What to put in a diaper caddy
A caddy earns its place if it turns a change into one trip instead of three. That means the list is short and it lives packed, not tidied away after each use.
The six that always go in
Everything past this list is preference. These six are what a change actually consumes, and running out of any one of them is what sends you across the house.
- Diapers, in the size you are on now and about eight of them.
- Wipes, in the packet rather than decanted into something prettier.
- Cream, the small tube, lid on tight.
- A change of clothes, one bodysuit and one sleeper.
- Two muslins. One for under, one for after.
- A diaper sack or two, tucked flat down the side.
The four people forget
These are the ones that turn up on every list written by somebody on their second child, and on almost none written before the first.
- A spare shirt for you, not the baby, if you are still in the first weeks.
- A small toy that lives in the caddy and nowhere else, so it stays interesting.
- A folded changing mat if the caddy travels between rooms.
- A pen. Nobody expects this one and everybody ends up wanting it.
How big it has to be
That list fits a caddy of roughly eleven by seven inches with a divider down the middle. Going much larger is not free: a big caddy gets used as a dumping ground and then nothing in it is findable one-handed, which was the whole point.
If the caddy is going to travel between floors, weight matters more than volume. Pack it, pick it up with one hand, and see whether you would do that at three in the morning.
