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!

I didn't use half of what I'd brought. Snacks didn't get eaten due to a combination of hospital catering and an eventual EMCS, plus hospital had an M&S anyway, couldn't wear the pyjamas I'd brought because of the catheter, didn't need as many pads as I'd expected because the hospital supplied them. Most of the time my bag stayed under the bed.

If there are shops nearby and you have friends/family who'd be able to pick up anything you've forgotten, then try to pack light - it'll make it easier to find things if your bag isn't hopelessly stuffed. What I did end up using was:

• phone charger
• button-down nightie

-dressing gown

• plastic bag to take dirty laundry home
• soft leggings and comfy t-shirt to go home in

I also got visitors to bring teabags, and next time I'll get Tena pants instead of maternity pads. But on the whole, next time I'll pack a bit less!

I had: wipes, nappies, Vaseline (for nappies). We didn't know the sex so had all neutral clothes- we took babygrows (sleep suits), vests (bodysuits), cardigan/ jackets, hats, extra mittens (even though the babygrows had them built in), blanket for in the hospital. I also took a special going home outfit and shawl (didn't need a pramsuit as it was warm). We had a teddy for the baby as well. The car seat for going home. I knew i wouldn't be letting him or her hand a dummy under any circumstances so didn't have any. Also I knew i would be exclusively formula feeding so I had a starter pack of formula.

For myself I had: 2 long nighties for during labour, a tankini for the pool (I knew i wanted to use it). I had pyjamas for the nighttime, several changes of clothes (comfy tracksuit bottoms and t shirts), socks. I didn't want disposable knickers so I just got large full briefs, suitable bras (all my clothes were dark coloured for obvious reasons). Maternity pads and breast pads. A small bag of toiletries and flannels, hairbrush, extra hair bands. We also both had our phone chargers. Dh had cash for the shop if we needed anything. A change of clothes for dh. And we took plenty of drinks with us (water for me). And the thing I couldn't have coped without, my tens machine (it got me through 4 days of contractions, and was all I needed until 4 hours before I gave birth).
I think that's about everything.

Lots of pp have said their maternity ward was boiling hot, but mine was chilly! Daytime was bearable if you were moving around but nighttime was downright cold - it was too cold to sleep with the tiny blanket I was given until I got fully dressed underneath. The delivery room was also much chillier than the maternity ward - even during labour, I was cold, and felt sorry for my DS popping out into the freezing air!

So the best thing I brought was my big woolly cardigan, which I just happened to throw on before heading to the hospital in the wee hours of the morning.

I'd advise sussing out how warm the rooms and wards are if you get a tour of the unit, and ask the midwives if it's the same temperature at night or cooler. I certainly wasn't expecting it to be cold!

Something for oh that isn't white. Mine came in wearing a white top and pale chinos then got handed a very grimy baby shortly after she was born. He got more baby gunk over him than I did somehow, but declined the offer of one of the many comfy nighties I'd packed.

I had a little Bluetooth ipod speaker, didn't end up using it as things happened too quickly, but it kept me busy making play lists waiting for the week post due date to finally end.

Straws, there was no way I could drink from a cup or bottle and it was hotter than the sun on the day I gave birth so that was the only way they kept me hydrated.

Snacks/a packed lunch for dp. We went in before teatime, baby born in the evening, and they couldn't even give him a biscuit. I gave him half my sandwich out of sympathy. We do strange things after having a baby!!

Flip flops to wear in the hospital shower - preferably cheap ones that you'd be happy to bin before coming home.

Even if the shower floors are less grim than when I had my dcs, flip flops are a less sweaty alternative to slippers on those boiling post natal wards.

Also Pringles.

Good luck!

Oh yes flip flops. I saw the biggest silverfish I've ever seen in the hospital shower

-I wish I'd taken more snacks- the hospital food was really grim

• Drinking straws

-I was so glad I bought my own towel and my own pillow as the hospital ones were tiny. -Lip balm -face moisturiser -Nice travel sized shower stuff -More pants and maternity pads than you think

• Make up. I didn't bother but I wished I had.
• Paracetamol (the staff would offer it to me then sometimes forget to bring it because they were rushed off their feet)

-Phone charger

• Books or kindle
• Hair bands

The hospital bag chat is all a bit weird and fundamentally a displacement activity designed to distract you from the events which are about to happen, the path of which will be dictated by medical necessity rather than whether you brought the right kind of cotton wool!

After an uneventful pregnancy I was whisked off to the hospital ward as soon as we got in (pathalogical CTG) and put in a gown, no food, only allowed to drink water. We did, though, have to wait 5 hours for Theatre to be made available for my EMCS, so lucky we brought the laptop and power cord so we could watch quite a lot of Brooklyn Nine Nine while I was whacked out of my mind on the hospital heroin. I suppose a couple of tiny shampoos would be useful, I dunno.

I disagree pistachio. I didn't pack enough pads/underwear and had to bleed on the floor waiting for DH to bring me more. I'm taking extra care this time to pack everything I might need and wouldn't want to have to wait for someone to bring me.

More pads than you think you need! I wasn't bleeding badly but even then my DH had to bring me more in as I was paranoid about running out!

My opinion might be coloured by the fact I gave birth on one of the busiest shopping streets in central London with 24hr shops close by and a DP happy to nip out. Rural hospitals, YMMV.

I do like this list I found on Pinterest , it seems quite simple .
My bag is packed but I do need to get some cheap slippers .

pin.it/2IGXFfo

I think you may be biased in that case pistachio
I was fooled by OBEM into thinking I'd be waiting around a lot, so I packed playing cards and puzzle magazines. DS was born five hours after I arrived I won't make that mistake anymore.

Ginger regarding the bottle feeding , did you have to use your own bottle too or do they have bottles ? Thanks

Straws. Holding a glass of water is hard work so much easier if you can stick a straw in it and get DH to hold the glass. Especially when baby is born and you need both hands to hold/feed.

Mother you would need to supply your own bottles too. You can buy pre-made formula in tiny sterile bottles especially for newborns.

Thanks Peace I'll get some ready's in

Socks, toiletries, going home clothes, pads, magazines and baby clothing.

Be assured that nothing is actually crucial.

I spent weeks planning and packing my bag for my first baby.
Time for hospital- all organised, OH picked up bag and we headed for hospital.
Labour progressed quickly and I asked OH fora carton of juice from the bag.......but.
He had picked up a similar bag, not my maternity one. It was a bag we had used on a foreign trip a few months before.

So when I was ready to push he pulled out a snorkel, a pair of flippers and a mask.

Midwives were creasing up with laughter.

Thing is they rallied around, found everything that I needed. Baby clothes, sanitary pads. So helpful.
So don't worry if you don't get it totally right.

Oh on that note

Something actually important and unbuyable that we left behind ...

... handheld notes. Terrible fuss about not having them with us, despite their having my hospital notes right there, partly because it meant they didn't have the stickers/barcodes to put on everything so it slowed down processing. He had been BORN before the midwife could produce the form

So yeah. Your notes. Because when you leave the house you might not be in a fit state to rummage for them: just keep them in the bag in the obvious, easily-grabbed place.

Thanks again for the suggestions coming! Really appreciate them :-) went primark today and managed to get two button nighties for £4.50 each! Was a bit rushed so probably need to grab a few more bits. Also got dark underwear and some fluffy socks and flip flops!

Ear plugs and eye mask. If you get stuck on a ward an yours is asleep, you'll be so grateful you packed them!!

Water bottle and yes, probably drinks.

Phone charger.

Clothes, nappies, milk. Choose milk you can get in emergency from local shop near your house. I didn't and when I switched to bottle feeding, mine was already on a type of milk that's not always easy to get.

The softest toilet paper money can buy.

Yes yes to earplugs ! So you can sleep and I also used to block out the screams (sorry !)