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!

Did your hospital not supply you with a plastic bowl and cotton wool balls? In our unit they are in the base of the cot.
We still supply babygowns, washable nappies, linen, sanitary towels, cotton wool balls, vaseline for bottoms and breastpads. Towels for bathing are also supplied. Do you think we should stop doing that as a cost saver to the NHS? It seems the majority of mothers down south have to supply all their own things.

I was supplied with a bowl & cotton wool balls and I'm Down South . I was given only my first sanitary towels and provided my own bath towels - didn't see any provided.

We weren't provided with anything. In fact, as I mentioned before, they didn't even have the supplies to wash the baby off immediately after he was born. I didn't even get breakfast the next morning as I had not been around at dinner the night before to order it, and they didn't have any spare! Much of the equipment wasn't working when I had my ds and despite my having had a c-section, I was in a room with a broken emergency call button and was only checked on every 4 hours (supposed to be much more often than that for the first X number of hours). There were 2 midwives looking after at least 40 women. The toilet wasn't cleaned in the 3 days that I was in hospital and the shower was broken. That's london hospitals for you.

In defence of London hospitals - the one I was in was spotlessly clean. I could have done without the hoovering at 6am but that's a different story. They provided cotton wool, bowls (well, disposable plastic cups) nighties and blankets for the baby. Nothing but bedclothes for me. Oh, and the food was quite good, but then I liked school dinners. I thought that was quite reasonable. It sounds like your hospital is much more generous mears.

One thing I had in my bag both times was a small Evian water spray - you can buy it at Boots, and its utterly fab in labour, you can spray it all over your face and neck and in your mouth as its just a pure mist of water and quite cold too. Really refreshing.

I'm from Lancashire and all I got were some sanitary towels if I asked nicely for them, although we were encouraged to buy our own. I wasn't shown where to get water from at 2am, we were very much left to our own devices. The baby wipes were provided for that first poo by the midwife, but reluctantly so.

After I had finished packing I had a suitcase, a holdall and a bag for my partner. Everyone laughed at me because I was taking so much stuff in but I didn't care as I felt prepared and I didn't have the constant niggling thoughts of whether I had enough, should I take this or that etc. which is great because preparing for and going through labour is enough in itself without having to worry about anything as menial as that. I turned out to be right too as due to problems with my baby feeding I had to stay in for a week and not once did I have to worry about reminding my partner to bring things in!

Kelliann, I am glad you have said that as I have now packed the bag but had to upgrade to a huge bag to fit all the stuff in!

Thanks to all, the advice has been brilliant and it has made me really focus on what I want out of the birth. East Surrey seem excellent they provide cotton bottoms which mean I do not have to worry about nappies. I have a post-it note on the front door telling me to take my pillows and leave my jewellery.

I remember taking everything in and having about 3 bags. I moved rooms 3 times during my labour and my poor husband had to carry everything around with him and/or put it on the bed with me.
My advice would be: take the stuff for labour (although not too much! - we'd brought enough food to feed a small army and I wasn't allowed to eat..so I wouldn't let hubby eat either! - bit tough for 30 hours really...) and first nappy and clothes for baby and leave the rest in the car so hubby can collect it as and when necessary

havn't read all previous so may be listed but lots of bottled water (the hospital water was foul), water spritzer for face, camera, change for phone and paper and lots of clothes for baby

A bonus about sending DH out to get the other bag(s) from the car is that you get some time with your brandnewborn all to yourself

The main things I remember taking in with me were maternity pads, disposible knickers, nappies, slippers, dressing gown, nighties,toiletries, my camera, breast pads but I never used them and I can't remember anything else although there were probably a few other things.
At my local hospital where I had my dd they supplied a plastic bowl, cotton wool balls, a changing mat, blankets and they had cloth nappies you could use if you wanted or you could take in your own disposable nappies, which I did. I was in a room/ward with 4 beds but only 3 beds were ever in use in the 5 days I was there. There was a small sink in the room to get water so you could see your baby at all times and they supplied towels for you to shower with and babygros for the babies or you could use your own.
I'm not sure if they have changed any of this since I had my daughter. There was also a fridge at the nurses station so if you wanted your dh or whoever to bring you in sandwiches from Marks and Spencers, as the midwife suggested on the labour ward tour, they could keep it in the fridge for you if you wanted. It was a quite pleasant experience and sounds totally different to what some of you seem to be describing down south, I thought all hospitals provided the bowls and cotton wool balls, towels, babygros etc but obviously not. I'm north of the border by the way.

my only advice is to make a list of the things you can't put in the bag yet such as toothbrush, paste, dressing gown etc - all the things you are still using. Its harder to remember all these things at the last minute and a list makes it easier to ensure you don't forget anything. Keep it in the bag itself so that if your partner is the one doing the packing he can find it quickly too.

Everything else is probably listed below, but one good item I took was spray body lotion, more like a mist for after showers and especially when you are unable to move freely. I found ice cubes very refreshing but many times you couldn't get any at the hospital. Do bring your own. Good luck!!

Something I would recommend is to take a big cotton sarong and baggy t-shirt to wear after the birth. You feel so much better if you feel like you have got dressed instead of slopping round in a nightie all day. Also make sure you have at least one babygro that is bigger than newborn size. Ds was a surprise 9lb 12oz and the first one we tried on didn't fit him.

Firstbump, this isn't exactly something you take with you but make sure you have good food in the house or a list of nice food you want DH to get and bring into the hospital. I couldn't believe how horrendous the food was. I mean I didn't expect Michelin star standard but it was truly inedible and nutritionally-bankrupt - not good for an exhausted breastfeeding mum!!! DH brought me in smoothies in flasks and bits and pieces but to be honest he really needed a list to help him.

If you are having a section, I would highly recomend Windeze to help get rid of the pain in your shoulder as painkillers don't seem to do it - and they worked really well for me.

Also, totally agree with comments about food from outside - give someone a list of all the food you have been craving - the food I had was awful - I was last on the round and was twice given meat despite my request for vegeterian stuff!