Things for the Hospital- New Baby
This should cover you for a 2-night stay in hospital.
Vests x 4
Baby Grows x 4
You need this many as you will undoubtedly get baby wet when you are changing her nappy as you have to use cotton wool and water. Sophie was drenched the first time I changed her!
Nappies- I would just take a pack, you won’t need them all but it is easier to pack.
Cotton wool balls- Just take the pack.
Towel - cuddle bath-robes are good as they keep the head warm and you don’t have to worry about folding a normal towel in any special way.
Bibs x2
Muslin Squares x3- These are probably a bit easier to use rather than a bib for a start.
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For going home
Hat
Mittens
Going home outfit
Blanket
The scratch mittens are good although I never got them on Sophie in time as you know.
Things for Hospital - You
Nighties x 3- You are best of with long nighties as you will not want anything round your stomach and you need three incase like me you throw up all over one!
Knickers- Old black granny style knickers are best, you might bleed quite heavily afterwards and you will just want to throw these away. At one point I had 2 pairs of knickers on I was so heavy. Take 4 or 5 pairs in with you.
Large Sanitary Towels- I got the ones from Mothercare which were not too expensive and they did the job quite well. I needed these for about a week and used, I think, 5 packs. Take in 1 pack; this will be enough but make sure you have more at home.
Towels- Make sure you have 2 towels to dry yourself, there is nothing better than your first shower after the birth but you will end up with a stained towel, so a dark coloured or old one is best.
Toiletries- Just the normal that you would take anywhere.
Change of clothes- Make sure you take something really comfy as you will do a lot of sitting a round and it is to hot in the wards so not to warm either.
Things for Hospital – Your Partner
Money- Howie said change is essential as you will need to eat and drink and the canteens may not be open so vending machines are the way to go.
Take some drink and biscuits for both of you in the beginning as you may get a bit hungry.
Make sure your phone is charged. Howie set up groups of people in his text messaging facility so that he didn’t have to remember everyone and sent a standard message.
Camera- Make sure this is at hand when mother and child are back on the ward to catch the first few moments together.
Make sure you also have a change of clothes in the car in case the labour goes on for a while. Your partner won’t want you smelly next to her as all sorts of things frustrate you when you are in that much pain.
The above is not gospel but is what we found useful when I was in hospital.
Things for Home
Bottle Steriliser- We have the steam sterilliser and it works really well and only takes about 10 minutes to do the bottles.
Milk- We found that having some of the pre-made milk cartons for the first week really useful until we got into the swing of things. It is really difficult to try and organise yourself to change, feed and make bottles. Doesn't sound a lot but you wait! Sophie has the SMA Gold stuff; it's a couple of pence more expensive but she has done really well on it.
Kettle- We got a separate kettle for Sophie as you have to boil the water and let it cool for 30 mins before you can make the bottle and we were finding that we wanted to make a hot drink and couldn’t because we had to wait for the kettle to cool first, then make the bottles by which time we had forgotten we were thirsty as Sophie had woken up again!
Bottles- 6 bottles is ideal; we only had 5 but I think 6 would have made it a bit easier. Your new child may need water as bottle fed babies can need extra water as Sophie did and it is handy to have a bottle with some boiled water in it just in case.
Bottle Warmer- This is really handy to have in the nursery for the night-time feeds as the bottle can be warming while you are changing your baby.
Lamp- A Lamp with a low watt light is handy for the nursery to give you just enough light to feed and change your baby but keeping it darkish so she still knows it is night-time.
Plug-in night lights- (John Lewis do these) We have one on the landing and one in our bedroom which is just enough so we can see Sophie in the cot in our room and on the landing bright enough so we don’t trip on anything and have to put the big light on.
Infacol- We didn’t give this to Sophie until she was 4 days old as by then she had really bad wind and couldn’t settle. They can have this from birth and it doesn’t hurt them and it is handy to have in the house just in case your baby suffers.
Muslin Squares- You can never have too many of these we still get through 3/4 a day with feeding spills, sick and dribbling.
Bibs- (Next do the side-fastening ones) With these you can never have too many. The best ones I have found are the Velcro ones which do up at the side. The ones at the back are ok but it is just easier to undo them after a fed when they have gone to sleep and you what to put them to bed.
Nappies- We have used Pampers New Baby nappies and they have been great with no leaks and they stay bone-dry even now with Sophie sleeping for 8-9 hrs without a change. She has had no nappy rash or anything. Make sure you register with Pampers as well because you get loads of money-off vouchers.
Toilet Roll- Make sure you have a toilet roll handy as when you are having to use water to clean your baby’s bum for the first few weeks you will need to dry her off and if you use cotton wool you will be there for hours picking it off her skin. Toilet roll dries the skin without leaving anything sticking anywhere it shouldn’t
Wipes- Although you can’t use these for the first 2-3 weeks we have used the Pampers Sensitive wipes, they do the trick and keep her clean and seem to be on offer quite a lot in Tesco.
Changing Mat Towels- Some changing mats don’t have a towel on them but I find it is best to have a towel as Sophie had a habit of weeing when she was changed and if it hadn’t of soaked into the towel it would have gone into her clothes and I would have been changing her 3 times a day. Instead I just changed the towel, easier to change and easier to clean.
Antibacterial Gel- Great stuff, we have some on her changing top, in the changing bag and by the steriliser. It is not the easiest thing in the world to go and wash your hands before feeding Sophie as soon as her bum has been changed she wants her bottle and as you can't leave her on her mat it helps keep your hands clean. Try washing your hands while holding a wriggling baby it's quite comical.
Lavender Oil- This is for mother’s bath. The Midwifes will probably recommend this as it is good for healing. A few drops in your bath everyday will help keep you smelling fresh as you can’t use soaps or anything as they will dissolve the stitches prematurely and will help you heal a bit quicker.
Washing Lucy’s stuff.
I tried out a few things from all the free samples and found that Fairy Washing Tablets and Comfort Pure are the best for keeping the clothes clean and soft.
Howie also got from Tesco’s some Laundry sacks. They are really good for putting Sophies clothes in if you are washing yours in the same wash as little socks don’t get lost and bibs don’t get caught up in jeans etc.
