Ah, the diaper bag. A new mum’s new best friend. An essential piece of equipment, true, but here’s a secret….there is no need to go out and buy a ‘diaper bag’.
What makes a diaper bag a ‘diaper bag’? Is it the teddy bear design? The hundreds of pockets? The ubiquitous included changing mat?
No, it’s simply a bag that you are using to carry baby stuff in. In fact, the only essentials are enough storage, easy clean, looks good and ideally allows you to be hands free. Here’s why…
airplane (Photo credit: shyb)
I admit, before I had children I was one of those people. The ones who spotted a baby in the airport and immediately starting thinking ‘please don’t be on my flight, please don’t be on my flight’.
Oh how times have changed. Now when Multidaddy and I walk into an airport we’re accompanied by not one but two babies. Now we’re the ones getting the sidelong glances.
But we still have to go places, so here are some tips to make air travel with babies as painless as possible… Continue reading
Baby transport system (Photo credit: Mahatma4711)
You will probably buy your baby’s first stroller during your pregnancy. A stroller is a key piece of baby equipment. Don’t be surprised if you amass a collection of strollers throughout your baby’s first year. This will often happen as the reality of moving around with a baby (or two) hits you. One of the most common complaints with strollers is that they are too heavy, and what does not seem too heavy in a shop often seems much much heavier when you are using it every day.
Some things to consider when buying a stroller are:
And so to this week’s update on the December Health and Fitness Challenge!
This week we went overseas for a week. Being on holiday meant that, as foreseen, my good exercise intentions were left at home. Apart from wandering around in the sun with the stroller and splashing around in the pool with BabyBoy and BabyGirl, the only serious bit of exercise I did was 30 minutes of swimming (with dolphins!) on Boxing Day.
So not a great week exercise-wise, but a fabulous one holiday-wise. Bring on the New Year with new challenges….!
Nappy sacks. Thin bits of fragranced plastic with tie handles. Ever tried opening one while holding onto a wriggly baby? Much harder than getting plastic bags to open while at the checkout in your local Tescos.
No, when out and about nappy sacks can be a pain. They are even more of a pain when someone needs a change and you’re nowhere near a bin. Putting a full one of those back in the diaper bag always makes me nervous.
But there is hope. Ziplock slider bags. Possible the greatest alternative nappy sack out there. Airtight and watertight – no perfumes or leaks. Easy to open with little slider along the top. Multiple sizes for even more uses – small for a diaper, larger ones for dirty clothes, bibs, shoes etc.
Don’t leave home without them!
It might not be very eco-friendly, but when you’re out and about with babies and someone needs a change, disposable change mats are unbelievably useful.
The only ones I’ve seen, although there must be other similar ones, are made by Pampers and consist of a slightly padded absorbent upper layer with a waterproof underlay. Bigger than the average travel change mat they can be squished into any available space you have, and when you get to public change table (or car, park, wherever) you just shake it open, pop baby down, change and then throw it away with the dirty diaper. Continue reading
Routines are great and, with twins, I would say essential.
My life revolves around BabyBoy and BabyGirl’s routine – when they need to eat and sleep and play. Now they are a bit more flexible as they’re almost a year, but particularly in months 3 – 9 things were tightly organized and I was always always trying to be ready for the next thing.
When I took the babies ‘home’ to visit my parents and sisters overseas for several weeks at 6 months, I was in hyper-organized mode. There was a system, and it just could not break down (partly a symptom of my PND, but mostly because I knew the chaos that would result if things like feeds were not ready on time). I planned and planned and planned. Everything was bought in advance. Areas of the house were rearranged to accommodate cots, changing tables, playmats, highchairs. I sent copies of the daily routine out via email before we arrived. I arranged for a nanny to come for a few hours every morning to help so that I could get some sleep, and a cleaner to come in twice a week so that my mum could spend more time with the babies instead of housework. The only downtime I had was an hour after the babies went to bed and I had finished preparing for the next day.
And I have just learned that I was classified as a mean b***h by two of my sisters. Apparently I was not considerate when asking them to help (particularly at dinner and bathtime, different tasks were carried out by different people) and barked orders.
afterninemonths 