Your Hospital Labour and Birth Essentials
Hospital stays tend to be very short these days - most women stay in for less than 24 hours following a normal delivery. But there will be many items that you can take that will make your stay more comfortable and prevent your birthing partner rushing out to find a shop at a crucial moment!
Try to pack your hospital bag well in advance of your due date so you have peace of mind knowing that it is all organised and so you won’t have to worry about it during the onset of labour.
For the mother to be:
- Some snacks and drinks for you and your birth partner.
- A front opening night gown will be useful if you are planning to breastfeed.
- Dressing gown and slippers - useful if you end up walking around the hospital corridors.
- Items for relaxing - such as magazines, a book, a CD (check if there will be a CD player or whether you will have to bring your own), massage oils.
- A TENS machine if you are planning to use one.
- Loose, comfortable clothes for you to wear in hospital and for going home. (Remember that it’s very unlikely you will fit back into your pre-pregnancy clothes at this point.)
- Toiletries such as moisturising cream, toothbrush and paste, deodorant, lip balm, hair brush.
- A towel.
- Water spray or a hand held fan to keep you cool.
- A camera to take pictures of your gorgeous newborn baby.
- Your pregnancy notes including your birth plan.
- A couple of nursing bras and some breast pads.
- A few packs of maternity pads - these are similar to thick sanitary towels.
- Cheap or disposable knickers.
- Phone numbers/contacts for friends and family to let them know the good news, plus change or a phone card to use the hospital’s phone.
- Some women find the homeopathic remedy Arnica in tablet form helpful for stitches and bruising.
For the new baby:
- Newborn nappies.
- An outfit for the journey home.
- A few baby grows and vests for the baby to wear during his/her stay in hospital.
- Depending on the time of year and weather you may need a hat, booties, a warm blanket and a jacket.
- Muslin squares - these are soft squares of muslin fabric that are used to catch and mop up milk dribbles.
- A suitable car seat to get the baby home from hospital if you are planning to go home by car.
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New Baby Starter Kits | Business Opportunities And Ideas
June 24, 2007 @ 10:11 am[…] As my wife and I have been preparing for the arrival of our first child we had to spend many a weekend wandering around baby shops buying everything we need. It’s been quite a frustrating process, we’ve never been parents before so we didn’t know what we needed. As usual we searched the Internet for lists of new baby essentials, but even then, through our antenatal classes we learned that some essentials weren’t and picked up some tips for items that should have been on our essentials list. Once you actually wander around the shops it gets worse, you get presented by so many options it’s easy to become overloaded. On top of that the sales assistants seem to be quite good at subtly suggesting your bad parents if you don’t get the best this or that and quite quickly you’re totally fed up of the whole experience. […]