What You Need To Pack In Your Hospital Bag
For all the first time “parents to be” out there, a daunting thought might be, what on earth do I pack in my hospital bag? Not to worry, we have all been there. I want to help you not get overwhelmed with this task, so here are the essentials for mom, dad and baby.
Let’s Start With Mama
Phone Charger
You are going to want your phone charged up so you can capture all those sweet adorable photos and videos of your precious little one. At times, you might feel like some relaxing music will help. And let’s not forget the waiting periods. Some women labour takes a while to get going, this where mindless scrolling social media, watching movies, reading books, etc… all come into play.
While others around you are sleeping you might not feel tired at all so your phone is handy to keep you occupied. All these things can completely drain your battery quickly… so have that charger ready.
Pillow
I can’t stress enough the added comfort you will have if you bring your pillow. You have no idea how long you will be staying at the hospital until your dismissed. So make sure to pack your pillow.
Full Coverage Underwear
That’s right! I’m talking the most unattractive, extra, all-over support underwear you can find. Trust me, you will want them. I got a 6 pack of them at Walmart for like CAD 12.00 just so I could easily throw them out when I was done with them. It’s not pretty, but it’s necessary. You will also receive special postpartum underwear right at the hospital that will be provided to you. These are a very comfortable mesh style underwear and you can pick up extra pairs of these on Amazon.
Padsicle Supplies
If you don’t know what a padsicles is, you are missing out. Let’s just call these, a healing treat! I first read about them on Pinterest while pregnant and had to give them a try. Let me tell you they are life-changing for the postpartum recovery.
What you need to get yourself are some Maxi Super Pads (literally the thickest ones you can find), some aloe Vera gel, some witch hazel, and some lavender essential oil. You have two options with these. One, you can premake these pads by adding a little bit of each of those ingredients into the pad, folding it up and back into the packaging and then freezing them.
Two, you can also just use those ingredients each time you change your pad and not freeze them, it’s completely up to you (this is typically a better option for your hospital stay). The hospital I delivered at provided me with little ice packs for my pad so I didn’t have to worry about it until I got home. But even the hospital ice packs with just a little aloe gel worked WONDERS. They are designed to help you heal and recover quicker and with less pain, and from experience, I can tell you this is true!
Nursing Bra
Even though I didn’t know how nursing would go for me, to make my life easier and start getting used to trying to nurse, I brought my bra to the hospital so I could get used to the way it all worked. They have some nice comfortable ones on Amazon for a reasonable price as well that I recommend.
Hospital Socks
There are specific hospital socks you can buy on Amazon that are intended to keep your feet warm in the cold hospital, but also provide a really good grip. The hospital floor is very slippery and if you’re able to be active while labouring, you will want them for walking around. When I packed my hospital bag the first time around, I did not include these and that was a mistake! I had to go barefoot and it just felt gross and dirty and my normal socks were just too slippery! I highly recommend getting hospital socks!
Comfy Stretchy Clothes
There is not a better feeling than after delivery, having a shower and changing into some stretchy comfies. Whether you have had a c-section or vaginal delivery, everything needs time to heal and you don’t want anything tight-fitting. My recommendation is sweat pants and baggy top, preferably a button up one that is easy for breastfeeding, or a nice cozy two-piece set of PJ’s. Whatever you think is “comfy” bring it!
Travel Toiletries/Hair Accessories
Mainly elastics because as much as you want to try and maintain a decent look, your hair typically gets thrown up into a bun/ponytail as you just need everything out of your face while concentrating on getting through those contractions. Also, contractions make you very sweaty and you will no doubt just want that hair out of the way. I also had mini shampoo and conditioner bottles along with soap, mouthwash, and toothpaste. Again, there is no better feeling than the first shower after having your baby to just feel clean.
Belly Bandit Wrap
I highly highly highly recommend this! I did a whole post on the benefits of this wrap. It helps shrink your uterus back while keeping your loose skin tight so your overall recovery process is so much better. The second I was showered off and clean after delivery I started wearing it so that my stomach would have some immediate support.
Click here to read about my results plus photos of my results during my postpartum recovery process.
Now, what you need to pack in your hospital bag for dad!
We can’t forget about the dads. The guys who support us, wait on us and are just as sleep-deprived as we are. My husband had his entire hospital bag packed, but it was full of different essentials.
Snacks
My main concern with my husband is food. He loves to snack and get’s hungry when he is just waiting around not doing anything, so to keep him happy during the long waiting periods snacks were essential.
Let’s get real, hospital food is not great, and although there are places in and around the hospital to go grab something, he didn’t want to leave me. So to play it safe, I packed nutritious snack foods. We had protein bars, crackers, nuts, etc… Of course, there were some chips involved but we kept it pretty healthy so he didn’t feel extra sluggish.
Pillow and Toiletries
Our husbands want to be able to shower and freshen up during the long waiting and labouring hours as well. Plus there is nothing better than having your pillow to sleep on when you’re in a hospital setting. Most of the time the chair or couch the husbands get to sleep on is not very comfortable.
Phone Charger
If one of you forgets to charge your phone for camera use or you have accidentally drained yours and don’t have time to charge it up, you have extra’s on hand.
Pyjamas
Guys don’t need much. One pair of comfy pyjamas will suffice. My husband just wore that for the entire 24+ hours we were at the hospital, including bringing home baby.
Cash
This was my husband’s suggestion. Having a little cash on hand was nice to be able to throw a few dollars at people here and there if we needed them to run out and grab us something. Also if you are in a bind for food or drinks, and all the hospital cafes and shops are closed, you have cash for the vending machines. It seems kind of silly, but it will come in handy. Best to be prepared for anything!
Finally, what to pack in your hospital bag for your precious bundle of joy
We packed just a few essentials for the baby as our hospital did provide quite a bit, but here is what we packed and we wished we had packed…
Newborn Outfit
I would recommend packing two or three outfits as you never know what they might poop through. You will also learn that “newborn” sizing is drastically different depending on the brand. Bring a couple different “newborn” sizes so you for sure have something to fit your new baby. Thankfully I did this because two of the outfits already didn’t fit my daughter because they were way smaller than she was. With our second we almost needed preemie newborn clothing because she was so tiny and liked curling up into a little ball so she hardly fit the usual newborn clothing. Packing a variety of newborn sizes saved me!
Diapers
We packed newborn diapers and lots of them to be safe. I wasn’t aware that our hospital was going to provide that for us, but I am happy we picked them just to be safe. Also, it will no doubt depend on your hospital what they will and won’t provide, so you can never be too safe.
Newborn Pacifiers
We forgot to pack these with our first and we felt in distress our first night alone. We weren’t against pacifiers, my baby brain had just caused it to slip my mind. So instead we had to hunt down a nurse to go down to the NICU to get us one. I felt like we were burdening her.
Apparently, at the hospital we delivered at, they are not a fan of handing out pacifiers, and it caused a great amount of stress on me as the baby was fussy and I was feeling anxious. I just wanted to bring her comfort so we could all get some sleep. Second time around though, we packed EXTRA and turns out our baby was a lot more self-soothing then the first and didn’t like them anyway.
Baby Hat/Accessories
You’re so excited to show off your new baby and there is so much adorable merchandise out there to do it, I couldn’t resist. Headbands, toques, baby hats, etc… Whatever you choose, but babies need all the warmth they can get when they are new.
Blanket
The ones the hospital provides, in my opinion, are not the comfiest for babies. I made sure to bring the softest, comfiest blanket I had to swaddle and wrap my baby in.
Car seat
How else do we plan on taking our babies home! With my first baby, I delivered in February so it was pretty chilly out still, so I had a bundle me insert from jolly jumper for my car-seat. It was like an extra wool blanket for the baby, so cozy and comfy. It kept her so comfy she loved sleeping in her car seat which was a great way to kick off newborn life. You can get them for a cheaper deal on amazon.
I hope this helped you know what you need to pack in your hospital bag
There are so many other things that you may find important to pack that didn’t include in my list. Feel free to comment and tell me what you found helpful. I am sure all the other expecting mama’s reading this will appreciate ALL the added tips.
If you need some more tips regarding pregnancy and motherhood, read these:
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