Hospital Bag - What do I take in with me for first baby ? List Please

[Firstbump]

Hello Mums,
I have a week to go and need to pack my bag could someone give me a list of relevant things to take in as I am a little lost. I have been told that new mums stay approximately 2 days in hospital and I intend to breastfeed.

Thanks for the advice!

Thanks to you all I have my list.
I have bought mostly everything but will get a few more bits after reading all your comments. I am oddly calm well she has got to come out!.

Thanks Ghosty, I am delivering at East Surrey I have now put a post-it note on my front door to remind me in the rush!

Mears I have taken your threads to heart and will not be bathing baby in anything but water and have even bought reusable nappies!

JoJo21 good luck to you too. Hope all goes well I am seeing the consultant on Friday as I have a 95th centile babe with lots of water! So they have menationed induction to me too.

Thanks again

Firstbump, these have already been mentioned but they are the things I got wrong myself!
Slippers, even if you don't wear them at home, as hospital floors aren't always as clean as your own!
A dark towels - you will bleed a lot, and trailing back from the shower with a beautiful white towel complete with scarlet stain is not great for your dignity. Likewise, I echo the dark clothes/ PJs comment.
If you have to stay in for more than a day you will want LOADS of baby vests & babygros - you can't wash, dry & reuse them quickly like if you were at home. Also more towels and PJs for yourself. Big size PJs for afterwards as you will still look 6 months pregnant for a few days!
I wrote my (pre-addressed and stamped) birth announcement cards from hospital.

All the things already mentioned are excellent although I found that night-time sanitary towels were far more comfy that maternity pads, also, it would be worth taking a small fold up changing mat (or a few pampers care mats) for early nappy changes - protects sheets and blankets while you try and work out how to deal with those lovely early nappies. Dettox wipes would be handy for wiping the loos. Also, I found that shorts & t-shirt style pyjamas were better for discreet breastfeeding that front buttoning nighties - hospital curtains never seem to meet in the middle.

This is for labour, not after - I took in one of those wheat hot-water bottle/bag things which you heat up in the microwave.. Found it VERY nice to soothe pains and back ache with - the midwives were very happy to heat it up for me. Mine was from John Lewis.

Disposable knickers - rather than buy those nasty paper based ones (are less than flattering and made me feel like a real invalid), buy cheap cotton ones that you don?t mind binning straight after use. much more comfy.

A good book - babies sleep a lot of the time and the whole buzz of giving birth and everything whizzing round your head, it can be hard to sleep at night so a good book in hospital may be helpful to mentally escape for a short bit.

I was in hospital for nearly a week - after a couple of days I got my DH to bring in writing paper and envelopes for me and I got all my thank you letters out of the way between feeds and visits...glad I did as going home my life became much more chaotic and disorganised.

Be aware that you may stay in longer than you anticipate and have a second stash of clothes handy in another bag for your partner to take in for you if necessary - much better than leaving it up to a random selection brought in (if your partner is anything like my DH!! - he brought in one of my "going out" outfits, don?t know what he thought i was up to in there!)

Lavender oil (probably already mentioned but worth remembering) - great to add to warm baths after the birth. A friend bought me a bottle to take in and I am so glad she did - never would have believed how calming and relaxing it can actually be in a hospital bath!

Good luck - enjoy these last few days and get LOADS of sleep while you can!!

deodorant - loads of it - I sweated like a pig after the birth.

Lots of disposable kecks, I brought under the bump maternity ones (why?) which nestled nicely on my caesarian scar, luckily hosp gave out free disposables. Nice smellies for showering afterwards, amazing how much better you feel after a shower.

Not specifically bag related, but ask visitors to bring nice food when they visit you and baba, smell of hospital food made me gag....I was brought M&S goodies, which got my appetite back and my system 'moving'.....

Couldn't agree more with Milch, our hospital bags contained all the same things, oh and I had lavender candles too to go with the CDs I'd picked out! All I used though was the tolitries, slippers & pj's and food was important and I was there for 5 days in the end! Oh and I did use arnica tablets after and rescue remedy was on hand too. However it's better to have everything you think you might quite like as then you won't stress about not having it with you! Good luck and enjoy!!PS disposable knickers are gross and you won't want to wear them for longer than possible day 1, or the first hour!! Take a couple of old baggy cotton comfy one you won't mind binning as well as disposables.

Remember that you'll have visitors to bring you stuff, so rather than lug masses - and there often isn't much space on the ward - pack only what you think you may need for the first day or so in your labour bags, and leave the rest for you and baby packed in a separate bag for dearother to bring when he visits. Put a wopping great A4 label on that bag so that no-one grabs in in a hurry when you go into labour and brings the wrong bag in by mistake!

Oh, and another thing for the labour bag - taxi telephone numbers so that you don't have to flick through Yellow Pages between contractions at 2am

Nice toiletries are great. My dh bought me the Avent collection (mini sized bottles) and they were such a lovely 'clean' smell! Maternity pads in abundance, I used about 5 packs in a matter of days. I took one pack! Personally I would take one pack of disposable nappies in with you as you will ahve to stash the reuseable ones and send them home with DH. In the first few days I think I got through as many as 10 nappies a day! Imagine a pile of them around! I used cotton wool and water for the baby rather than wipes, but disposables were much easier there.

oliveoil's message about keeping your system moving has reminded me of something else: a bunch of bananas from the grocers and a pack of fybogel from the chemist to help keep you regular! Believe me, after you've delivered, you'll probably need all the help you can get in that department and hospital food ain't great.

BABY WIPES! I was told at my ante-natal classes to only use cotton wool as the wipes can be too harsh for a newborn. Well you try getting that first poo off their botties with cotton-wool! I was mortified when I looked in her nappy for the first time! Someone had covered my baby in tar! I tearfully tried getting it all off with my silly little balls of cotton wool, until an unsympathetic midwife came along with about 5 baby wipes, tutted at me for my 'inadequate supplies' and professionally cleaned off all the poo with the wipes.

Oh and I would get some incontinence pads too, they don't do sanitary towels big enough!

Something cool to wear. Hospitals are sooooo hot!

Did someone mention nipple cream? Either Lansinoh or Mustela make a cream that soothes cracked sore nipples. I had to constantly apply for the first 2 weeks. The hospital may give you some, but just in case, it made the first few weeks just a little less painful.

I found a pen and paper essential to keep producing lists for dh! (I also took a list of all the people who dh needed to ring to tell them the good news - listed in order of priority!)

Agree that lots of small change is important for the phone - and in our case for the extremely expensive pay-and-display carpark.

I was advised that dh should also have a bag ready to bring in with cleaning products in so I could clean the hospital bath - I thought this sounded utterly OTT until I saw the bathrooms. (My hospital was fantastic and I chose to go back there for number 2 - so this is not moan - just a practial tip.)

Lipstick - make yourself look a bit glam for visitors and cheer yourself up if you have the blues!

Rhubarb - definately don't agree about baby wipes

See my link below.

The trick to getting meconium off is to wipe it off with a clean corner of the nappy then wipe with wet cotton wool. Baby wipes are notorious for excoriated baottoms.

We used scent-free, hypoallergenic, alcohol free baby wipes made of real cloth, made for newborns. We still use them, and they are the only wipes that don't give DD a rash. We started out with cotton wool and water, but we tried a few wipes and realized that it was much easier and didn't irritate DD's bottom.

Don't get cotton wool balls, get a roll of the stuff and "make" your own. The balls you buy are expensive and pathetically small!

I would second taking a few good books & magazines - I was in for 6 days because of an emergency c/s - very few visitors as we had recently moved, I was the only one in a two room ward - so I was very glad of the books (I can't stand TV - it was bad enough having to hear it through the wall from the next room!!). I also did all my announcements on cards I had got stamped & addressed before.

I got told off at hospital for NOT bringing liquid baby soap. (I had brought a bar of the same non-perfumed hypoallergenic soap that I use on my own sensitive skin). And then got told off for bringing baby wipes (luckily I had cotton too). Now with two babies under my belt wish I could go back and tell off everyone who told me off!
I found that rather than cotton balls, use as Soupdragon suggests, the rolls. Also, after the merconium is gone (you need large rolls for it), makeup removal cotton pads are really great. They are less stringy and messy than cotton wool.

Agree with Rhubarb about the towels. I took two packs in with me, fool that I was! Had to keep sending dh out to buy more!! It's not the length that is the problem, it's the width. Perhaps they should make mummy nappies for the first few weeks!

Also, DARK towels. Agree about the food comment. Take something that you love in. I had bagels, grapes and twixs...yum. Mum bought me two Mars Bars, but I didn't want them until I got home. Also, take something to read, as you will get some relaxing time.

The only thing from my two experiences that I would add is to wear a nightshirt and not pyjama's!!!!

Lots of luck!

My advice on clothing would be make sure you can simulate real breastfeeding as much as possible - if you intend to always unbutton your clothes to feed your baby then take that sort of clothing in. However if, like most breastfeeders, you are likely to be pulling your top up, it's probably best to start the way you mean to go on. And you'll feel less exposed if someone walks in whilst you are feeding.

Initially it may mean that you can't see what you are doing so you might need both types - or maybe something like a low cut t-shirt/vest that you can access from top or bottom

I understand your point Mears, but in a busy maternity ward, leaving your baby to find a bowl of water for your cotton wool is a nightmare! I was the only one in my bit to actually have a baby, the rest were still pregnant with complications! But if you don't like wipes, then just make sure you are prepared for that first poo!