What to buy a mum with baby in ICU

[mummybean84]

Hi

Looking for suggestions from any mums who have experience of being in hospital. My friend has had her baby early, he had to have an operation straight after birth and is now very poorly and in icu. As a result my friend is unexpectedly in hospital and doesn’t have everything she needs. Her fiancé hadn’t been the best and bringing in what she needs. She won’t give me a list but I want to make her a bag of useful items. If you’ve been In this situation what did you most need/ wish you had had, to make your stay a little easier.

Cosy socks for the dm. And a small cosy blanket to catch a nap.
Some tiny items of clothes. It really is a comfort to be able to envisage a tiny dc home and wearing them. Asda do tiny stuff and it's cheap! Hat /socks /tiny babygro.

Practical side big pants and decent pads....and food non perishables...

I have been in a similar situation, the best things I was given was some jogging bottoms and a hoodie so I felt like an actual human being and some little bags of haribo and cans of pop because hospital water tastes disgusting and you have to eat on their schedule so being able to grab a quick sugar fix when I wanted was great.

Non perishable snacks and drinks, gift card for m&S or Costa or whatever the hospital has, eating in hospital gets very expensive very quickly

How early is the baby? Will they need prem clothes and nappies? There are velcro clothes for tiny babies so drips etc can be accessed with less disturbance and, after the first week or so, most units expect parents to bring their own nappies too.

When I was in this position, there's no way I could have done anything/enjoyed anything, so reading materials/food would've been wasted. However, I'd have been over the moon if somebody had brought me a massive bundle of clean comfortable underwear. Bras and knickers need changing much more often, and I never had enough. I'd have also loved 'congratulations on your new baby' cards. One of my twins was stillborn and it seemed to leave people unsure whether or not to celebrate the life of the other, so I ended up with mostly letters of condolence.

I’m so sorry for your loss. I completely understand that you still wanted people to celebrate the birth of your other baby in the normal way, I’m sorry you missed out on that. This has been really helpful thank you x

Lots of really helpful suggestions thank you! I popped out yesterday and got a few bits. I’d rather she had more and ended up not using things than being sat there needing something she doesn’t have x

Do you know what type of delivery she had? I had a vaginal delivery with stitches and the chairs in NICU were so uncomfortable. A lovely pillow to sit on would have been amazing. I ended up using my BF pillow to sit on and borrowing the hospital's BF pillow for feeding.

For your friend, a lovely water bottle as neonatal units are warm. Also unscented hand moisturiser because she will be washing her hands a lot. Agree with pp that vouchers for whatever coffee shop is on site are nice as hospital food gets tired quickly. Also more maternity pads than you might ever think you need. The boots thick ones are amazing - much nicer than the hospital ones.

My baby was tiny and although we got some lovely clothes she was 6 months old before a lot of them fit. Only my mum sent us some tiny baby clothes. If the baby was very early, they don't wear clothes for a while, but if they are wearing clothes, it would be nice to have some things that fit. M&S and John Lewis do sets for prem & tiny babies. Try and avoid buying things with feet in as the babies often have wires attached to their feet.

You can also buy special prem milestone cards - "today i came off the ventilator" etc. There are lots of different ones on etsy but this is an example - www.notonthehighstreet.com/bymollyandizzie/product/the-original-wipeable-preemie-baby-achievement-cards