Time to pack your hospital bag?
What should you pack in your hospital bag for the birth? Read our checklist of essentials to pack in your hospital bag and get tips from a mummy blogger.
With your due date getting closer, is your hospital bag all packed and ready to go? If not, it’s probably a good idea to start preparing your bag to take with you to the hospital. Your baby may very well decide to appear earlier than expected, and if it’s suddenly time to leave it’s handy to have your bag packed and ready.
We’ve put together a list of handy items to have in your maternity hospital bag.
Birth story: “Everyone kept telling me that I should expect to go over my due date.”
Hospital bag must-haves
- Proof of identity as well as any written maternity medical notes.
- Birth plan, if you’ve created one
- Clothes and hat for your baby
- Camera
- Food for you and your partner
- Baby car seat or carrier for the trip back home
Also in your hospital bag
- Soft clothes (and underwear) for you and a change of clothes for your partner
- Toothbrush and toiletries
- Shower gel, shampoo and conditioner (hospital soap isn’t usually as nice)
- Mobile phone and charger
- Your favourite sweets, snacks and drinks for extra energy during labour
- Slippers or shoes that are easy to get on and off (going barefoot or in your socks on the hospital floor isn’t a good ideas)
- Heating pad (if you can’t borrow one in hospital)
- Soft nursing bra and nursing pads
Good read: After delivery – newborn baby care
Isabel Robles-Salgado
Lives in: Berlin
Works as: Blogs at www.littleyears.de
Family: Husband Roddy, 3-year-old son Xaver, and a baby on the way in May.
Isabel’s top picks for 9 things you need for a baby
What did you pack in your hospital bag?
I brought along everything I would pack for a short trip: knickers, comfortable clothes to change into, a more or less pretty nightdress (I didn’t want to look too bad after giving birth), makeup, comfortable shoes, mobile phone and, of course, clothes for the baby.
Did you forget anything important?
I’d packed baby clothes in size 56, which turned out to be far too big. No big deal, but next time I’ll bring a size smaller.
Did you pack anything you didn’t need?
We didn’t use much because we didn’t stay in hospital for very long. We actually went home after a few hours. But I don’t regret that I had everything with me, you never know what’s going to happen and how long you might stay.
What were the most essential things you packed?
Makeup and toiletries were good to have so that I could freshen up after giving birth. It made me feel more energetic and fresher. But music, films and those kinds of things were unnecessary – I simply didn’t have time for all that!
