Paper pants should be banned, and other rubbish stuff pregnant women & new parents are told they need..

[ColdCottage]

Just that really, I'm just prepping for baby number two to arrive and recalled all the stuff I bought last time which was totally useless.

Paper pants were the worst - crap sizing, dug in and just horrid as well as useless.

I ran out of maternity pads in the hospital and had to use newborn nappies

I had so much stuff with me when I had DD, that they had to put it on a trolley. 🥺 She's an only so I couldn't even redeem myself by being minamilist with the next one!

I went for big soft pants too, and then wore them for years. But I did like the maternity pads as they were big and soft, we were specifically told not to get pads with plastic top bits as it hindered healing?!
But unlike other posters, we loved our cotton crochet type blankets, still use them as towels now 14yrs later.

@DadCanIHaveAZedgie 😂 I am just trying to work out how this worked.

How many did you take with you? I've only packed about 6

How many did you take with you? I've only packed about 6

That will last you a day at most, maybe half a day!

I used my disposable undies. It was so much easier than washing blood sodden undies. I didn't need any of my snacks because I was feed through the whole labour

Disposable breast pads are crinkly, annoying and rubbish. The Avent washable ones are much better.

After disposable pants first time round, it was huge cotton granny pants second time.

I was encouraged to pad my CS wound with a maternity pad. Disposable pants weren't high enough and just rubbed the wound.

Not all pants returned from the hospital with me, but there was less wastage than there would have been from all disposables.

The only difficulty with the granny pants was separating mine and MiL's from the washing when she stayed to help at. She's 50 years older than me!

I bought Boots maternity pads which were the same as night time pads (only twice the price for less pads!), nothing like the massive Tena lady pads which my DH actually bought me by accident after DS was born and I confess they were great .

Washable maternity pads were heaven. So soft against stitches and didn't feel like I was wearing a nappy that rustled when I walked. Same goes for washable wipes for baby's bottom. Who has got time for fiddling with bits of cotton wool on the huge, sticky poos. The main life saver was a used Lucozade Sport squirty bottle filled with warm water and a few drops of tea tree oil or lavender oil for washing down below after using the loo. I don't think I used loo roll until DS was about a month old. Felt so much cleaner and no scratchy loo roll was going near my stitches. I wish I'd taken cooler clothes for the hospital. We were stuck there for a week and I'd packed warm pjs/clothes as it was winter. It was 25 sodding degrees in our room and I was dripping with sweat

ColdCottage I had to just put the nappy square against my knickers, pull it out so it's not all bunches up, didn't undo the tabs or anything, and I had leggings on so it held in place. You definitely need more than 6. I took 10, was in 24 hours. Went through those and 3 maternity puppy mats. 😁

Although I object to fast fashion, when I had my second and third babies I bought big comfy pants from M&S and just binned them until I came home. Was only in after birth for a few hours each time so probably threw 1 or 2 pairs away each time.
Just far more comfortable and dignified than wearing paper knickers!!
First time round I bought those as they were on the list. Very rustly sounding and sweaty

I'm hoping not to be in for long. 12h was more than enough last time.

Looking for more of your useless items ladies

YABU. Paper pants were great for me. If you have leakage issues like I did due to complications and catheterisation they might be just what you need.

Cheap breast pads. Appeared to be full of cotton wool, half the price but lasted a tenth of the time.

If I were to have another I would investigate washable ones.

I liked my paper pants post c section 😣

Yeah, big granny pants are ace. I had an EMCS with dc2 and DH went and bought me some big pants while I was still in hospital. Lovely!
Also, gas and air and fizzy orange lucozade are not a good mix.

I took far too many baby clothes. All the chat about them throwing up and pooing all over their clothes multiple times a day - both of my DDs were (and are) oddly clean. I could count on one hand (each) the number of times I've had to change their clothes after a poo. Aldi nappies for the win!

Now I disagree about buying the bigger size granny pants. I packed big pants and maternity leggings to come home from hospital in and my baby bump disappeared the day after I gave birth. (Not complaining or bragging!) So I had baggy knickers and very baggy leggings to get through the rest of the day and the trip home in. I’d also bought bigger size nighties which were only worn once.

Also I packed Tiny baby, Newborn and size 0-3 clothes for DS and he was too small for them all! Thankfully MIL got some basics and brought them in for us.

I packed loads of cooling stuff, fan, face mist spray as I gave birth in last year’s heatwave but ended up with a 2 and a half hour labour and my bags were still in the boot.
Best laid plans...

The thing I always find baffling on hospital bag lists is a dressing gown and towels! They take up so much room! Towels are provided, and a dressing gown would roast you alive in the ward! Much better to go with a long flowy cardigan, or oversized zip up hoodie.

Everything I read said granny pants not paper pants so I never bought any. Maternity pants were useless.

This one maybe controversial but I had a ton of knitted white cardigans that were barely used for a few reasons:
1 summer baby
2) anything covered in poo or sick that can’t be washed properly isn’t really practical for babies.

I felt bad as they obviously took people hours and hours to make.

@Spanneroo 'towels' were provided at our hospital but they the size of a face flannel!

I do remember laughing at all the things on the lists. Like a straw because it's hard to drink and a fan because the labour ward is hot. Paper pants and breast pads.

I actually liked maternity pads. Tesco did really thin ones when I had DS2 that were amazing.

Flamingo84 You’re lucky. I was in my maternity leggings still at 5m post partum with number 2. That child destroyed any abs I might have previously had!

Agree the washable breast pads are worth the money.

The skinny elastic on the paper pants was cheesewire on my CS wound, so MIL bought me giant granny pants and they were sooo amazing. Agree with PP who said it was hard to go back to ordinary knickers afterwards.

Our BabyBjorn got very little use. DS1 was a big baby. By the time I was well enough and confident enough with him to use it, it was easier to have him in the pram because he was so damned heavy. DS2 was even more of a lump. That said, one my most treasured photos is of DS1 in it on his Dad beaming at me. 🤷‍♂️

Oh and as proof all babies are different. One child, sling was a waste of money. Other child it was an essential and basically used permanently.

I had the disposable pants for number 1 but clothes cost a lot more then, a pack of pants from Tesco's or wherever costs less now than 21 years ago (crazy but true) you couldn't get incontinence pants in supermarkets then either, I remember when tena lady launched (before that only source was your dr if you needed such products). The maternity pads were essential because the midwives weighed the pads. By number 2 I had moved overseas and there they provided everything including disposable pants and pads, I just took always nighttime and old knickers for going home. The big knickers thing is only necessary for c-sections