Every new mother carries a diaper bag filled to the brim with items that you will probably never use and then realize later there are definitely some items that you wish you had in there. I am sure you have all seen the commercial showing a mother with her first child packing up and leaving the house with everything except the kitchen sink and then the same mother on her second child carrying little to nothing. I am here to help you be that second situation even with your first kid not because you do not bring anything, but because you have a go bag at all times and do not need to pack each time you leave the house.
First I should probably address the diaper bag itself. I am a huge fan of Ju-Ju-Be as a company and they have a vast variety of diaper bag designs from Hello Kitty to polka dots to floral designs or very basic solid colors. These bags come in a traditional style, back pack version, more modern hobo style and more! Almost all of these styles have corresponding accessories that you can get in matching prints like zip pouch inserts (definitely a must,) paci-pods, diaper changing pads, bibs and stroller clips. There are even laptop cases, wallets and credit card cases for mom, if you want to nix the purse and use your diaper bag to carry all of your stuff as well. I have a link below to my favorite style.
I personally have a diaper bag that I always leave in the car (times two so that my husband and I didn’t have to remember to give it to each other every other day) and a smaller insert that I remove each day that has items that are sensitive to extreme temperatures. Each Sunday night (which is my prep day) I go through that bag to restock any items that we ran out of. Here are the items that I keep in the diaper bag in the car:
Diapers – Obvious
Wipes
Diaper cream
Plastic bags for those nasty diapers
Bottles (at least 2)
Spare outfit
Bibs
Pacifier
Toy
Hand Sanitizer
Bowl and Spoon (there is a link to pouch spoon attachments which are the greatest invention ever when you click the photo of them below)
Travel bottle cleaner so you can bring less bottles
Bottle/Toy cords
Blanket
Hat
Sunglasses
Puffs/Melts/Snack-You can keep them in one of these cute containers pictured.
Insert:
Travel formula pouches
Food pouches
Infant Tylenol/Infant Motrin
Sunblock
Insect repellent
Used food containers to wash/replace
Now I can honestly say that I do not believe any mom can leave the house without a diaper bag of sorts like the woman in the commercial, but I really think that you can be prepared so that you do not have to spend hours packing up to leave the house. For a new mother's sanity, you need to leave the house, so hopefully this will make it easier on you.