If you have just had a baby, would you rather…

[SoLuckyToHaveYou]

receive a bouquet of flowers or a plant? I intend to get another gift for the baby as well. Please help me out because I am a chronic ditherer 🤷🏼‍♀️

I agree with pp about edible gifts!

Brownies. Bonus points if you make them yourself, but there are many companies which will send them by post.

Babies are not that hard a work that you can’t water a plant 🙄

Definitely don’t send flowers or a plant. Both are added stress/work at a time when you least need it.

https://www.dontbuyherflowers.com/

I love plants so always found time to water them. However my neighbour recently had a baby and gave away all her plants because she said she no longer had the time or energy to look after them. So yes, for some people, it really they really are an added hassle.

10 years ago when my daughter was born I was given a beautiful blue orchid. When the flowers dried up I put them in a little glass display box and still have them. It’s a lovely little reminder

Flowersz my mum keeps buying me plants and I hate them cluttering up my kitchen windowsill!

A plant is just another thing to keep alive.

Flowers every time.

Flapjacks

Neither! Send a cake, or better yet a homemade meal that only needs to be heated

Ooh that's a great idea! The oats boost milk supply. I remember having a flapjack every night at 3am in the early days when I was struggling to keep up with my child's ridiculous appetite

Food! I recognize that this is borderline bonkers but... 1st baby it seemed like everyone we knew sent us flowers. And it was unexpectedly incredibly annoying. The flowers came in boxes that needed to be disposed of, we didn't have enough vases, we didn't have enough room everything was cluttered and it didn't help the stress of the first few weeks. Then we needed to top up water. Then get rid of them all when they died, which, in the middle of the baby blues and with a kid that didn't want to be put down seemed impossible so for a while we lived with house full of dead flowers which was grim. This time we decided to make our lives a bit easier by immediately binning flowers from anyone that wouldn't be visiting within the next week. Ungrateful? Probably. But it helped us feel a bit less overwhelmed. I'm aware that this isn't how most people feel about flowers but if you have the ability to send something that doesn't need to be displayed and looked after (like food!) that would be my recommendation.

I’d just be grateful you’d thought of me, chocolates or a home cooked meal I could freeze? Not a big flower fan - allergies.

I don’t have children but to be honest when friends or family have babies I put cash into their bank account to help them a little with maternity leave or to help with baby costs , bouquets can cost a fortune or can be cheap but I know my friends and family in particular appreciated the cash no matter how much I sent instead of wasting money on plants ( or baby stuff if you send the baby a gift too)

I always ask them directly if they want cash, vouchers or a gift and cash has always been preferred

Neither. A homemade lasagne/bolognese/chilli in a suitable container to go in the freezer and oven (foil takeaway container with cardboard lid is perfect).
A box of new mum's favourite chocolates/bar of choc.
A Contego mug to keep her tea hot and spillproof for the many long feeding sessions.
A tube of Aveeno hand cream for her dry hands.
A bottle each of tea tree and lavender essential oils to add to a daily 'sitz' bath to aid the healing of her stitches.

All of the above are much better than flowers or plants when just home with a newborn.

Plant which needs minimum maintenance if you must
Personally I always take a lasagne and a box of biscuits.
The new mum may simply not have time or inclination to tend to another living thing.
You are a kind and considerate friend

Nice chocolates (Green and Blacks /M and S swiss ones Hotel Chocolat) Plants are a hassle I find .Flowers need vases,topping up etc)

I don't like houseplants so a garden plant would be lovely from a friend.

I would however prefer something edible.

I'd rather have a voucher for Just Eat or something. Hard to find time to cook properly with a newborn....

Plant

They are if you are bf a cluster feeding newborn who also wakes every 45 minutes in the night for a feed! All my plants died when Dd was tiny. It was only when she hit 3 months I even had the energy to lift a watering can.

That's a really good idea!!!

Flowers already in a vase.

Flowers sound lovely.

I know the thing I appreciated most was food. MIL came up with a cooked meal every evening for a couple of weeks. I also had some really nice ready made meals from M&S.

Absolute bliss when you've just had your first baby and feel like you haven't got time to take a p*ss

Food food and more food!!

Preferably snacks and chocolate that can be eaten with one hand