A third-time mom’s advice on what you need, and what you really don’t!
Planning for that hospital stay, especially as a first time parent, can be overwhelming! It can be hard examining that baby shower stockpile and your growing stash of nursery-must-haves to know what’s truly necessary. In step the moms like myself who have been there, experienced that feeling of overwhelm, and are here to help you feel prepared and calm about your delivery experience! Read on to learn what key items I suggest you pack in your hospital baby go-bag! You will rock this!
First things first, congratulations on the upcoming arrival of your bundle of joy! It can be easy to let yourself get anxious about delivery and life with a newborn! Even now in the final days of my third pregnancy, I look ahead at how this will change my family and am somewhat nervous. That’s just part of the adventure, and it’s totally natural! Trust your body and trust your delivery care team and I promise you will make it.
The Go-Bag Basics
Now, let’s get down to the real reason you are here! The well-known hospital baby go-bag. I should probably mention that it’s not as simple as a small duffle bag that you snag in your hustle to the car. In fact, you’ll want to ensure you have packed not just for baby, but for mom and support partner also! Plus, you will want to think about transportation to and from the hospital, and how you will bring your new babe home safely!
Let’s get started..!
Hospital Baby Go Bag Must Haves for Mom
Since mom is key to the delivery action and her needs demand attention before baby’s will, we shall start with her!
In general, most of mom’s delivery needs will be met by her care team. However, there’s a few pre-baby items that you will want to consider.
- Comfortable clothes you don’t mind getting messy! Childbirth is messy and uncomfortable by nature. The best thing you can do is have clothes that won’t irritate mom or get in the way.
- Labor/ Pain Relief Tools- Whether it be a birthing ball, back massager, or small heating pack if you have considered any kind of pain relief tools make sure to pack them or ensure the hospital has them on hand for you to request! Many hospitals and birthing centers have a stash of these items but I liked having my own so my husband could feel comfortable helping me use them.
- Insurance/Healthcare Information- Be sure to bring along your insurance information and a form of identification for yourself. It is to your benefit to review what your insurance plan will cover, and confirm coverage details beforehand! Nothing like untangling an insurance mixup while dealing with a newborn.
- Birth Plan- I never felt compelled to create a hard copy version of my birth plan. My personality is very laid back and I tend to be a roll-with-the-punches kind of person so a birth plan was more work for me than I wanted to invest. However, if you create one don’t forget it! Your care team should do their part to stick to your wishes as best they can while keeping mom and baby safe. It can be great to have control over your experience and often if you made a plan you are also informed about the many possible decisions you might have to make during labor- that’s great preparedness!
Postpartum mom will have a much more personalized set of needs. Even though hospitals and birthing centers have the pain relief and postpartum care products mom will need to begin healing, comfort items from home make a dramatic difference in the beginning stages of healing and embracing a newborn.
- Dark colored or old bathrobe- This may seem like a want not a need but trust me, you’ll feel much more human in a bathrobe than a hospital gown. A robe is all the things the gown needs to be but is made for comfort and likely will help you feel refreshed and one step closer to normal.
- Your own toiletries!- Anything you can do to bring the comfort and familiarity of home and feeling truly clean and refreshed is amazing! It’s true the hospital will have towels and washcloths, but pack your favorite toiletries to feel more like yourself!
- Loose-fitting or Elastic waistband shorts/pants- Everything will likely be really sore postpartum and you will probably have on the mommy mesh underwear and mega-pads! Having that extra room and comfort can really help! Be mindful too of choosing clothing items that might bother an incision should a c-section be necessary.
Go Bag Must Haves For Dad or Support Person
Whoever accompanies you into Labor and Delivery will likely be doing lots of the last-minute scrambling for the small items you might need to be admitted. Let them be in charge of grabbing those things that you can’t easily pack away like your phone chargers, toothbrushes, etc.
For this reason, I will include a section under their category called:
The Grab-and-Go Scramble List
- Phone chargers- particularly with a nice long cord
- Cameras, memory disks, and batteries
- Unpacked toiletries- these are the everyday use essentials. Toothbrushes, deodorant, showering supplies, etc!
Pro tip! Have a quick checklist made of these items. That way you or your support person can quickly assemble things without extra pausing!
Next is the things that will help your support person feel more comfortable and be better able to focus on their primary goal: being a support to you!
- Snacks, snacks, snacks! Plan ahead by stocking up on simple snack and drink items. While it might be irritating to watch them munching if you are on a clear liquid diet during Labor & Delivery, having a support person who doesn’t need to leave the room to meet a hunger need means having a support person whose presence is maximized for your best care. Also, you get access to extra snacks if you’re like me and postpartum means being endlessly hungry!
- At least two full changes of clothes, as well as a set of warm layers, a set of cool layers, and something comfortable for nights.
- Their own pillow and blankets! While the hospitals will likely have these things available, your own will be 1000% better. Bonus points for bringing ones you can share to help you feel comfortable as well!
- Swimming Suits- because your Labor and Delivery might involve a warm bath or shower for pain management or water birth, consider having your support person be prepared to climb in with you by grabbing some kind of swimwear.
Now on to the best part! Hospital Go Bag for BABY!!
Woohoo! Your baby has arrived! The hospital will provide 90% of the things you could ever need for baby’s first days, and my advice to you would be to use all of it! Don’t waste your own diapers, wipes, rash cream, etc unless baby doesn’t tolerate the hospital supplies well. The things we recommend are mostly for the going home process!
- A rear-facing carseat with five-point harness! We used the Chicco Bravo Convertible carseat set for all of out kids and really liked the brand and safety ratings! MAKE SURE YOU KNOW IN ADVANCE HOW TO PROPERLY INSTALL THE CARSEAT! My poor husband was stuck in the hospital parking lot in the summer heat making sure our carseat base was properly installed when we delivered early with our first kiddo. There are also likely carseat inspection stations in your community that can check your equipment and installation for free!
- Desired baby clothes- You will probably be taking all kinds of pictures and may want a cute going-home outfit as well. Think of ease of use as things with too many snaps or buttons can take awhile, messy blowouts and spitups are common, and your sweet newborn may wind up like my third child with some injuries as a result of the squeezing involved in active labor (I broke my sons clavicle bone in his shoulder while pushing: poor little man needed extra careful treatment of his shoulder for a few days).
- Blankets, swaddles, and anything to layer baby in if its a cold time of year to leave the hospital.
