toTs by SmarTrike Chic Melange – The Ultimate Changing Bag For Cloth Nappy Users

Throughout pregnancy, I made it my duty to familiarise myself with the baby / mother market and began  to separate the fads and wants to actual necessity items. One of the areas I admittedly overlooked was a decent sized changing bag. For some reason, I naively thought I could get by with using my existing fitness bags, how wrong was I!

You see, when one leaves the house with an infant / small person for trips to see relatives and friends, shopping or a spontaneous day out there are ALOT of items that you’ll need to take with you.

From Nappies, to wipes, wet / disposable bags to baby toiletries. Not to mention a few muslin cloths and a spare set of clothes or two just incase your little person has any unforeseen accidents.

In addition to the above, you may also need to carry…

• a few bottles if formula feeding
• purees and / or soft finger foods in tupperware if they are  weaning AND
• gels, teethers and dribble bibs if they are teething!

That’s NOT including a spare top or two for yourself (walking around with baby sick stains is NOT cool) essential items such as ones purse, keys, phone and spare charger, a bottle of water and snacks to hand.

I think you’ll agree that is an awful lot of things to carry on the go!

Fitness Bags VS toTs Changing Bags

Whilst my fitness bags are indeed quite large in size, they lack the right compartments to find what I need with ease (nobody has time to be rummaging mindlessly through a bag)

Oh and did I mention Baby Eco is a cloth bummed infant? That means adequate space is needed to fit a days worth of cloth nappies and a double wetbag amongst other essentials.

Courtesy of toTs by SmarTrike, I was given the opportunity to review their super stylish, ultra roomy Chic Melange Changing Bag  in the colour blue and after being in possession with it for more than a few weeks can confirm it is just what I needed for my cloth bummed baby.

A Look Inside The toTs Chic Changing Bag

The bags exterior has two decently sized pocket pouches, ideal for storing things within easy reach like a bottle if formula / combined feeding, a sippy cup and toddler / mummy snacks.

There are also two fastenings in each pocket that will allow the user to clip the stroller straps included and attach to their pushchair / travel system.

As I reside in London, the best way to travel with Baby Eco when not using the car is to Baby Wear so tend attach a few of his favourite toys such as his soft and crinkly star.

Underneath the toTs logo there is a deep zip front pocket, handy for storing ones valuable items such as a purse / wallet, keys and phone etc.

My personal preference however is to carry such items on me as opposed to tucked away in a bag somewhere so have found myself using this space for travel sized toiletries including hand sanitizer and hand cream, lip balm, lip gloss and the odd coral / hot pink lippy thrown in for good measure.

At the back of the bag is another deep pocket that opens by pulling the Velcro from its strip.

I found this area fantastic for storing Baby Eco’s Red Book amongst a few of his favourite reads. Whilst he is faaar too young to make sense of the words, I’ve made it a habit of reading to him every single day without fail since the day he was born and now he’s 17.5 weeks old, Eco LOVES to interact by looking, cooing and batting at the bright coloured illustrations / images.

The adjustable back straps also make this a perfect companion when Baby Wearing as I have personally discovered.

Once the main compartment is zipped down the inside of the bag is seriously roomy! I’d go as far as recommending this as a hospital bag in addition to it’s marketable use as a changing bag.

This is also the ultimate changing bag for cloth nappy users like myself. Whilst some reusable nappy brands are slim fitting, most are on the bulky side thus taking up a fair amount of space.

Using my current stash as an example, I can confirm the main section can hold up to 8 gPants (pre stuffed with cloth or disposable inserts), 6 Tots Bots EasyFit Star / Peenut Wraps with Inserts and disposable nappy liners and 4 Close Pop-In V2 Gen nappies.

Two further pocket style compartments are perfect for storing a muslin cloth or two (in my case 1 muslin cloth and a dozen fleece nappy liners).

A deep zipped compartment is practical for packing a spare top for any unforeseen baby accidents.

What I LOVE about this bag is the breathable mesh compartment, and this where I store my used reusable or disposable wipes and nappies (in a wet bag) depending on the scenario.

The last buttoned compartment is perfect for storing a portable changing mat (a small white mat is included as per the image above) and as I’ve done, added a small wet bag to safely contain used / soiled baby wipes and nappies.

Other accessories that came with the bag that hasn’t been featured in this post are

• an additional flat bag reminiscent of a laptop bag.
• a thermal pouch to store a warm bottle AND
• two stroller straps to attach to your pushchair.

Priced at £64.99, one would agree this is not the most affordable changing bag on the market, but still a worthy investment, especially if you’re cloth nappy Mama like I and require additional space.

For more information regarding toTs by SmarTrike, including their fabulous nursery range (look out for my upcoming review), they can be found online by visiting Smythstoys. Rumor has it they have a sale on at the time of publishing this article so be sure to check out the website for great discounts on the toTs by SmarTrike range (while stocks last).

Are you a Cloth Nappy User? What Changing Bag Brands do you swear by? Let me know by leaving a comment below 🙂

Disclaimer: PR Sample kindly gifted in exchange for a review. As always, thoughts and opinions are honest and my own.