Do you need a diaper bag? In What’s in your diaper bag? I asked that very question. And in Retiring the Diaper Bag, I lovingly described the beat-up black bag my husband lugged to and from our daughter’s daycare for five years.

Obviously, you don’t need to buy a bag dedicated to diapers. You could simply tuck your supplies in your purse, a messenger bag, a backpack, a canvas shopping bag, or even a crinkled plastic bag. You could carry extra diapers and wipes in the pockets of your cargo pants, you could snap a clean Fuzzibunz over your baby’s head and use it as a hat until changing time. I’m just brainstorming here. . . .

These skinny cargo pants are just the thing for toting around cloth diapers, wipes, a few snacks, and an extra onesie

Stay tuned for my next post in this diaper bag mini-series, in which I provide some eco-friendly diaper bag suggestions for parents who don’t feel like stuffing diapers in their pockets. In the meantime, we want to know what you use if you go without a dedicated diaper bag.

ReCrib is a dreamy place to purchase high quality baby gear or make money selling used baby items. Thank goodness a site like this now exists!

If only we would have had reCrib when our babies were little. In our book, The Eco-nomical Baby Guide, we share that we each spent about a thousand dollars on our babies’ first year, and we did it by reducing, recycling and repurposing what we already had. (Typical american families spent upwards of seven thousand on baby’s first year alone!)

With reCrib you can buy heirloom quality baby gear at 40-60% off retail prices, and then sell it back (using reCrib) for a respectable sum when your baby has outgrown it. It’s essentially a top quality, online consignment store.

For more information on reCrib, here is an interview with one of its founders, Daniel Lehmann. (The images you see are items that are currently on sale at reCrib for about half of what they’d cost new.)

1. What exactly is reCrib and how can people use it?
reCrib is a free online marketplace for the best gently used baby and kids gear – the must have cribs, strollers, high chairs, etc. It’s great for parents who want to declutter and recoup the costs of items their kids no longer use – and also great for new parents who want all the best brands and products for their kids but at a significant discount. But the best part is that it’s the green thing to do!

2. What inspired you to start reCrib?
We were moving apartments and decided to take the opportunity to declutter and sell the gear and toys our kids outgrew.We assumed there would be a great site targeted towards parents but were surprised to found out it didn’t really exist. We had all this amazing stuff – Netto Cribs, Bugaboos, Peg Perego High Chair, etc. – in nearly perfect condition. As parents, you acquire all this stuff that you use for only months to a couple of years. We wanted to create a solution and believed there would be a market for this idea.

3. What types of gear can people buy and sell and on reCrib?
Think of a dream list for a baby registry at a top modern design store. Cribs, strollers, high chairs, bikes/scooters, bouncy seats, toys, furniture, and more, all by the best designers and manufactures.

4. Many people say that parents should only buy new cribs because of safety concerns. We at Greenbabyguide are in full support of used cribs, but how do you ensure that the used cribs you offer are safe for consumers? How do you deal with drop side cribs? ( We wrote a post about crib side stabilizers and I wonder if you offer those to customers)
We try to stay as informed as possible about any safety issues and constantly monitor the site. We will immediately pull an item off the site if there is any recall or safety concern. We also do our best to keep people updated through Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, we encourage our users to do their homework regarding product safety.

5. At Greenbabyguide.com we firmly believe that buying secondhand is greener than buying new. Have your customers had similar reactions?
Yes!! reCribers care deeply about sustainability and do whatever they can do on the green front. It feels good to know you are doing the right thing.

So what can you buy at reCrib right now?

This bugaboo black stroller sells for over a thousand dollars on Amazon, but you’ll find it for just $500 on reCrib. We realize that’s still a lot of money, but if you resell if for $300 after you use it, it will cost less than many lower quality travel systems on the market. And top quality baby products will last through dozens of babies–it’s better to be the second or third family to use it than the first!

In my 2008 post, “What’s in your diaper bag?” I questioned the need to lug around a gigantic tote stashed with diapers and burp rags. Even when Audrey was small, I got by just fine without a diaper bag at all!

I may not have mentioned that my husband did carry around a diaper bag. In fact, now that my daughter has started kindergarten, it is only now being retired. We received a cheap plastic diaper bag for free at the hospital where Audrey was born. I believe it came with a complimentary canister of Similac formula. When Audrey started daycare at eight months, my husband saw no need to buy something fancy like a Diaper Dude diaper bag ($55). Nor did he seem drawn to the organic cotton fabrics on the Amy Butler diaper bags ($250) that are all the rage in some circles. So he stuck with the hospital freebie.

Diaper Dude Diaper Bag

Over the years, he’s taken that bag (and Audrey) to her wonderful daycare provider. At first we needed it to transport bottles of expressed breast milk and bundles of cloth diapers. Later we filled it with a change of clothes and shoes, a swim suit, and a snack for the ride home. Now it’s literally falling apart. The white plastic lining is torn, the pockets have ripped. It’s too battered to donate to a thrift store.

I’ll miss this beat-up little bag, even though I never carried it around myself. I guess I’ll have to get by on the memories!

Nursing tanks were my absolute favorite breastfeeding support gear. While I was quite comfortable nursing in public, I loved that they helped me to flash as little flesh as possible. And they also provide post-pregnancy tummy coverage and an extra layer of warmth in the chilly months.

If you’d prefer an all-in-one nursing tank, Glamourmom’s Nursing Bra Tank is a good option. It’s extra long to accommodate our shifting sizes in the months after baby and comes with a soft cup bra built into the tank. Clips allow you to fold down the top part of the tank for easy nursing access.

Bravado! Designs Essential Nursing Bra Tank also provides a built in bra and comes in a variety of colors. The length of the tank extends to the thigh and many consumers rave about their love of this product. It’s available in a wide variety of sizes too, although I notice that there aren’t many small cup options.

Nursing women who already love their nursing bras can use a Nursing Tank by Undercover Mama that actually clips onto the straps of your nursing bra. It comes in three colors and still allows you to have the coverage of a nursing tank without having to use a built-in bra.

A similar option is Ecoscape’s Undershirts for Nursing Moms. The tanks actually just come with two large circles cut out of the breast area, allowing women easy access to their nursing bras.

The most deluxe nursing tank I came across was the Double Cream Nursing Tank by Ecoscapes. It’s made to support mom and baby with simple, easy to unhook shoulder straps, but it’s two layer design also allows for hands-free pumping. (I never learned how hands-free pumping was possible with my two babies, but I have to admit that it does sound appealing!)

I used about five cotton nursing tanks from target. They shrank, didn’t provide any support, and were ratty and worn by the time I finally finished nursing. If I would have realized that I would spend a total of four years breastfeeding my children (2 years with each child), I would have just invested in some high quality pieces right from the start. (Or looked for some gently used, high quality
nursing tanks in consignment shops.)

Have you used nursing tanks? What would you recommend for other breastfeeding mothers?