Hiking pro tip: bring diapers!Yesterday was a beautiful autumn day and my husband and I decided to go for a leisurely hike. We arrived at the trailhead, got the dog out of the car, put my daughter in the baby carrier and we were on our way.

Happy little family, just strolling along until I had a realization that hit like a ton of bricks — We didn’t bring any diapers with us and my daughter had just eaten fistfuls of french fries on the car ride over.

I turned to my husband with a panicked look. I hesitated to speak it aloud and so I spelled it out; I didn’t want to give my daughter any ideas.

“We don’t have any D-I-A-P-E-Rs,” I said.

“And I gave all the diapers I had in the car to the babysitter yesterday,” he replied. Dread.

Suddenly, we were stranded in the wilderness with a ticking time bomb and it didn’t take long before my daughter innocently yelled out, “Mom, I pooped!”

We marched back to the car, prepared to come up with a desperate solution. I began to survey the contents of the vehicle for some sort of answer. What works as a makeshift diaper? Makeshift wipes? Ew. I sighed as I dug around for anything that might work. I shoved my hand down into the back pocket of the passenger seat and I hit something plush. I grabbed on, pulled back, and a miraculous diaper emerged in my grip. Thank you past-self for shoving this random diaper in here! Thank you so much! My husband and I cheered. I kept digging and even found a sandwich baggie full of moist baby wipes.

We were saved! See, when my daughter was first born I got in the habit of hiding diapers everywhere. I put them in glove compartments, laptop bags, coat pockets, the backpack I take to the gym. I stuck them under the driver’s seat, between the couch cushions, in the pantry by the canned tomatoes. There is nothing worse than dealing with a five-alarm poop and not having a diaper on hand. It only takes experiencing this once to learn never to let yourself get there again.

I guess I have gotten a little loose as my daughter is nearing potty training age and I stopped stashing them away. I think I’ll take up the practice again, just to be safe. The moral of the story is buy yourself a bag of diapers and hide every last one for emergencies. Get creative. You’ll thank yourself.

 

This blog was written and shared by Meghan Bausone, a member of the Aeroflow team and the mother of an outgoing toddler. Meghan has an education in midwifery and has attended birth doula training through DONA International. She was the Creative Director of a birth and parenting focused magazine for six years.