A gift for a friend who is likely to be in hospital for quite some time…

[Namw]

…following a traumatic birth and birth injuries.

What can I get her that will be useful/appreciated while she is in hospital?

Snacks and drinks. Never had enough food considering I was breastfeeding, especially fruit and the size of and drinks was thimble.

eye mask to help with sleep

moisturiser, hand cream - soap is pretty harsh in hospital

headphones, extra long charging cable for phone or tablet.

Magazine or easy read novel or puzzle book

Food. Home cooked and non potato based. And snacks. The hospital potatoes with potatoes for every meal will wear thin.

Voucher for the coffee shop? Will she be allowed off the ward?

Pen and paper.

If she doesn’t already have:
Wireless earphones, long charger cable, phone stand for FaceTime/watching TV

No mess baby footprint kit that can be done even if baby and her in hospital.

Cusky or bonding squares if baby in neonatal.

More food. And nice drinks..

Adult colouring books and coloured pencils

Easy to read book, magazines etc

Hope she has a speedy recovery and baby also is doing well.

Thank you so much. The baby is healthy and he is beautiful! My poor friend has had a rough time of it though so these ideas are brilliant, thank you!

Larger than normal cotton pants
New pjs
Eye mask
Ear buds
Soft night bras
slippers
lip balm ( v essential!!)
Hand cream
Body cream
comfy socks
snacks, snacks and more snacks both sweet and savoury including snacks for overnight- it’s a long time between tea and breakfast in hospital
Little individual fruit juices
Those were the best things I was given/needed when I was in hospital for extended period.
You could put whatever you get her into a cloth bag ( like the ones from primark) so she can use it as a laundry bag?
wishing her and the wee one all the best

If she doesn't have her son with her she may like it if you could print off a photo of him. I had photos on my phone but a hard copy photo was lovely.

Extra long phone cable. Like a 3m one to make it easy to have within reach.

Silk hair scrunchies that don't tangle your hair, and a silk pillow case if she is spending a lot of time in bed- less hair damage and frizziness.

One of those personal neck fans that blows air into your face - hospital wards are hot as hell, these are about £15 on amazon and charge via phone cable.

Lipbalm and facial spritz - my face was dry as a bone when I was in thanks to the heat.

Nice squash/cordial etc and a giant liddee drinks cup/bottle with a straw.

Nice shower gel. And food treats.

thermal water bottle or thermal coffee mug

A good pillow! Unless she's got her own with her, hospital pillows are crap.

Snacks and drinks that don't need to be refrigerated. +/- Big sports cup with straw/sealable spout.

I agree with her fave snacks/ drinks!
What a lovely friend you are OP 😊 x

Really luxurious lip balm
Hair stuff like frizzease
My daughter gave me. Soft toy to keep with me at all times!

A kindle.

I spent over a month in hospital earlier this year and some of the gifts that I most appreciated from my amazing friends included:

• lovely satin eye mask for sleeping (there always seemed to be lights on!)
• Super long phone charging cable so it could be plugged in and I could reach it
• headbands/bandanas as I wasn’t able to shower or wash my hair for a while as couldn’t walk and had open wounds
• dry shampoo (same reason)
• Headband earphones - they don’t block all sound (which will be crucial for her with a new baby, for me I just wanted to be able to listen to audio books and reduce the surrounding noise), plus you can comfortably sleep with them on so no biggie if you drift off
• a basket of fresh fruit (I hated all the carb-y crap hospital food)
• something decorative - I had an arrangement of pretend flowers that a friend made me and it was so lovely to have that to brighten up the place as I wasn’t allowed real. Plus I felt loved that she had put in that time and effort

Thermal cup or vacuum flask.

Arnica cream, helps with any bruising.

Eye Mask

.I bought these ear plugs for ear protection on flights but they do cut out a lot of sound and are the least itchy ear plugs I've had. https://www.boots.com/alpine-flyfit-earplugs-1-pair-10287155?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc--PLAs_HeroCompare--Catch_All-_-UK_Smart_Shopping_Catch_All&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2fHLh9ysgAMVAQeLCh1TswpyEAQYASABEgLfyvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Definitely nice food and drinks. And could you arrange home cooked meals to be brought to her house for when she's discharged?
I was barely given anything to eat and drink for the 24 hours I was in hospital after my c section. DH was limited to vending machines and Subway.

An Audible subscription, you could cancel it after 1 or 2 months (tell her how long it’s gifted for)

My mum said her most useful thing was a bag of clips to hold charging cables and such on the bed where she could reach them!

Big shaker bottle or insulated cup with a selection of nice squash (the water gets warm and gross!) those powdered teas from Whittards are good too.

One of those storage things that you can hang on the edge of the bed. People kept moving the locker out of my reach and I couldn't move.

Fresh PJs/ nightie/ whatever her preference is...ask her. If she's bleeding a lot she might want something patterned and dark.
Magazines..books can be hard to focus on in hospital.

Ready to eat fresh fruit and if you are visiting take a nice coffee in with you. The hospital stuff isn't amazing, could take some frozen bottles of water too so she has a cold drink available and maybe those mini squeezy juice flavours to add to it

Snacks, drinks, nice hand cream, voucher for the crappy tvs if they still have them, flip flops / slides for the shower