The one thing that I was dreading when my daughter was born, besides the obvious fears of her general health, welfare and safety, was changing diapers. I had never changed a diaper before and I was nervous. So when it came time to change the diapers I jumped right in. Meet your fears head on and defeat them, I say. And that is what I did. I became a diaper changing machine. My wife can even claim that she only had to change 3 diapers the whole time we were at the hospital and those were done when I was home getting a few hours sleep.

I want to be involved in taking care of my daughter and that means changing her diapers when we go out. However you won’t catch me carrying the custom made floral diaper bag that my wife has nor the ‘man purse’ navy blue one that we also have. Nope, I am strictly using the Baby Sherpa Diaper Bag. And it seems that I am in good company of other dads including some famous ones like Brad Pitt and Tiger Woods. They both have the Baby Sherpa Diaper BackPack.

I heard about this backpack through Brian Anderson of Dog Eat Doug, one of my favorite web comics. I went to the Baby Sherpa website and learned all I could about the backpack. I knew that I was going to start this blog for new dads and so I asked for one to test and review. It arrived a couple of weeks ago. This past Sunday I took it for a spin when we went to the Capron Park Zoo.

First off I had to make sure that I packed the proper gear for a day with the baby. So I laid everything out

I packed:
6 diapers, a package of baby wipes, a tube of A & D, 2 burp cloths, 1 receiving blanket, a sleeper, a onesie, baby hat, mittens, booties, baby socks, bib, 5 toys (yes she is less than a month old, it was overkill), 3 board books, ice packs, 1 bottle of Gatorade, 1 can of ginger ale, fruit snacks, cheese and cracker snack packs, dried fruit, cell phone, camera, XShot. And then I asked my wife what else I should pack and I got a list of a few more things.

The Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack has a soft sided cooler uniquely integrated into the backpack to store bottles, snacks, beverages, medication (holds 6-8 canned beverages). This is located in the bottom of the bag. The silver lined insulated cooler also has a mesh pocket that you can use to separate things like medication from your snacks. The mesh pocket of the cooler also offers quick and easy access. Clean up is easy too. There is a little hole at the bottom in cooler so that condensation and spills can easily drain out. That makes for easy cleaning. The items that I brought were not nearly enough to even fill half the cooler. I could have packed much more and will as Eva grows up and we need to bring more snacks and drinks. There are also two removable side pockets. One is also insulated and can hold a large can of soda. The other is mesh and is perfect for easy access to a bottle of water. I used that one to store my second camera lens.

The cooler empty

The cooler with our snacks and drinks.

After packing the cooler I was able to stand up the backpack and start filling the top pockets. The top of the backpack is unique in that instead of one large upper pocket it is compartmentalized into two compartments plus a zippered pocket. I chose to pack the items for diaper changes in one section and the change of clothes/extra clothes in the other.

I could have stored even more and I did once I asked my wife what I had forgotten to bring. Did you notice that in the image above you can see the two compartments as well as a large flap. That flap has two zipper tracks so you can choose to unzip one compartment or the other or both at the same time.

Those are the two major compartments on the bag, the cooler and the dual large top compartments. There is still much more.

I am a gadget guy. I love having little shiny back or silver things with me. One of my favorite items to take with me is my digital camera. I am never without it. The Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack has two zippered side pouches that are the perfect size for digital cameras, cell phones, keys, small first aid kits, palm pilots and wallets. I also meant to take my GiSTEQ™ PhotoTrackr™ with me so I could automatically geotag my images at the zoo but I left it at home. Otherwise it would have fit perfectly in one of the pockets. Next time.

There is also a large pocket on the front of the backpack. I used that to store the board books. There is also a Bungee X cord on back is great for jackets, toys, blankets and it can be tightened to make your items more secure.

There are so many hooks and rings and straps to add toys and blankets and other items that I had to load them up. Eva is less than a month old and has no need for toys at the moment. But ‘Daddy’ wanted to really load up his Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack. So I got a bunch of her toys that have hanging loops and hooks and magnetic snaps and snaps and well pretty much any connection option possible. I got all those and I started snapping them on and clipping them on and pretty soon I had a colorful assortment of items with me on the backpack. Here are some photos.

On the back with the shoulder straps.

On the front with the snaps and hooks and a carabiner.

A happy backpack on a picnic table.

You’re probably saying, that’s great, you can load a bunch of stuff but how did it actually perform. Did you do anything other than load it up and carry it around?

I certainly did get to use it. I undid all of the straps and put the backpack on. I cinched up the padded shoulder straps as well as the waist and sternum straps. I was ready to go. We went to our local zoo. Allison pushed Eva in the stroller. We walked around for a while and Eva began to get hungry. We found a picnic table and Allison fed her. Then I needed to do a diaper change.

I was right on it. I took Eva to the bathroom and set her up on the Koala, not before I used the oversized diaper change pad 26″ x 17″ that also doubles as padding on the back of the backpack. With the changing pad out and Eva strapped on to the Koala changing table I got out the diaper, wipes and A&D. I got Eva all changed up and ready to get back out and see more of the zoo.

I loved using the Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack at the zoo and look forward to many more afternoons spent outside with Eva and Allison. I would like to thank the folks at Baby Sherpa for believing in my enough to allow me to review the product. I am going to be using this for years to come. They even gave me a promo code so that I could pass savings on to my readers. You can use the promo code Benspark07 for free shipping. this offer lasts till 01/01/08.

There are just so many features to the Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack that I know I didn’t get to even use them all, however I wanted to make sure that you knew about each of them so here is a list of the features of the backpack. It is a rugged and tough piece of gear that any active family would be happy to own. These are the features as listed at the Baby Sherpa Official website.

• Deep inside compartment with zippered pocket
• Soft sided cooler uniquely integrated into the backpack to store bottles, snacks, beverages, medication (holds 6-8 canned beverages)
• Modular insulated pocket holds large-size brand name bottles, mesh water bottle holder
• Padded pocket to hold a video camera or breast pump
• Secure, interior parent zip pouch for wallet and a key clasp
• “Tough as nails” zippers feature easy pulls
• Oversized diaper change pad 26″ x 17″
• Cell phone/Palm Pilot pouch, sunglass case
• First aid compartment
• Reflective tape for safety
• Waist, sternum strap and ergonomically designed padded shoulder straps which feature a key clip and passy saver
• Bungee X cord on back is great for jackets, toys, blankets
• Heavy duty lug handle
• Loops for hanging up the bag
• Water resistant
• Easy clean
• Toy loops
• 30 day manufacturers warranty
• Fits as carry-on luggage for all airlines

Come back next month because the folks at Baby Sherpa and I will be putting on a contest to give away a Baby Sherpa Diaper Backpack, a Short Haul Diaper Backpack and a DayLite Diaper Bag.