What gifts do you wish you'd received as a first time mum?

[charlottemont]

Hi! My sister is pregnant with her first child, and I was just wondering - what are good gifts to give a new mum? I'm particularly looking for things that she wouldn't necessarily know to buy/things that will just make her life easier. Alternatively, what are things that I should steer away from giving her?

Thank you so much!

The baby carrier is a godsend, it’s basically the only thing my son will nap in.

I also appreciated the freezer meals people gave me for those first few weeks!

Something nice to use in the shower - I never had the chance for a bath and the 10 minute showers while DP held the baby were often my only chance to breathe!

Freezer meals, or Foodhub/just eat vouchers are also another good idea. If you want something more like a keepsake an ink free hand and foot print kit is good.

A friend gave me a music stand. I could rest a book or magazine on it during the endless hours of breastfeeding.

Deliveroo/Just Eat vouchers! Or freezer meals. The best thing we got was a lovely veggie lasagne from my cousin. When we were sleep-deprived, absolutely knocked for six, and surviving on awful microwave meals that lasagne brought us back to life. I still think about it often and it was years ago!

I always give people frozen cookie dough - homemade chocolate chip cookies in 10 minutes can't be beaten.

The most useful thing I got was a bit water bottle so I could have a drink close at hand when I was stuck on the sofa for hours. Something easy to grab, and that won't leak if knocked over.

Freezer meals, reusable breast pads (better for environment and saves heaps of money if she plans on breastfeeding), haaka silicon pump, terry cloth nappies to use as burp cloths, baby wipes (can never have enough), some chocolate for her

Food. Ready made. Delivered. Anything that saves cooking! Nobody did it for me but I wish they had.

Easy snacks and meals.
A nice drinks bottle.
Bluetooth earbuds would have saved my sanity 😆
A box or basket that I could carry essentials around in.
Some giant loose comfy clothes like joggers and tshirts several sizes too big.
An audible subscription.
A nice blanket for me for night feeds.

There were plenty of gadgets and items that were really useful like a sling/carrier and myhummy (both were Brilliant) but these are kinda too personal and some people don't want them etc. Same with anything related to breast feeding. So I'd say get her something for her, not necessarily something only to do with being a mum.

People got me bath stuff but I never really used it. I would have quite liked a nice big mug and nice teas. Or a lovely insulated travel mug to keep my undrunk tea warm

Zip up hoody, a big comfy one, and several vest tops were useful when breast feeding.

Just all the food hampers 😁

Oh my godmother got me some lovely perfume though and I loved that, I could feel slightly more human with a few spritz. It was the most thoughtful gift I got just for me

I would have loved a housekeeper to cook, do laundry and housework. Didn't get one though

Lovely (but easy to wash) PJ's or lounge wear
Shower stuff (that in shower moisturiser stuff is a godsend for me)
A nice big mug or water bottle
A nice photo frame so she's got something to put a nice photo of the baby in.
I was very grateful to the friends who brought me biscuits, wine and cans of g&t

I got loads of baby books/new mum books with my first and never had any time to fill them in so they were a bit of a waste.

A cleaner once a week for a month or two

Oh these are all such brilliant suggestions!! It's seems like there is a common thread of appreciating more personal gifts for the mum herself, rather than something that is more baby-focused. Thank you all so, so much!

Food, coffee, chocolate. A suitable sized book for breastfeeding (i.e., quite small) in a genre/by an author she likes. Basically you spend a lot of the first three months sitting down with a baby attached to you or sleeping on you IME. So anything that will help to pass the time enjoyably while she's trapped under a baby!

Food. I was so grateful for a fridge full of ready meals and sandwiches brought by my sister in law I cried. All M&S too. Best gift ever.

Time. More than anything I wanted someone to come round and hold the baby while I showered or napped. A cleaner would of been a close second and some freezer meals delivered.

I just bought myself cooling, gel nipple pads from amazon. I didn't know they existed and went 5 weeks without them so would have loved if someone had stuck a couple of packs in for me.

Lanolin nipple cream!

I have a close group of 4 "best friends"... "A best friend isn't a person it's a tier..."

For the first pregnancy in the group, the 3 of us paid for a weekly cleaner for 8 weeks. Our friend adored it. Called me (happy) crying in the second week as she was so exhausted and the cleaner just sorted out the floors , etc. Splitting the cost worked well.

This is now the agreed pregnancy present in our close group!

For other close friends, I tend to go functional; Uber Eats vouchers have always been popular. Or a post pregnancy massage voucher if I know the friend will love it.

An echo, so that she can play music, put on white noise for the baby, make phone calls etc, when she gets stuck with a sleeping baby.

A water bottle that can be opened with one hand.

I personally wouldn't bother with the meal vouchers unless she's a single parent as only one person can hold a baby at a time so there shouldn't be any reason to skip meals (at least we always found cooking and basic chores fine) as the other parent can cook.

For her- Food!! Nice things she can snack on during the day and night, homemade meals for the freezer she can just pop in the oven/microwave!
Some nice dark coloured pyjamas
A big comfy hoody
Some nice face or eye cream
Lansinoh nipple cream if breastfeeding
A gift voucher to get her hair or nails done before baby arrives maybe?

For baby -
A fabric wrap sling
Giant Muslin cloths

My incredible best friend has just given me a “hamper” (made in a washing basket) it included a couple of books, a new big mug with a lovely quote, biscuits and chocolates, g and t cans, childs farm baby wash, a couple of bigger sized baby clothes that she knows I love (baby grows with zips), some large, soft muslins (that I had actually looked at plenty of times but felt like they were too extravagant so they are a real treat) and a pack of nappies. It is the most thoughtful gift and I absolutely loved and know I will use everything in it.

Just to add I like to give the baby Einstein star and a Lamaze Pramworld toy as a gift. You get very few toys as presents and I find they’re always well received.

@Fueledwithfairydustandgin

Just to add I like to give the baby Einstein star and a Lamaze Pramworld toy as a gift. You get very few toys as presents and I find they’re always well received.

Agree with this. We were gifted loads of clothes and blankets (so many blankets!) but very few toys and books.