Grobag - do you take it to hospital when you give birth?

[CupcakesHay]

Hi

Stupid question possibly:

In my labour bag, and all that - Am i meant to take my grobag in for the baby to sleep in, if we end up staying overnight? Do i need sheets for the cot or do hospital provide all that?

I'd say no, newborns are a bit too small. Usually wait until they're at least a month old and big enough for it.

Hospital will have sheets, you might want to take your own cot/pram blanket.

No, keep it good for when you come home, hospital provide lots of blankets, and its really hot on post natal ward.

Just vests and babygros are all you need, and a snowsuit or similar for bringing baby home in.

Ooh, I feel all nostalgic now! Good luck x

The hospital will provide sheets and blankets for the cot on the postnatal ward. Your baby will be a bit gunky until they are washed (which may not be until you get home), I'd leave the grobag at home personally.

It's another thing to faff around with too, and if it gets dirty another thing to have hanging around and pack. Good luck with the birth and meeting your beautiful baby

No, post natal wards are really hot so you really only need a light blanket which the hospital should provide, plus new borns are too small for grobags. I didn't put dd in one until she was about 10 weeks old.

I had a newborn grobag but never really used it - my dcs all liked to be swaddled for the first month or so.

No leave it at home. Depending on how big your baby is, they may not be able to use a grobag for some weeks, and the hospital will provide bedding for the hospital cot.

Oh - so what do you put a newborn baby in if they don't go in grobags? I just assumed they would.... hmmm - that's thrown me now!!!!

Just cover them with a light blanket/sheet or sheets depending on how hot the room is.

Or you could use a hospital blanket to swaddle the baby. Or take your own blanket to use to swaddle the baby. There are guides online of how to use an ordinary blanket, or you can buy specially shaped ones that are easier to wrap. The people who make Grobag sell one - www.gro.co.uk/Grobag-Swaddle/View-all-products.html that you can find in stores and online.

I used the Gro ones until my DS was about 8wks old then I swapped to the Grobag.

I used a cell blanket folded once and dd was born last December, so although the house was heated it was by no means roasting. Not great to over heat babies, best to err on the side of caution. I did have a fleece blanket over ds when the mw came to visit and she told me to take it off him and just use a cell blanket.

I took my own blanker to swaddle DD2. Just as well: it turned out that I was in the only cold hospital room in Britain, and one night I ended up raiding the linen cupboard for some towels to keep her warm!

I used the gro swaddles too (with dc3). DD was born in a heatwave so I swaddled her in a sarong, which was nicely stretchy but very lightweight. DS1 was born in September and I used a flannel sheet square.

Swaddling is great (well it was for mine who all wanted to feel snug and cuddled).

No (someone might pinch it for a start).

I've always found maternity wards to be nice and warm and the midwives usually swaddled my DC's for me.

Had DS in May 2009 and was told not to swaddle. DD born Oct 2006 and hospital swaddled her. So all change. Plenty of sheets, blankets in hospital. At home just use sheets, blankets until they are about a month or two. Would put a newborn in a grobag personally.

Whoops meant to say would NOT put newborn on grobag

Our hospital specifically said don't use grobags when so small as they can wriggle inside. My hospital swaddled in the middle of July in 2009 - keeps babies arms in when they have reflex movement. I took my own cellular blanket but think I used the hospital one

Yes swaddling is the way forward, I used to swaddle in a nice brushed jersey sheet, then tuck in with a blanket over it. I think grobags are overrated tbh. We have survived millenia without them. I had one for ds2 but can't say he was any warmer than his previous 2 siblings who had sheets and blankets.

Don't think you're supposed to use a grobag til they're about 10lbs, and actually I preferred using sheets and blankets at first so you can easily adjust for temperature! I just used a thin sheet and cellular blankets.

The minimum weight for grobags is around 10lbs but you can get other makes of sleeping bags (Mothercare and John Lewis) that can be used for smaller babies (from around 7 or 8lbs). Mothercare even do one for tiny babies. I am planning on using them from birth, but not in hospital, because we will be using a sleepcurve mattress.

They do now make grobags for dinky babes - baby used to have to be about 10lbs, I vaguely remember. However the issue with littlies and grobags is their reflex movements as for about the first 4-6 weeks theier little arms/hands flap up suddenly when they're sleeping and if they're in a grobag, their arms are free so they wack their faces and ... wake themselves up .... As the kind of mother who was keen on sleep, I used to swaddle them until about 6 - 8 weeks to make sure I wasn't disturbed every 20-30 minutes. You can use pretty much anything to swaddle a baby but letting them overheat is a bad idea so perhaps not polartec fleece + a sheepskin .

definitely agree with the swaddlers out there- swaddled mine from birth till 2 months, then into grobag/sleeping bag. Swaddling makes them feel more secure, like they're still in the womb. The hospital used a blanket but when I got home I used a 'swaddle' blanket -you can get them in mothercare, they're shaped specifically for swaddling and much easier than fiddling with a square or rectqangular sheet. I had 2 so one was used, one washed and found them to be essential for the first few months.

and yes- hospital rooms can be bloody hot- had DS1 in march and room was roasting (despite being cold outside) he managed to get hoverheated in his blanket and little hat (they didn't check him) and got a temparature!

Great - thanks for the advice - blanket and sheets it is then. Anyhow - might be chucked out ratehr than stay overnight so this could all be moot! ha ha!

Main point is newborn babies need their nappies changing every 2 or 3 hours and usually puke a fair bit too. You don't want the faff of a grobag til the baby is going to stay in it more than a few hours.