My love affair with nappy bags (and they’re 25% off!)

As a mum who’s worked as a parenting magazine editor for over a decade, so I know way more than a normal person about nappy bags. In fact, with three children (one of whom is still a baby), I’ve owned and used over a dozen of them. In the past, it seems I needed a new and different nappy bag for each stage of baby- and toddlerhood. Well, no longer, fellow mums –  I’ve found the ultimate and they’re 25% off at the moment!

With a newborn, you want a nappy bag that can hold a dozen nappies, wipes, changes of clothing, muslins, blankets, toys, soothers, the works. Basically, it’s a suitcase disguised as a nappy bag. And when your baby starts eating solids, you want a nappy bag that can hold all of the above plus food, bib, spoons, sippy cups, more wipes, and a wet bag for clothing covered in mashed carrot.

As your baby grows into a toddler, toys and activities become more important, so you need room for multiple distractions you can pull out at the doctor’s office or on car trips. And when your toddler gets ready to toilet-train, a new dimension is added – training pants, underwear, spare clothes, and yes, more wipes.

As a serial nappy-bag owner, let me tell you, it’s not easy to find one bag that can see you through all of these stages. In the early days, before I knew any better, I got a nappy bag that looked pretty but turned out to be pretty useless. It was metallic pink and had the cutest little straps… That cut into my shoulder uncomfortably every time I carried it. It was like a bottomless pit – I could never find anything – and the pockets were too small. Worst of all, it wasn’t washable. What was I thinking?

So I “graduated” to a cheap-and-cheerful little number I picked up who-knows-where, thinking, “If it turns out to be useless, at least it was only $50.” I was right – it did turn out to be useless. It was made of some kind of plasticky material that was easy to wipe down but smelled like petrochemicals, and I didn’t dare leave it in the sun for fear it’d melt. It wasn’t sewn together so much as it was sort of melded along the seams, which split the first time I accidentally got it caught on the stroller handle. I don’t think it lasted a month.

After that I went through several other iterations of nappy bags, trying to find the perfect match for my lifestyle and needs. Out of desperation, I even bought a pattern and sewed my own, but it didn’t last either. (I learned the hard way that there’s a reason nappy bags aren’t made from the same material as your favourite dress.)

By the time I was pregnant with my third baby, I was determined to get it right. There had to be a nappy bag out there that was lightweight, durable, easy to carry, versatile, with enough pockets and room for all the paraphernalia, particularly the plethora of baby wipes I always needed. And it needed to be stylish. Just because I need a nappy bag doesn’t mean I want to look like I’m carrying one. Where was I going to find this unicorn?

Then one day at work, a nappy bag landed on my desk: The Babymel Robyn. A backpack-style nappy bag, which I hadn’t tried before, but this one has a convertible strap that meant I could wear it like a shoulder bag, cross-body, or over my arm like a handbag as well as backpack-style. It has integrated stroller straps so it hangs on the pram handle without any trouble at all. It’s wipe-clean and durable. And it has pockets to hold everything. Pockets of all different sizes and shapes! There’s even – oh, get me a chair because I might swoon – a special external pocket that has a dispenser slot for pulling baby wipes through. That’s right, a wipes pocket. It’s like the designer read my mind.

Yep, I think this nappy bag is The One. And guess what? It comes in black, navy, navy stripe, grey, and faux tan leather, a range of on-trend colours to complement any wardrobe, and even – be still my heart – pink.

If you’re keen to buy a gorgeous nappy bag of your own, we have awesome news. The lovely team over at Babymel have given us a (very generous) 25% discount code for you to use, simply type in BUMP25 any time up until 30 April 2018. This is your moment!

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BUMP & baby is New Zealand’s only magazine for pregnancy and early babyhood. Our team of mums and mums-to-be understand what it’s like to be pregnant in this connected age, and that’s why BUMP & Baby online is geared toward what pregnant women and new mums really want to know.

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