Yes, you absolutely do need a nappy caddy (and here's what to put in it)

Dec 6

I am firmly in the camp that nappy caddies are essential items.

In the first few weeks after O was born, we hibernated at home. If you've read about our breastfeeding journey, you'll know that it was a pretty rough time for us. We spent our days migrating between our bedroom, the living room and the kitchen (and wondering what on earth we had done).

Those early days revolved around feeding, sleeping (well, mostly just thinking about sleeping) and changing nappies. To make life easier, we set up a changing station in our living room and put together a mobile nappy caddy.

Wait, what's a nappy caddy?

A nappy caddy is like a mobile changing station. It's a single place to store all your nappies, wipes, creams, spare clothes etc. We also kept readymade formula, hand sanitiser and snacks in ours.

Our caddy was a crucial part of our lives. At night, we kept it on our bed between our pillows so that we could both reach it without getting out of bed. It added a smidgen of organisation to a totally chaotic time and meant that we had the basics within reach for those frequent night wakes (for some reason we thought we needed to turn on all the lights and change his nappy each time - no wonder it took so long to settle him each time...)

As O grew and the changing table disappeared from our living room, we still use the caddy as a one stop shop for baby bits and pieces downstairs.

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What type of caddy to chose?

We picked a grey felt one like this. It worked perfectly for us, the handles were sturdy and the individual compartments and side pockets made it easy to stay organised and find things at night.

What to put in your nappy caddy?

Over time, the items that we kept in it evolved, but in the first few weeks, there were a few essentials:

Essential Items in our Nappy Caddy

Nappies - essential! I have tried so many nappy brands, but as O is a tummy sleeper, I have found that Pampers Premium Protection are the only brand that prevent night time leaks (I go one size up at night). Edit: May 2020 - for the last few months now I am obsessed with Rascal & Friends nappy pants, I love how high the absorbent bit goes in the front.

Baby Wipes - essential! We used Water Wipes when O was tiny, now I shop whichever wipes are on offer.

Nappy bags - essential for hygienically disposing of nappies.

Bibs - I always kept two or three bibs like these in the nappy caddy for night feeds. They were useful for stopping milk dribbling down his chin into his neck creases. They also kept the swaddle and clothes underneath dry.

Vests & sleepsuits - we were guaranteed one full outfit change every night. There are so many ways that a baby can need fresh clothes during the night. Not screwing the top on the bottle was my husband's speciality, whereas I usually wasn't quick enough to put on a new nappy and would find a lovely piddle puddle soaking through both his vest and onesie.

Hand sanitiser - a great quick way to clean hands before night time feeds and after night time nappy changes. We used this one with a pump as it was quieter than a clicky bottle lid or a squirty tube.

Water bottle - this was an essential item for me, breast feeding is thirsty work! I'm using a stainless steel one at the minute (see the picture above), but when he was a newborn I used a plastic water bottle with a spout like this one as I could open and close it with one hand whilst feeding.

Optional Items for a Nappy Caddy

Muslin Square - I found these useful for mopping up small pukes or milk spillage. We still use our Aden and Anais muslins as blankets, playmats, changing mats, sun shades etc.

Formula bottles - we were topping up with formula from very early on. Ready made bottles of premixed formula with screw on teats made the frequent night feeds a lot easier. When we progressed on to bigger feeds, we used a separate bottle caddy at night.

Pain Medication - I had a c-section, so found it super useful to stash my pain meds in the nappy caddy for easy access at night.

Changingmat - we kept a clean towel by the caddy that we would use to change him on on our bed. This saved the effort of climbing out of bed around the Snuzpod each time.

Spare swaddle - as I mentioned above, we had a tendency to need full outfit changes at night due to milk, pee, poo or puke. Frequently the swaddle took the brunt of these bodily fluids. We initially used a velcro swaddle similar to this one that we inherited from older cousins, before moving onto muslin swaddles.

Nipple cream - I swore by these little sachets of Intensive Nipple Treatment by MultiMam. They are little compresses covered in gel that fit inside your bra and provide instant relief for sore nipples. They also fitted nicely into the side pockets of the caddy so were easy to locate in the dark.

Sudocrem - any cream for nappy rash will do, but I prefer Sudocrem as it is produced in Ireland and has been around forever.

Snacks - as any new parent knows, once your baby falls asleep on you you.will.not.want.to.move. Having snacks ready to go in your nappy caddy can be a real life-saver. My nibbles of choice were salt and vinegar rice cakes and Fulfil protein bars.

Toys - as babies get older, nappy changing becomes a battle of wills as they want to roll and play and generally escape. Having a toy close to hand might buy you a precious few seconds!

Repurposing your nappy caddy

Now that we are approaching the one year mark, our nappy caddy has found a new lease of life as an organiser inside our nappy bag. This works great as it keeps bottles upright and separates all the items and makes it much easier to find things. It has also come in super handy as a car caddy on long journeys.

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Our nappy caddy made such a difference to our lives that it has become one of my favourite gifts to give to friends with a new baby.

Update Feb 2021: I have just packed a new nappy caddy for my hospital bag for baby number two! Here’s what I am packing for my hospital stay, and here is how I’ll be packing it all!

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