Hospital bag must haves??

[IVFfirsttimer91]

Hi all,

Preparing for the arrival of our first baby and starting to think about what I might need in my hospital bag.

Any must haves that you can recommend? I’ve had a look online and the lists seem endless and quite overwhelming! Do I really need 3 changes of clothes??

Also advice would be appreciated on what ISNT necessary to take with me.

Planning on a natural birth so far, so hopefully won’t need to stay in hospital for too long (no idea how long I’d be kept in for this but I’m assuming one night max?).

TIA

And my best present was a thermal mug with a lid so I could sip tea without worrying about splashing DCs.

Flip flops for the mining shower and as slippers.

Baby's puke up everything they swallowed in the womb so muslins or more outfits than you think.

They poop tar. Take cotton wool. Midwifes don't like ftm using Wipes. By the time your on your fourth they don't comment

your own ibuprofen and paracetamol in case you need it on postnatal ward. There are often delays with drug rounds

Nappies size 0 rather 1 is what I would highly recommend-size 1 is too big for a normal size newborn and even size 0 needs to be folded a bit at first under the belly button until it fall off.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet but lots of bottles with Lucozade to keep you going during and post labour. Good luck x

Oooh I gave birth Monday and ended up being i hospital Saturday - Friday! I thought I’d picked pretty well but some things I wish I had packed are:

• more maternity nickers than I thought I needed! the hospital provided these weird string ones and they were awful
• Vests for under sleep suits - seems obvious but I didn’t realise they need a sleep suit plus vest - midwife said typically they should be wearing one more layer than the adults in the room are wearing
• headphones - had to buy some at the hospital
• formula - so we didn’t take any because I naively assumed id breast feed but it took a few for my milk to kick in - the hospital will happily provide formula but they did ask us if we had bought our own
• more snacks than you think as well

Snack, snacks and more snacks plus soft drinks. I was given toast in the birthing suite after I gave birth at 5am but due to a lack of common sense from the midwives I wasn't allowed up to the ward until after lunch. I had to wait until 5pm for food. I couldn't eat while in labour as I kept being sick so I went without food for about 48 hours other than that toast. I don't have a partner so no one could go and get me something either. I begged to go home the day after as I was still so hungry.

I took an inflatable pillow for the birthing pool. It meant I had something comfy to lean on.