Packing your hospital and birth bag

Use my handy hospital bag checklist to ensure you pack the hospital bag essentials, including your baby's hospital bag, your birth bag and your birthing partner's hospital bag.

You might be super excited to pack your bags up ready for the big day but the task can be a little daunting! I’ve taken some of that stress away and made you an organised list of everything you might want to consider.

When packing your bag you want to make things as easy as possible and you can grab what you need without rummaging and emptying the whole case over the floor!

It’s also likely to be your birth partner who needs to be grabbing things from the bags so the easier we can make this the better.

A tip that I found really useful was to separate items in to bags by person/location, so having a separate bag for

• baby’s clothes/ items

• Your post birth items / clothes / toiletries

• Birth partners items

• And often forgotten : A bag specially for items you want to use in labour

Now within these bags, we need further organisation. An amazing packing hack is to pack items in to Zip lock bags and label them. For example, in baby’s bag, you might have a zip lock bag that has ‘Newborn vests’ and another for ‘Newborn baby grow’. That way when your birth partner needs to find something quickly, they know what they’re looking for. I used this hack when I gave birth both times, and I’ve even started using it for my kids outfits for holidays - you just grab and go!

Okay so what’s actually going in the bags?

Don’t feel like you need to pack for days on end. You’ll want to pack for a potential 24 hour stay. Midwife led units usually discharge within six hours, labour wards can be a little longer as there’s more women to get around, and longer again if you’ve required any obstetrician input.

Let’s do your labour bag first as this is the one you’ll need right away.

Your labour bag is a bag of items you are going to use in labour that might make you or your environment more comfortable.

LABOUR BAG

1. PACK SNACKS! When you’re in labour you should snack little and often - pack your fave snacks to help keep oxytocin levels up.

2. Drinks: Electrolyte drinks are great for an energy boost in labour

3. Lighting: You may have taken a hypnobirthing course and are well on your way to getting your environment super oxytocin friendly. Pack your battery fairy lights and your battery candles, maybe even a ceiling projector.

4. Comfort: Loose, comfortable clothing, maybe a bikini top if you plan to go in the pool

5. Flannels: It can be helpful to have a cold flannel for your face

6. A long bendy straw: This will allow you to keep hydrated without having to move from your current position

7. Scent: A homely room spray or Reed diffuser can be great for removing clinical smells in the delivery room. My birth scent was lime, mandarin and basil.

8. Earphones or ear plugs to block out other noise and to listen to your birth playlist

9. An eye mask: Great if you’re on a busy ward prior to moving to the delivery suits as they might not be able to darken the room to your wishes

10. iPad with your favourite tv shows

11. You might want to pack a nursing bra in here or just let them be free

12. Maternity pads AND disposable knickers - the big ones! I honestly lived in them for days

13. Something for the post birth wee: It can sting a little particularly if you’ve had stitches. You can get sprays or a peri bottle which work equally as well

14. Flip flops - you know the cheap, foam type?

15. Hair ties

16. A hand fan might help

17. Lip balm: Gas and air can make your mouth and lips quite dry

18. Pack

19. Maternity notes

20. BIRTH PLAN (please make one!)

HOSPITAL/POST-BIRTH BAG

1. A zip lock bag containing a nappy, a vest and a babygrow for after birth

2. Clothes for you to go home in - comfort is key!

3. Nursing bra even if you don’t plan to breastfeed - those babies will be tender

4. Big knickers - I loved the disposable ones. I also used my husbands boxers with maternity pads inside

5. More maternity pads - make sure they’re maternity as normal pads are too thin and may irritate you

6. Toiletries you would typically take on an overnight stay

7. Socks

8. A button up loose nightie or pjs to chill in before you get ready to go home

9. Any medication you’re taking

10. Breast pads and nipple balm - start using this straight away as a preventative to soreness - don’t wait for the soreness to start!

11. Chargers

BIRTH PARTNER BAG

This one is pretty small but still important

1. Snacks/ sandwich : They’ll be there a while and the hospital won’t usually provide snacks for a birth partner so make sure they’re stocked up so they don’t get hungry and pass out

2. Drinks: They can access water in the hospital - I’m sure the midwives won’t begrudge it, but it saves them having to do extra running around. So pack a few.

3. A change of clothes if they get a bit messy during delivery - or if they’ve just been in the same clothes all day and night and just want to be a bit fresher

4. A toothbrush, for the same reason

5. Something to pass the time if needed

BABY BAG

1. 8-10 size 1 nappies

2. 3x first size baby grows (zip locked and labelled)

3. 3x 0-3 size baby grows (zip locked and labelled)

4. 3x first size vests (zip locked and labelled)

5. 3x 0-3 size vests (zip locked and labelled)

6. Wipes: non-fragranced, sensitive, water based are best

7. 3x Muslin cloths

8. A blanket

9. Coming home outfit (Zip locked and labelled)

10. Cotton wool balls

What to use:

A medium size suitcase for your hospital items and baby items

A large Hold-all for your labour items (the list is long but most the items are small)

A back pack for birth partner

And finally…

You can, of course, customise the contents and organisation of your hospital bags to your needs and likes. But I hope this has given you a good starting point and a little nudge in the right direction :)

Happy packing!!