My last post was what was in my hospital bag, go and give it a read here if you haven't already, so I decided to follow it up with what I packed for my son. As mentioned in my last post, I packed all of the baby stuff in my Babymel changing bag. I knew that I was having a boy so I found packing a little easier than I would have if I didn't know the gender - although realistically it's all the same!
Obviously you need to take a car seat with you. They won't let you leave the hospital without a car seat! I would recommend practicing doing up/undoing the car seat straps with a teddy maybe so that you know what you're doing before putting a tiny baby in it! I was in hospital for a week and saw a lot of people leave with their babies and the amount of time it took people to work the car seat was CRAZY. I laughed. Said how hard can it be? Then tried it myself. And had to ask for help...
I took two quite large muslins in the baby bag. I did get my mum to change them after a few days, but two would have been plenty if i'd only been in for one night. Muslins are the most flexible things ever - use them to mop up snot, sick, tears (yours or baby's!) or as a breast feeding cover if you want to.
I took three vests with me in the bag. Again these were replaced by my mum but for a short stay it would have been enough I think. I would recommend three as if baby has a poo explosion you wouldn't have any more after one night! I don't really know what a normal length stay in hospital is, so take as many as you think is enough and then add one more..
Take as many outfits as you do vests! I took three newborn babygrows and two 0-3 month babygrows. I didn't need to use the 0-3 month outfits, but I'm glad I took them just in case! I was expecting quite a large baby so didn't feel the need to take any tiny baby outfits, I'm not even sure I bought any, but if you are small then maybe take some of those too! I made sure that all of the babygrow's I took with me had integrated scratch mitts so that I didn't have to pack any of those.
I kept a certain babygrow to the side to take Noah home in. For some reason it was my favourite and I wanted him to be wearing it when we went home! I got told I was going home one day so put it on him and a few hours later they told me I couldn't be discharged. So I took it off him, my mum took it home and washed it and bought it back the next day. I waited until I was certain I was going home and had my discharge papers before I put it on him the day we actually went home! It's always nice to have a special outfit for them to go home in.
Noah was a September baby so I took two hats. One got put on him after he was born and we'd had skin to skin, it got covered in blood (TMI? lol) and stained :(. Therefore I was glad I had another one to put on him when we left the hospital a week later! I also got given one from the hospital for a ward transfer that made him look like a tea pot...
I did pack a pair of socks for Noah but we didn't use them as he was always in a baby grow so his feet were always covered.
I took one blanket with us, this personalised one from My1stYears, that I used to announce Noah's birth! I love this blanket and will treasure it forever. I alternated between using this and the ones that the hospital provide.
I took a dummy in the bag just in case. I didn't try to use it whilst in hospital as Noah pretty much continually fed for a week. If he wasn't feeding he was sleeping! I had health care assistants comment that they thought he'd be walking out of hospital he was eating so much! But I'm glad I had it in case I needed it. I also wish I'd done more research into dummies as I just bought any old dummy and when I got desperate and tried to give it to Noah he was having none of it and only after being recommended MAM dummies did we have any success.
Nappies & wipes are where I struggled with quantity. I took a packet of Water Wipes and used these for both nappy changes and full body cleans (for baby not me obviously.) Nappy wise I think I took about 20, and again my mum had to bring more for me. I don't know how many is the right amount! But in those first few weeks if you're like me and change the nappy pretty much as soon as the indicator strip turns blue then you'll go through a lot of them!
I took a baby hair-brush with me in the bag as I was expecting Noah to pop out with a full head of hair like I did. He didn't! He's got balder as the months go along too.. So this was completely unnecessary for me, but I mean if you have room you may aswell throw it in!
I took a few teddy's in the bag; I am a massive teddy person and I have bought Noah quite a few as well as being given loads. I took one that had a rattle in it and the others were heads with comforters on the bottom, but Noah wasn't very interested in them! Fun story: I took my own teddy with me and during one of my many ward moves misplaced this teddy. I was really upset (hormonal new mother alert) but played it calm and said I had lost one of the teddy's I brought for my baby. I later found it in one of my bags and had to pretend it never happened!
I've left this till last as it is totally irrelevant but I am still pleased I took it. A 'Welcome to the World' milestone card. It just slipped into the side of the bag so didn't take any room at all! I have taken pictures every month of Noah with milestone cards so I am happy that I have one from the day he was born too.
So that's everything I packed for the baby! Hope you enjoyed reading this ridiculously long post.
Obviously you need to take a car seat with you. They won't let you leave the hospital without a car seat! I would recommend practicing doing up/undoing the car seat straps with a teddy maybe so that you know what you're doing before putting a tiny baby in it! I was in hospital for a week and saw a lot of people leave with their babies and the amount of time it took people to work the car seat was CRAZY. I laughed. Said how hard can it be? Then tried it myself. And had to ask for help...
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| SO. TINY. |
I took three vests with me in the bag. Again these were replaced by my mum but for a short stay it would have been enough I think. I would recommend three as if baby has a poo explosion you wouldn't have any more after one night! I don't really know what a normal length stay in hospital is, so take as many as you think is enough and then add one more..
Take as many outfits as you do vests! I took three newborn babygrows and two 0-3 month babygrows. I didn't need to use the 0-3 month outfits, but I'm glad I took them just in case! I was expecting quite a large baby so didn't feel the need to take any tiny baby outfits, I'm not even sure I bought any, but if you are small then maybe take some of those too! I made sure that all of the babygrow's I took with me had integrated scratch mitts so that I didn't have to pack any of those.
I kept a certain babygrow to the side to take Noah home in. For some reason it was my favourite and I wanted him to be wearing it when we went home! I got told I was going home one day so put it on him and a few hours later they told me I couldn't be discharged. So I took it off him, my mum took it home and washed it and bought it back the next day. I waited until I was certain I was going home and had my discharge papers before I put it on him the day we actually went home! It's always nice to have a special outfit for them to go home in.
I took one blanket with us, this personalised one from My1stYears, that I used to announce Noah's birth! I love this blanket and will treasure it forever. I alternated between using this and the ones that the hospital provide.
I took a dummy in the bag just in case. I didn't try to use it whilst in hospital as Noah pretty much continually fed for a week. If he wasn't feeding he was sleeping! I had health care assistants comment that they thought he'd be walking out of hospital he was eating so much! But I'm glad I had it in case I needed it. I also wish I'd done more research into dummies as I just bought any old dummy and when I got desperate and tried to give it to Noah he was having none of it and only after being recommended MAM dummies did we have any success.
Nappies & wipes are where I struggled with quantity. I took a packet of Water Wipes and used these for both nappy changes and full body cleans (for baby not me obviously.) Nappy wise I think I took about 20, and again my mum had to bring more for me. I don't know how many is the right amount! But in those first few weeks if you're like me and change the nappy pretty much as soon as the indicator strip turns blue then you'll go through a lot of them!
I took a baby hair-brush with me in the bag as I was expecting Noah to pop out with a full head of hair like I did. He didn't! He's got balder as the months go along too.. So this was completely unnecessary for me, but I mean if you have room you may aswell throw it in!
I took a few teddy's in the bag; I am a massive teddy person and I have bought Noah quite a few as well as being given loads. I took one that had a rattle in it and the others were heads with comforters on the bottom, but Noah wasn't very interested in them! Fun story: I took my own teddy with me and during one of my many ward moves misplaced this teddy. I was really upset (hormonal new mother alert) but played it calm and said I had lost one of the teddy's I brought for my baby. I later found it in one of my bags and had to pretend it never happened!
I've left this till last as it is totally irrelevant but I am still pleased I took it. A 'Welcome to the World' milestone card. It just slipped into the side of the bag so didn't take any room at all! I have taken pictures every month of Noah with milestone cards so I am happy that I have one from the day he was born too.
So that's everything I packed for the baby! Hope you enjoyed reading this ridiculously long post.
Sophie x
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