To ask what you really need in your hospital/baby bag?

[summerskittles91]

I imagine this has been done a million times, but just looking for tips on items you really wish you had packed in your hospital/baby bag or items that ended up being really useful.

Started packing mine, and having consulted a million lists on google I don't actually know what I really need.

Any tips would be fully appreciated!

Drinks
Drinks
More drinks

I got thirsty as Buggery in those hot maternity wards

Socks. My waters broke over mine and I didn't have another. Juice cartons and snacks.

I had a thread about this as google told me to take everything but the kitchen sink

Take socks, fluffy ones or slippers.
Money for car or tv
Charger
Clothes, nappies, milk if not breast feeding for baby
Pjs, going home clothes and loads of underwear for you
Maternity pads
Breast pads
Towel
Mini toiletries
Magazines/headphones in case it's a long one

I was out 6 hours after grieving birth so didn't end up needing most of it.

About a million pairs of pants.

Food. Lots of. Cartons of juice.

Aside from that basic, warm and easy clothes for baby. Clothes for you including millions of pairs of pj bottoms and more pads than you could begin to think you need and slippers. Those are my must haves.

Frozen peas.

Pjs. Change of clothes. Underwear And couple changes. Maternity pads. Cereal bars. Slippers. deodorant. Tooth brush and paste. Baby outfit and change including hat. Nappies. Wipes. Blanket. Something to do . Phone charger. Change for food and drinks machines.

Baby:
Nappies
Bodysuits
Sleepsuits
Hat/s
Muslins
Blanket
Cotton pads

You:
Pads
Comfy undies
Lansinoh nipple cream
Flip flops for walking around the revolting floor and for showering in
Food for snacks, like breakfast bars or fruit, whatever you like
Water bottle
Phone & charger

Definitely socks!

Place marking so I remember to save this page when I need it in a few months. I remember on some other thread here someone trying to convince their friend who was going in to have their first that thongs and tampons would be useless. So not them!

I packed everything! But the only things I used and was glad I packed were drinking straws, Vaseline for my lips and also a flannel to put on my forehead. All came in very handy during the labour. Obviously used all the normal stuff (big pants/nighties/pads etc) too. Flip flops to wear to and in the shower were good too as my hospital had wet rooms.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I think I'll be heading to Primark to get fluffy socks and lots of dark underwear.

More pads than you think plus cheap granny pants you can throw away. Flip flops. Extra clothes in case you get kept in. Cereal bars. Our hospital validate parking so you don't have to pay if in labour but cash for vending machines/cafe. Towels as hospital ones are scratchy and small. Music, phone charger, TENS.

For baby, vests, sleepsuits, car seat, nappies, cotton wool/wipes, blanket for trip home

Oh yes, definitely take your own towels for the shower. Was so glad I did. Hospital ones are horrible!

You will always get really conflicting answers to this question as everyone's birth experience and length of hospital stay is different, therefore they are likely to have needed different things.

My labour was long and DS was poorly so I was in hospital for a total of 5 nights so I probably used more things than most, but my advice would be:

• Pack one bag for labour and immediately after birth, then a second bag for any stay needed beyond that. It's easier to have two lightly packed bags than one bag so full that you need to empty it in order to find anything. If you're travelling to the hospital by car you can always leave the second bag in the boot and send DH out for it once you know whether you are staying in
• Try to organise the items into smaller bags (I bought some zip around mesh travel organisers from eBay that were brilliant) and even go so far as to label them. It was much easier for me to shout at instruct DH on what I needed him to get for me that way
• Pack one of these little bags for everything you will need for the baby early on- muslin, vest, sleep suit, nappy etc so that you're not rummaging around trying to find everything in different places
• Work on the assumption that you will be on a shared ward and pack clothes you will be comfortable wearing in front of strangers and their visitors. I bought several pairs of cheap, black lounge type trousers which felt less like pyjamas and didn't immediately show any leakages or spills
• Flip flops rather than slippers as the wards tend to be so warm
• Nice smelling mini toiletries, I bought travel version of my favourite luxe products and it did make a different to how I felt after my first shower
• Don't forget a phone charger, just in case you are in for a while
• Snacks for you and DH. Pack a variety of things, sweet, savoury, salty etc in case you develop sudden aversions or cravings during your labour
• A small squirty bottle to spray water down there as you pee, if you are sore afterwards it really does help

Everyone laughed at me for over-thinking packing my bag, but it made me feel much calmer and more in control and when it came to it the midwife and doctor were really impressed with how organised we were (and even DH admitted it was a great idea).

flip flops

ear plugs.

Decent feeding bra or vest top - so hot in maternity wards that's all I could wear ( an easy to throw on cardigan in case of visitors perhaps)

if you don't like water, plenty of drinks as bf gives you a raging thirst.

ear plugs and eye mask. (Communal wards really should be a thing of the past)

If you don't want to breastfeed, formula. Most hospitals around here don't seem to supply any.

Pack an empty to carrier bag or two to put any soiled clothes in to keep them separate from everything else in your bag! Birth and it's aftermath can get seriously messy! I took lucozade sport drinks in and two boxes of cereal bars as I always get really hungry after.

I also had a carrier bag that I left at home with extra nighties, underwear and pads for me and a few vests and sleepsuits for baby. This was just in case we were kept longer than a day or two, didn't trust what DH would bring in so did it for him!

Agree with pp that the Google lists tell you to pack a bag for you and a bag for baby, when actually you more likely want a bag for labour and a bag for recovery. I also packed a "going home" bag but we didn't bother with it so I ended up going home in slippers, with DH's jumper over my pyjamas

• Outfit for baby in labelled sandwich/freezer bag, in an obvious place. It won't be you fishing it out. Depending on dates, can be worth packing multiple sizes and choosing the most appropriate so you have an outfit labelled "up to 7 lb" and one "7-10 lb" or whatever. Each one contains: vest, babygro, hat, nappy.

• Fruit. Although you're fed in hospital there is a distinct lack of fresh fruit available. I was mightily sick of cereal bars

• A million pads and many pairs of big black cotton briefs. Very high waist, especially if you have a section.

Tbh the rest can be delivered to you later.

Both mine leaked more than I expected, DC2 in particular because precipitate (fast babies and section babies have more mucus to clear than those with a standard VB). We were only in for 48 hours but in that time we completely ran out of both sizes of clothes and DH had to go to Mothercare. Cheap and cheerful M&S 7-pack white babygros are the way forward.

NB you should still pack a hospital bag if you're planning a home birth. It has only the practical things in it, probably, and less of the whale song shit.

Your birthing partner will also need a few things - toothbrush, extra jumper, snacks - again it depends how long you're there and how comfortable they feel leaving you to pop out for food or a change of clothes.

Yy even just pants, socks, t shirt and deodorant helps hugely when you have a long labour (eg DC1 was 24 hours from first induction pessary to delivery, and DH didn't leave the hospital for another four or five hours). You can get deodorant wipes which are not quite equivalent to a shower but make you feel more human when you're not the patient so you can't use the bathrooms.

Hospitals are hot and dry. If you wear contact lenses, take spares and eye drops.

Lots of drinks and a can of water spray to cool you down

Second having 2 bags one for labour and one for afterwards, makes life much easier. Also a good plan to divide things into smaller bags where you can. I thin dark coloured dressing gown is useful, sleep bras are good (I found proper nursing bras a faff to start with), headphones, earplugs and eye mask in case you want to nap in the day and don't forget blankets for the baby. They can't go in their car seats in their snow suits so you'll need a couple of blankets to keep them warm or check out the morrk car seat blanket thing! Good luck!

Agree to packing a just in case bag with extra clothes, pads and nappies and then leaving it at home or in the car. So much easier to say to someone to bring in the red suitcase from the bottom of the wardrobe than asking for specific things. Dh brought the wrong thing several times when I was in with dc's 4 and 5, really wish i'd packed that extra bag. Space is limited on the ward too so best to have several small bags and get someone to swap them round and wash your dirty stuff.

Chocolate.