walk by? When we got home from the hospital with B I realized I needed some nursing tops STAT, so I went online and bought a handful of what I thought would be decent nursing tops.

Wrong.

First of all, they were all of the pull-down-from-the-neck variety, which a) exposes the entire upper chest, and b) shows a bit too much cleavage even when not nursing for a busty woman like myself. They also became misshapen and hangy after a couple washes, which meant I was going to have to keep on buying new tops if I wanted to look like I wasn't wearing a trash bag draped over my shoulders.

Enter Boob nursing tops.

The first day of my new moms group I noticed a fellow new mom nursing her daughter without exposing one bit of skin. At first I thought that maybe her baby was just sleeping in a nursing position, but no! She was nursing yet mom's top remained covered. Now, I know we have the right to nurse in public, and I'm proud to nurse in public, but I'm a bit modest, okay?

My fellow new mom was wearing a Boob nursing top, and I had to have one. Instead of pulling down from the neck, many Boob tops have an overlap at the empire line so you can just lift up the fabric on your boob line and latch baby on without exposing a thing. Genius, right?

My glee at finding the holy grail of nursing tops was squashed when I saw the price tag. A long-sleeve top will put you back around $70, and a short sleeve around $60. I stared at those beautiful nursing tops in sadness for about ten seconds before I thought, "The hell with it! I deserve to be comfortable nursing, and I'm going to buy these outrageously expensive tops anyway. I dare DH to question this rash decision."

So I did.

They're wonderful. They're perfect for nursing BYOBaby moms who want to be out with baby but who aren't comfortable baring it all. I bought a long-sleeve and a short sleeve that day, and I love them both. They're machine washable, but line dried. I've washed them both several times and they haven't lost their shape or color yet. The fabric is nice and soft, and the best part is that I feel really good in them. They're cut to flatter, and nursing in them is so easy and discreet that people might not even notice that you're nursing at all.

I've since scoured the Internet to find deals on more Boob tops. I've been lucky with a few sites that are trying to sell off their winter inventory before spring comes in. My favorite so far has been the B-Warmer Hoodie, which is the coziest thing I wear nowadays. Sizing for different tops of the same style is consistent, but different styles fit differently: The knit tops run larger than all of the others, and the short sleeved tee runs larger than everything but the knit tops.

I'm surprised more companies aren't cutting their nursing tops this way. So far I found a Canadian company called Momzelle that has similar tops, as well as Singapore-based Milky Way. Of course, I had to order a top or two from each for comparison's sake. You know, for the blog.

WearYOBaby: Moby Wrap Review

I am all about getting out of the house, and the easiest way to do that is to wear your baby.

I knew before I had B that I'd want to wear him, so I picked up a Moby before he was born and practiced wrapping it. I know many people shy away from wraps because they look complicated to use, but I found that after doing it just twice I was able to wrap it once B came along without peeking at the instructions. If I can do it, you can too. Trust me.

I was desperate to start wearing B in the Moby around the house as soon as we got home, but waited until he was about two weeks old because I didn't want to bust open my C-section incision. Let me tell you something about my Moby: It was love at first wrap. Not only does it allow us to get some really great skin-to-skin action going on when I'm doing thing around the house (and by "doing things" I mean sitting around searching Zulily and watching movies,) but B absolutely loves being cuddled up close, and this is the best way to do it.

The Moby is a stretchy wrap, meaning the fabric has some give. The best advice I got about tying it was to tie it "ten minutes too tight"--tie it so it feels too tight at first, because it will loosen up a bit after about ten minutes. Stretchy wraps are great for newborns because they swaddle them up nice and tight. Moby says you can use the wrap until your little one weighs 35 pounds, but I'm pretty sure I'll be reaching for my woven wraps almost exclusively once B is that big.

One thing I did find was that B struggled a bit at first when I wore him using the newborn hold. He became much easier to put in the wrap once I started wearing him with his legs out. Either way, though, he typically falls asleep and stays asleep in the Moby for as long as I wear him. This is pretty awesome, because I don't have to fear that he'll start screaming in the middle of a crowded place and send me running out the door in shame.

So far, I've worn B out in the Moby to the mall, several restaurants, new moms group, and the movie theatre. We haven't had a screaming fit yet, so I'd say it's been a success. The best thing about the Moby is that you can pre-tie it at home before you leave, and then slip baby into it in the back seat of the car when you reach your destination. This is absolutely necessary for us right now since we're in the middle of a Chicago winter--try to tie your Moby in the parking lot and you'll end up with slush-soaked tails.

Of course, the Moby isn't the only stretchy wrap on the market. I just got my Lucky Baby stretchy wrap in the mail, so I'll do a write-up of that next. (Thankyouverymuch Zulily for your impossible-to-ignore deals.)

Linkies:

• Here's a great video showing an alternative way to tie your Moby
• Babywearing International of Chicagoland
• The Babywearer

Do you wear your baby? What's your favorite wrap? Any tips for new babywearers?