I’ve been changing nappies on a daily basis for the last 16 months. I’ve become somewhat of an old hand at it, there are no more pee on the sofa incidents, and it becomes less of a two man job as each day passes. So, you’d wonder how after 16 months of dealing with changing nappies multiple times a day, how I would still forget to pack the basics in the bag. I’m in need of a one-stop-everything-in-one-place solution – I blame the sleep deprivation!
Take, for example, last weekend. We headed on a nice family day out to Hook Head, had some lunch, let the child run around and then a familiar smell hit. It wasn’t a dirty nappy as such, just a wet one that had kind of hit the limits of “You need to change me soon”. I headed into the changing room which was quite well provided for, took out the wipes, the cream, the nappy sacks and the change of trousers – but no nappy. In my hurry that morning I’d forgotten to throw a few extra nappies in the bag. Time to shorten a nice day out, load up into the car and straight back home to change the toddlers bum. Not ideal. This wasn’t even my first rodeo (it’s normally the wipes, to be fair. I think Boots have an aisle funded by me at this point for things I’ve forgotten until I’m in the changing room).
So when I got an email asking if I’d like to review a product which had each item you need for a nappy change all wrapped up in one easy to pack, lightweight package, I jumped at the chance. It’s called the Becky Mantin Nappy Grab Bag – designed for parents by a parent, and you can tell! This is a very me product – perfect for heading off on little trips so I can be super sure that I’ve got everything, but not requiring masses of space (E’s granny is convinced I pack for him to head off for 3 weeks, not three hours – and yet I still manage to forget things), so I was excited to try them out and see if this was to be my lifesaver addition to the hopefully much-smaller nappy bag.
I received two samples of the product after giving E’s nappy size to the company – he’s in a Pampers Size 4, Tesco 4+, so they sent me their size 6 pack which seemed to be the same sizing.
The kit contained aNaty by Naturecare nappy(An award winning, high performance chlorine and fragrance free nappy made using biodegradable GM free, corn-based film – this one is the closest to enviromentally friendly you’ll get with disposable nappies!), four Jackson Reece organic baby wipes(individually packaged) and one sachet of Weleda Calendula Nappy Change Cream (miracle cream in my experience – it’s designed for delicate skin, with almond oil, beeswax and lanolin which make nappy rash vanish overnight). It also utilised every bit of the packaging which I LOVE – there is nothing that irks me more than huge amounts of waste packaging on products – the outer wrap of the product is actually a changing mat which has an adhesive strip on it – so when baby is all changed and you’re throwing the nappy in the bin, it turns into the nappy bag. Absolute genius and NO wasted products.
I found it an absolutely great idea to have everything in one place – the one issue I did have (and this is more likely my ill-preparedness rather than any issue with the product, but it’s something to be mindful of) is that the first time I used it, it wasn’t exactly an easy nappy – a poonami with a wriggly toddler is a challenge at the best of times. Had I been thinking properly, I would have taken all of the wipes out of the individual packets beforehand – and potentially had extras on hand – however in my rush to make sure that the child was clean ASAP and hadn’t the chance to wriggle away, I did find the wrappers quite finicky to open one by one while trying to stop the child from putting his hands into the dirty nappy. For those of you better prepared than me, this shall not be an issue, and for anything less than a poonami, it shouldn’t be something that affects you at all – typically, it would be the worst case scenario when I’m testing a product! The second usage was a lot more smooth having learned my lesson earlier on.
I really like the idea of this product because of how EASY it is – it’s handy especially if you’re trying to put together a bag for someone who may not be used to taking care of an infant on their own as it has everything in one go, there is no questioning if you’ve got everything there. It’s handy to throw into your handbag if you just want to nip down to the shop with the child but don’t want to lug the big nappy bag (those are always the times accidents hit). They’re not an everyday product for me price wise but they are handy for when you’re on the go, so I’d likely keep a stash in the house for when they’re needed. At 19.90 for a pack of ten which works out at just over 28, they’re definitely not the cheapest changing product out there (2.80 per change isn’t the most economicalpoo) but for the convenience when you’re in a rush and minimising space needed, I’d definitely recommend having a few on hand for those just-in-case days. The products inside are really high quality (I cannot rave enough about how much difference the Weleda cream makes to nappy rash in this house) and definitely a lot less bulky to pack than the individual products (packet of wipes, nappy, bottle of cream) would be in the bag normally.
If you’re interested in trying them out for yourself, they’re available here on Amazon
I’ve also got a fantastic giveaway (as hinted at in the title) of a months supply of the Nappy Grab Bags – you’ll get the chance to properly try them out before buying! I’m definitely a convert after this so hopefully this will be a prize you’ll love too!
In order to enter this fab competition, simply:
Like Four Walls, Rainy Days on Facebook
Like Becky Mantin Products on Facebook
AND
Leave a comment below telling me what your essential baby product is – what could you not do without?
OR
Tweet Me (@4WallsRainyDays) your essential baby product using the hashtag #fourwallsrainydays
Competition Closed, Congratulations Kellie Kearney – you are our winner! I will be in touch to get your details!
We could bot live without the gobstopper here – his soother
Already a fan of 4 walls just liked other page too.
Oh how I wish mine liked his soother more, they’re fab when they take them!
nappies!