A Perfectly Packed Daycare Bag

Because my husband and I both work full-time, our baby spends the day at a daycare. We've been really blessed to find a wonderful lady who runs a fantastic daycare with just a few other children in her house. Emma loves playing with her friends there, and I love the fact that she's spending the day in a home with a family. Since she's our only child so far, it also makes me happy that she gets to interact with other children of all different ages.  

That said, when you add "getting ready for daycare" to the list of things you need to do in the morning before you can leave the house, you might suddenly find yourself scrambling around like a chicken with its head cut off. Things can get pretty crazy pretty fast if you don't have a plan. That's why I am so excited to present you with this post describing how to pack a perfectly organized daycare bag:

This is the fifth post in my Perfectly Packed series. Be sure to check out my other posts in the series as well! Please note that posts in this series include affiliate links. (Check out my disclosure policy here.)  

The title of this post is actually a bit of a lie, because it takes me two bags to pack everything that Emma needs at daycare. The first bag goes back and forth, to and from daycare with Emma every day. The other bag stays at daycare, and I only replace items in that bag when I need to. It's the "just in case" bag.

And I really do apologize for the polka-dot overload. I realize that I have an addiction, but I'm not quite ready for rehab yet. ;)

So let's start with the stay-at-daycare bag. I dumped out my bag and photographed the contents just for you: :)

Let's take a look at what all I keep in there:

1. Disposable diapers (I use cloth diapers so this is a "just in case" pack.)

2. Disposable wipes

3. A stuffed animal for nap time

4. A jacket

5. Burp cloths

6. An extra bottle

7. An extra pacifier

8. Sunscreen

9. Teething tablets (I swear by these.) 

10. Socks

11. A sunhat

12. Bibs

13. A cold-weather extra outfit

14. An extra onesie

15. A warm-weather extra outfit

In order to keep everything nice and organized, I printed and taped labels to 4 gallon-sized ziplock bags:

My labels for the four bags were: 

• Bibs and Burpcloths
• Just in Case (Disposable diapers, extra pacifier, extra bottle and nipple) 
• Use if Needed (Teething tablets, sunscreen, sunhat)
• Extra Clothes (Extra outfits, onesie, jacket)

And everything fit in nice and neatly.

I found a reusable bag that was big enough to hold everything, packed it all up. . . 

And dropped it off at daycare on Emma's first day. 

Now for the bag that travels back and forth to and from daycare each day. Here's what I include in that one:

And here's a closer look at exactly what all those items are:

1. A backpack to carry it all (because when you're already carrying a baby in a car seat, you need a bag that doesn't require any extra hands!) 

2. An insulated bag with ice packs (to carry bottles of milk. My favorite is this one.) 

3. A wet bag (for returning dirty cloth diapers. I love this one .)

4. A sippy cup

5. A lunch box (I'll explain more about this in a minute)

6. Bottle nipple and lid

7. Bottles of milk

8. Cloth diapers (My ultimate faves to send to daycare, because they are just so easy: BumGenius 4.0 Pocket diapers and BumGenius Freetime All in Ones ) 

Here's how I pack it all up: First I put the diapers and wet bag on the bottom of the backpack.

Then I put the bottles in the cooler and add that to the backpack. 

Then I add Emma's lunchbox on top, close it up, and add her sippy cup to one of the side pockets.  

OK, one last note about that lunchbox. I found this bento-style lunch box at Walmart for around $5, and I LOVE it!!! It has two removable compartments, which is perfect, because I can load them up with leftovers or fruit and keep them in the fridge until it's time to pack them. Each can be microwaved individually if needed, and it comes with an ice pack. I actually have two so I only have to pack lunches every other night. 

So that's it! All you need now is a handy-dandy printable checklist to keep all of that straight as you're running out the door in the morning. Because I know you moms are super busy! 

I created a cute, printable checklist just for you. Click here to download it, or click on the list below.

And if you find this checklist helpful, why not share it with a working mom that you know? It would make my day. :)

So what do you think? To all my other working mamas out there- Did I forget anything? What tricks do you have to make packing for a day at daycare easier on you and your kiddos? Let me know in the comments. :)