What do you wear on the ward after the birth?!

[MrsMcSpooky]

Ladies hospital bag in mind, do you wear pjs/nighties or day time clothes in hospital?! Thanks

Don't talke in loads of crap becasue you won't need it. I bought some mini shampoos/conditioners/shower gels, you can get them from boots for a couple of pounds. They are much smaller and fit in your bag better, plus they were ideal for me as I was only in for 3 nights. If you end up needing to stay in hospital for long periods of time somebody can bring you in more supplies.

I had a cheap nighty bought from Primark to labour in, and then a nighty that had easy access for breast feeding. I also bought a very lightweight cotton dressing gown from Primark for about £6.00. Although the post natal wards are very warm, I found it a bit embarrassing getting up and going to the loo, for breakfast etc when other family members were around. So my dressing gown was light enough that it didn't make me too hot, and meant I was 'decent' in front of visitors etc.

On me second night I asked my mum to bring me in a lightweight pair of PJ bottoms though as I was bleeding very heavily and was worried about any spilage whilst visitors were in. They were again, lightweight, baggy and elasticated which meant they were easy to slip on and off. Rememeber when buying things that you may well be in pain after the birth so having to faf about with buttons, ties, poppers etc may not be ideal. Try to find things that are easy to get on/off, undo and whip down when you need to pee. Try to get things that are dark colored to wear, becasue if you do have any accidents, it wont show. Though by this point I was so far past caring if I had any dignity left it didn't really bother me lol!

Don't buy disposable knickers they are CRAP! Go into Primark and get some cheap black cotton granny style briefs. They're about £2.00 for a 5 pack. I bought 2 or 3 packets and they were the most comfortable things ever. Plus they were so cheap it didn't bother me to throw them out. My disposable knickers from Tesco's cost much more, they were the most uncomfortable, itchy things ever! Good luck

On the pad front, I actually bought some Boots maternity pads. They're £1.00 for a pack of 10 I think and although eveybody says how uncomfortable they are, I actually found them fab! I had such a lot of vaginal stitching that the pad was like a cushion for me lol so it was far more comfortable for me in the end. When the bleeding started to get less heavy I switched to always night time pads, the mahoosive ones with the wings. Much thinner but still big iykwim?!

Big granny waist high pants (comfort not style) huge sanitary pads for weeks, nice soft PJ, Dressing gown, a grimace (when tired) actually dont think i got properly dressed for ages but that is another thread

Tesco maternity pads were fine for me. Ordinary sanitary towels woudln't have even begun to contain the gore (sorry TMI). I took 2 packs in with me but DH had to buy another few packs whilst I was in. I didn't switch to ordinary pads for a few weeks. Was this unusual then? I thought that was normal.

I bought Tesco's nightime, 99p for 12 I think ( the big fat ones),with dd1 I ended up wearing them two stacked on top of each other ( I rather looked as though I were wearing a nappy), partly because of heavy bleeding but also because I had had lots of stitching and it felt much more comfortable having lots of padding. I used them for ages after the birth, and for my first period after( which I remember being heavier than usual), so for dd2 I bought about 10 packs! And although they're obviously not popular on here, I was a big fan of disposable pants, I liked being able to just tear off the whole lot and throw them away.

a much larger pyjama top than you would expect. I am size 14 with fairly small boobs so bought size 16 pj's for in hospital but couldn't get the top done up when my milk came in, very embarrassing when the in-laws turned up and I had my bra hanging out

i got a pyjama set from m&s, cheapo range. was cropped trousers with vest top in brown. only stayed a night. after that i was in nice pj bottoms with nice vests (m&s again). for knickers i got a cheapo pack of 5, not particularly huge ones, just a 'brief' rather than a bikini brief or whatever. for pads i just got always night time ones, wore 2 at a time. didn't actually bleed a huge amount, not as much as i expected.

top tip for your bag is take food like flapjacks, stuff that will keep ok and fill you up. also, take lip salve, your mouth will be sooo dry from gas and air if you have it. oh, and put some bottles of water in th efreezer near your due date, remember to take them with you as you leave for hospital. it'll defrost slowly, much nicer than manky tepid hospital water.

Hi Mrs - re. san pads - I used the proper maternity ones after DD1, but although they were quite comfy and padded, the lack of wings meant that I was making a mess of my clothes, so after DD2 i just got extra super duper heavy flow bodyform or something - and a good few packs of them. Once the major bleeding had subsided (2-3 days) I just used (as Fettle's DD calls them) knicker stickers i.e. panty liners, so worth getting a few of those in, as the bleeding can carry on for quite a while afterwards, albeit light.

It sounds like you've got all your bases covered on the clothing front

God terrible memory loss already... i'm pretty sure I wasn't using panty liners after 2-3 days, that would be impressive! More like a week!

i was advised by gp friend to take in a nightie as if you end up with a c/s it is better for catheter. would never have thought of this and ended up with emerg c/s and was glad of the nightie!

After that pjs with access for b/f. i used mothercare disposable pants and found them great - they went right up over scar and made me feel held in iykwim!

All three of our babies were born in the evening/night and I went out the next day, so I did change into normal clothes after my morning shower (which, incidentally will be the best shower you ever have, it is so good to get rid of all the goo!!).

When I say 'normal' clothes, I actually mean maternity clothes as I was still way too big to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes for a bit.

For me, I always feel mentally stronger if I have proper clothes and make-up on, but if you like your PJs then just stick with them.

The other advantage of normal clothes is that my maternity jeans could hide any leakage . As the others say, you will bleed an awful lot.

Actually, just realised that I did stay in for two nights with DS1, so I guess I must have worn PJs the first day with him.

My top tip though would be to buy a colour that a) won't show leakage (breast or otherwise) and b) a colour that you look good in so that you don't look too tired when you see yourself in the mirror! A lot of the maternity PJs I saw were baby pink and baby blue and would have made me look and feel even more tired than I was.

Re which maternity pads to get...

I believe some MW recommend the traditional brick type as they are more supportive, esp after stitches or the like. Personally, I just can't be doing with that 'nappy waddle' so the Nighttime Ultra did fine for me. Plus as another poster has said, those with 'added wings' are beneficial!

Wearing at least two pairs of throw away knickers helped. I thought at the time this was for leakage prevention but having reread the entire thread, I recognise from pigletmaker's post my reliance on two pairs may have had more to do with holding myself in place (internal organs having had several months of sharing a cramped space usurped by uterus, I think they went a bit mad with the free space!)

Nobody's really mentioned bras. I would have been very uncomfortable indeed without a couple of nice soft (and cheap) breastfeeding ones, even under my nightie and PJs.

PJs and long dressing gown - cheap ones from primark and cheap pants - don't bother with the paper pants (used them first time and they were awful - tore easily, uncomfortable)

socks and slippers (slippers that allow your feet to expand - 1st time round i had major swelling - elephant like feet, had to go home in my slippers in the middle of jan and 4inches of snow as i couldn't get my boots on)

take one of the cooling water sprays with you in case hospital is too hot.

good luck

Am I the only person who liked the disposable knickers? (Well, not liked as in wanting to still be wearing them...)

Tesco own pads for me - big, padded and soft.

Flame nah, my FIL likes them too - used to wear them to walk the dog in fact...

(disclaimer: hes a lot more normal now he and MIl have split LOL)

I remember some one bought me some beautiful expensive shower gel & body lotion when I was packing my bag to go to have DD. Used it twice in hospital and then had to throw it out as could not stomach the smell afterwards. Reminded me of all the bleeding and how hot the hospital was and just never feeling clean.

For no. 1 I basically lay in a daze with an enormous pad of wadding under my arse than was changed every few hours

For no. 2 I was dragging on my tracksuit and out of the door within a few hours (recommended)

I went for trackie bottoms/yoga pants and t-shirts (don't like wearing pj's in the day but this was just as comfy). Also wore nursing bra. Black cheapo cotton knickers rather than disposables as they are more comfortable and washable - I thought the Boots own brand maternity pads (the regular ones not the ultra thin ones) were more comfortable then the tesco ones (I had stitches so the more comfort the better) and about the same price. Tip - take far more pairs of knickers than you think you need - I was only in for one night and got through 5 pairs due to "accidents" - normal bladder control took a few hours to return.

I bought a couple of v cheap nighties from peacocks - worried about the leaking/ruining them thing.
Next time I will buy some nicer ones - just because I was in hospital for longer than I thought, and had lots of visitors, and I just didn't want to look (and feel) really grotty.
The stain thing wasn't worth worrying about in my case - they washed out anyway.

A lightweight dressing gown/cardi for when you want to cover up - so hot on the ward that it can't be a cosy top - you'll explode..

I'd also take cheap big pants instead of disposables. Comfier by a country mile.

I remember packing my bag for my first and as well as putting nighties in the bag I also took my pre-pregger jeans with me as of course the four stone I'd put on was going to amazingly disappear with my 9lb baby which it did ..... a year later!!!! It was elasticated waists all the way with my second! The main thing is to make sure you are comfy!

I'd recommend maternity pads over normal sanitary towels. The topsheets of brands like always will drag on your stitches (if you're unlucky enough to have them)

you can get maternity pads with wings. i used these

i took about 4 nighties in with me and used everyone despite only being in for the night!!