Most useful and most useless thing in your hospital bag?

[fothers]

I am reorganising my hospital bag- hopefully for the last time
and was wondering what items did you pack that were great and what was pointless?

If you pack magazines or games etc will you actually look at them?

Thanks

 

[mayday]

Most useful - Lucozade. 40 hours crawling round on my hands and knees meant that I didn't get anywhere near the hospital coffeeshop, and midwife and OH seemed to forget I might need sustainance . I would have said TENS machine but that was strapped to my back by the time I got to hospital.

Most useless - newborn bib. What are they all about, eh? Got 10 of the things in a drawer, never used one.

 

[Dee1985]

loads and loads of bibs and muslins.
Thay are sick lots and dribble so much milk. i took about 12 for 3 day stay and i ran out.
big massive pants too. you can get 3 white big pants for 75p in tesco i bought 3 packs and just through them away after didnt want my mum taking my big bloody knickers home to wask for me

ohh and makeup haha main thing i was glad to have after giving birth

 

[paiges_mummy]

I took a magazine and didnt look at it once

 

[Becky&Willow]

i took a all in one coat to bring baby home in and it was huge so that was pretty useless, also magazines and books i wouldnt bother as before you are in to much pain to read and after all you want to do is look at your baby.

most useful was my slippers as you might be doing a lot of moving around depending on how your labour goes.

 

[fothers]

Just had another thought- do you need to take a hair drier for when you come out the shower afterwards or do they normally have one you can use?

Don't fancy having wet hair for hours in the middle of January!

 

[Minxy]

Don't fancy having wet hair for hours in the middle of January!

Hospitals are SOOO hot I wouldn't worry about being chilly

My most useful was familiar shower gel. Originally I bought special travel bottles of new stuff but after birth being in hospital can feel a bit alien so after a few days I got OH to bring in my usual. The smell of home can help. And arnica, to start dosing up with ASAP! Also really cheap slippers that you can bin afterwards

Most useless..............migraine forehead patches and dressing gown (was too hot to wear it in August so not relevant to you).

I packed lightly though so not much was redundant.

 

[Squiglet]

A big red towel... That way blood don't show up on your nice ones... go buy a new one too so its nice soft and fluffy for you...

I should have packed two sizes of baby grows too... not just newborn ones... Tia was too long for the newborn size when she popped out and I had to get people to bring me 0 - 3 months.

 

[wend]

loads and loads of maternity pads .

you can never have enough

 

[Flame]

I didnt use most of what i took. Some clean clothes, tons of maternity pads a couple of baby sets and some nappies, cotton wool and a towel, possibly one for your baby to and a spare set of pajamas. Thats all i would take if i were to have another baby. Rather than one of everything at my house.

 

[BabyLove]

LOL Dont Get Me Stared On This

Everyone Said Id Packed Too Much & My Bag Was Ridiculously Big.... But Did I Listen? Nope

Turned Out That No1 Would Carry It At The Hospital & It Took 2 Midwives To Push It Everywhere In a Wheelchair

I Had So Much Stuff In There That I Could NEVER Find What I Wanted & It Got Me Really Annoyed. and At Least 80% Of The Contents Was Never Used. I Really Over Did It. You Wont Really Need Much At All Hun. Dont Make The Same Mistake As Me Lol

I Only Used a Few Nappies, Baby Vests/Grows, Wipes, Cotton Wool, Pj's & Clothes For Me, Toiletries, a Magazine, Camera, OutFit For Baby, Baby Hat/Booties/Snowsuit But Most Importantly Was Maternity Pads & Disposable Briefs. I Bled Like You Wouldnt Believe.

 

[Tangerinedream]

I took 4 sleepsuits and managed to get that ukky newborn poo all over them. Just about managed to make them last until I got home
I had to ask my mum to bring me some more maternity pads- 1 pack isnt enough!! I could have done with a book too, although I dont know if I would have read it- I was buzzing too much

 

[trixipaws]

well i didnt use any of it but i'd only packed it as a "just in case" anyway coz i had a home birth, and because i wasnt planning on a hosp stay i'd only packed bare essentials (nappies, mat pads, few babygrows n blankets) but,

wend is right loadsa maternity pads

becky&willow is spot on about the magazines etc u are in too much pain to read in labour then afterwards u wont wanna do anything but look at baby.

some hav said about bibs etc and idk if they are bottle-feeders, but if ur gonna breast-feed i'd say bibs are really pointless, as with colostrum theres nothing to dribble and very little to be sick- millie wasnt sick until she was a few weeks old and i'd been bought loadsa bibs that i thought had been wasted (of course i cant get enough now shes on solids lol)

carly u really made me LOL when u told us what youd packed- i love u ur so funny!

 

[Squiglet]

LOL Dont Get Me Stared On This

Everyone Said Id Packed Too Much & My Bag Was Ridiculously Big.... But Did I Listen? Nope

Turned Out That No1 Would Carry It At The Hospital & It Took 2 Midwives To Push It Everywhere In a Wheelchair

I remember that exceptionally LONG list...

 

[andreag]

I forgot about half of the things I had packed when I was in labour - there really wasn't time to think about putting on my cd's or gracefully spraying my face with a water cooler!
The most useful things were cereal bars - Charlotte was born at 8.30pm, and as I hadn't eaten all day I was starving - and cartons of orange juice and ribena as the hospital is so hot I was always thirsty (you get water but thats warm too!). I would take cheap knickers rather than disposable ones (they are just not comfortable) and you can get 3 pairs for under £1 in the supermarkets. We were allowed to use mobiles in the hospital so you might want to take a recharger.

 

[leckershell]

I wish I'd taken pj's that fit me (long top) instead of assuming I'd want to wear ones that show off the belly a bit (what was I thinking) - afterbaby belly is nothing attractive! So I wore pj trousers and a normal strap top. The big tub of sudocrem was pointless too, if you want to take some just take the little sample pot you get in bounty pack. Wish I had more nice drinks... the hospital only had tea/coffee machine and I don't drink hot stuff so Nat kept bringing me bottles of pop etc And yeah, sanitary towels, take loads of them. You bleed for a couple of weeks afterwards so don't worry about having too many. I also never bothered with the paper knickers - they were uncomfortable and scratchy.

 

[fothers]

Right, I have bought more cheap knickers so I can just bin them and more pads and also some lucozade to add to the fruit juice and cereal bars I already had.

It is all packed now- ready for action any time!

 

[MissSara]

Good luck then when that action time arrives...

 

[Twinkletoesnw]

Most useful....disposable knickers for when your waters break!
Socks to keep your tootsies warm
Your mobile(hidden lol)
Most useless.....Magazines
Food
Too many baby clothes

 

[Redshoes]

Most useful - (after clothes & toiletries) mobile phone
Least useful - Nintendo DS



I wasn't very prepared as planned a homebirth, but our hospital had toiletries you could use, cotton wool for LO, sterilisers, ready made formula, blankets, even clothes. Might be worth ringing your labour ward to ask, very best wishes, how exciting!!

I could also use my mobile whenever I wanted and charge it there, they cannot expect you to be there with your LO and not have contact with loved ones