This is totally me. And if I’m carrying a big purse, I cram the dipes and the ziplock right in there!
This is sort of an interest revelation for me. I had no idea I was so anti-diaper-bag until this thread. I would probably murder someone who tried to get me to carry something with duckies or kitties on it. I am so over being enchanted with baby products. Plain totes for me!
(please don’t take this as discouragement, Dr J. Heck, I’ll meet you at Target if you all make a pilgrimage to Lex and give you tons of Real Mom feedback!)
No discouragement taken, Ellen. Duckies and kitties are saved for things the kids will actually be using, like boo boo bags. If our niece is any indication, kids of an age to use a boo boo bag like duckies and kitties. These bags are meant to be very grown-up looking. The purse that sparked the whole thing is at this link: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/491741240_2082a0c380.jpg?v=0
Velma, right now we’re looking for something to quasi-mass produce and take to craft fairs, but custom work is always an option. There can even be your kids’ faces on your bag, iif you want. (Purses and totes like this are sure-fire way to make a Mom or Grandma cry at gift-giving occasions, if our family is any indication.) Drop an email to crazycatlady76 at gmail and we’ll see what we can work out for you.
Harriet, the lining probably could be made to zip in and out, but it would be awkward to do, and pretty much unnecessary. It’s a pretty piss-poor excuse for a quilt (art pieces excepted) that can’t handle standard laundry. Besides, if you can’t just chuck it in the laundry a million times, it’s not much to have around little kids, is it?
Mrs. Magill bought a very nice bag when Fang was little. It held everything in easy to find places. The only problem was it had this little narrow strap. That damned strap hurt after five minutes.
Baby is now three months old and the diaper bag I have (messenger bag style) seems to work okay. Bag dimensions are (approximately) 15-18 in. long, 12 in. high, 8 in. deep. These are the good points in the design:
separate outside zip pocket for adult things (big enough to hold wallet, sunglasses, cellphone and keys)
two outside pockets (on either end) for holding bottles (best if these are slightly elasticised around the top - stops the bottles falling out if the bag tips over in the car)
large divider lengthways inside bag to separate change mat and wipes from clean clothes and toys
two elasticised pockets inside the front of the bag (both the same size), big enough to hold about 4 diapers in one, with the other used to hold medicine and digital thermometer
small zip pocket inside the back of the bag to hold pacifier, lip balm and other small items.
I also like the fact that my diaper bag came with a change mat (fold-up, slightly padded vinyl) and a heavy-duty plastic ziplock bag (very handy for dirty clothes covered in puke/poo, etc).
Definitely have a wide strap, long enough to hang over the stroller handles, preferably extensible so that you can adjust the length.
I would definitely make the bag on a “square duffel” pattern rather than the “envelope” shape that so many purses are built on. The bag needs to have volume and stability, and the straps should be structural - stitched into the frame before the bag is sewn up instead of sewn on as an afterthought.
Find a four-door passenger sedan like the Accord or Camry and put the driver’s seat all the way back. Measure the space between the back of the front seat and the front of the back seat, down by the floor, and make that the total design width of the bag. Subtract out the diameter of a baby bottle so that the bag, fully loaded, will fit in the same passenger space as the baby, leaving the two other passenger slots free for strollers, stuffed animals, and grandparents. Length of the bag will be limited by other factors but shouldn’t exceed the width of a car seat or stroller.
I’m not going to be a daddy until early August, but I’m a systems engineer with a strong background in requirements definition, and this is a great SysEng problem.
With kid #1, I had a giant diaper bag that carried everything.
With twins #2 and #3, every outing was a major excursion anyway, never mind the feeding pump, lunch bag with ice pack, extra towels because the one baby threw up (not just spitting up, I mean) all the time…
By the time I got to #4, however, a diaper bag generally consisted of a plastic grocery bag with a spare plastic bag, a cloth diaper and a couple of cloth wipes tossed inside. If somebody needed a change, she got it. The wet or dirty diaper went into the bag along with the used wipes, rolled up, taken home, and washed. I didn’t have to worry about bottles because of breastfeeding. I generally kept edibles, packets of goldfish crackers or whatever, tossed permanently in the basket of the stroller, along with a bottle of water, and we were good to go.
All that is to say, the more experience I got, the less I wanted to or needed to carry.
Might be just me, but one thing I always looked for was a bag my husband would be willing to carry. The ones we actually used were solid, dark colors- there was no way he was going to walk around with ducks, blocks or pastels.
