To ask what the nicest or most useful new born gift you got was

[DotDashDot24]

Would like to get a (small) newborn gift for an acquaintance.

What is the nicest or most useful small gift you got for a newborn?

(This will probably have to fit in a child's school bag).

Thank you 🙏

As another poster said - Braun Digital Thermometer - all the way. The best gift I have ever received for my newborn, and for my own reassurance / sanity. 3 yrs on I use it so often. I have bought one recently for another mum who is expecting. Its not cute or cosy but it's the most useful gift I have ever received xx

We really appreciated anything that meant we didn't have to cook - homemade meals and baked goods were so welcome.

Sensory hanging squares - amazing and lightweight - we've used them loads and they are great to pack for going out and about.

Hand knitted cardigans in non-pastel colours- I loved these !
I didn’t have one then, but I think a thermos mug would be fab pressie for a new mum.

Nappy cake. So easy to make, yet so effective.

If it is a first time mum, a baby food cookbook (Annabelle Carmel) was the best gift I got

biscuits! We got some lovely gifts but we just wanted biscuits 😂

Home cooked meals delivered to the door
And "vouchers" to take the baby out to give a mother time to rest. (Other way of telling that you are happy to help her out without her feeling uncomfortable asking) 😌

Was coming on here to say £50 Cook voucher was best present we got!

a cheaper option would be a pack of black and white sensory muslins off Amazon. They double as an entertainment item too!

There were several, but one of the best was a white noise machine (thinking of something that fits in a school bag). My baby had colic and this was the only thing that would soothe her.

Really random but my DH aunty I have never even met got us a really nice weaning set of a bib bowl and spoon from Zara. He's almost 3 and we still use the bowl to this day!

A cheap funfair animal given by a then neighbour. Ugly as anything, not machine washable. Of all the lovely soft toys, it was that one that stuck, of course. 12 years in this manky animal with only half its stuffing is still my dd’s faithful companion for tricky times and it’s travelled with us everywhere

A hand/footprint kit. It's something I never got round to buying when my first was born and regret it.

Contrary to PP, you absolutely can have too many blankets. People buy them and knit them. We are overloaded. Especially as we use sleeping bags at night.

For baby, things that we’ll use loads of:

Sudocrem
Calpol
Been through several portable change mats too
Teething powder and teethers

For mum:
Food, or vouchers for food

Nice ready meals

Box of chocolates if you don’t know them well.

Everyone buys stuff fir the baby. It's nice to buy something for the mother.

With a tiny baby you never stop washing your hands and they get dry and crack (one of the things I remember is sore, chapped hands.

I usually buy some nice hand soap, handcream and shower gel. New mums need spoiling too. There's also stuff for all budgets but it's the thiugh that counts.

Just Eat vouchers 😅

A nice bath hooded towel large enough to last during toddlerhood. Good quality hygiene products.

Or you can buy something for later as they will probably get a lot of newborn stuff: a bibado vest for when they start eating or a cute bamboo bamboo weaning set. A good wooden toy.

A supermarket meal - someone dropped off a takeaway bag the night we came home and it was brilliant.

Someone turned up with a batch of home cooked meals for the freezer / bottle of wine and a laundry bag for me to fill ...... full bag returned washed dried and ironed !

Not useful as such but it was my sons 1st fav toy. My cousin bought it, he said he spent ages looking at beautiful wooden toys then spotted this and thought a baby would love it, he was right!

We also had tonnes of blankets. A neighbour dropped in a hamper from the chemist which had a variety of baby cleaning/ bathing bits.

A voucher for somewhere generic like a supermarket or just eat - if it can be used, you couldn't use it where I live

https://www.boots.ie/lamaze-freddie-the-firefly-1-toy-10113006?cmmmc=ROIPPC--Shopping--ShoppingGA--Lamaze&utmsource=roippc&utmmedium=shopping&utmcampaign=shoppingga&utmterm=Lamaze&gadsource=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsPCyBhD4ARIsAPaaRf01bkIn47F4vRGA2RqVza7hyxH0sgpnPQC3nKoUN9HicAWJ5EzVQaApIvEALwwcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

What a friend/ relatve you have there!