What To Pack in Your Hospital Bag for Delivery: The Essentials

Before going into labor, I read many articles and lists about what to bring to the hospital. Each one had one thing the other didn’t mention, and therefore my hospital bag got fuller and fuller. So what did I end up needing and not needing? The answer will be different for everyone.

The best advice I can give is to go visit the birthing center or hospital where you will deliver ahead of time. You can see the size of the room and bathroom. If your room is small, packing too much will just make things cluttered. When I visited, I was looked around to see what types of items they would have for the baby down to what type of lighting they would have. My hospital room was labor, delivery, and postpartum room. Therefore it had to have dual functions. It had a nice couch that pulled out for dad. Some hospital rooms don’t, and I’ve heard people have to plan to bring an air mattress. Knowing ahead of time will help!

Definitely bring:

• Basics for mom. Comfy clothes, toiletries, underwear (although I liked the mesh ones from the hospital). By comfy clothes I mean sweats and v-neck shirts and tank tops. You will leave the hospital still needing maternity clothes. Maybe bring a big towel since they may give you one that’s more of a hand towel. My toiletry list included: deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothbrush and paste, and lotion.
• Essentials for your partner. Since they aren’t considered patients, nurses are not attending to their needs. My husband enjoyed having his own pillow and cozy blanket from home. He brought a change of clothes, but probably needed to have brought a bit more as he went home and restocked. Assume you may have to stay up to four days, just to avoid running home. Bring your partner’s toiletries as well as your own. The better your partner feels, the more he or she can focus on helping with the baby.
• Snacks. We have a special diet and the hospital struggled to meet our needs through the food service. There was food in the kitchen of the birthing center, but a lot of it is full of sugar and or corn syrup. The cafeteria and other hospital restaurants may be closed at night. We brought natural juice for electrolytes (Recharge or coconut water is great), natural popsicles, and gluten-free snacks. Our favorite energy bars were nice to have on hand. Dads and partners, don’t forget to eat during labor, even if mom can’t!
  
• Essentials for baby. Really the baby doesn’t need much. The hospital will provide diapers but if you don’t care for the kind they have, plan to bring some. Keep in mind you have no idea really how big your baby will be! We had eco-friendly disposable diapers but they were a bit too big those first few days. The hospital should give you a blanket to swaddle with, but it would be nice to have your own to practice with, or a Velcro swaddle (such as Swaddleme). We thought we had swaddling down by practicing in our birth class, but having a nurse go over it with us was invaluable! Baby really needs a car seat and an outfit to go home in, that’s it. A warm body and boob or bottle are really her or his essentials.
• Breastfeeding supplies. I went back and forth on what kind of pillow to buy for breastfeeding and whether to bring it. My baby had a hard time latching and breastfeeding was a huge learning curve, so I definitely needed My Brest Friend pillow. It has more structure than other pillows and was helpful as I was still sore to move around much. A friend of mine said she brought her pump, but I was advised not to since the hospital would provide one if I needed it. I ended up needing the hospital grade one, and was glad that the nurse set it up and showed my husband how to assemble and wash it. We also brought our breastfeeding book (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) to consult. It was hard for the hospital to find a slow flow bottle. However if you are breastfeeding and struggle initially, the hospital should be able to give you syringes or an SNS system, which may help baby transition to the breast easier. I also brought my Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple cream, which was a lot better than the olive oil the hospital provided.
  
• Nursing bras, nursing shirts or tanks for nursing mamas. The hospital gowns were huge with complicated snaps and no one showed me how to wear them! I wore my own clothes, but they got bloody and milky, and I needed to change often. Moms and partners should both plan to bring a shirt that is v-neck or unbuttons to do skin to skin. Babies love skin to skin and it makes you both feel great. It also helps with the hormones that help you breastfeed. 

Things I really didn’t need:

Someone suggested bringing nice objects from home, soothing music, and fragrances for creating a calm atmosphere for birth. Honestly, I didn’t need or want any of that by the time I was in active labor. I had a long prelabor at home, and that was the time I needed oils, music, and my birthing ball. I was told to wait as long as possible before going into the hospital (which I realize isn’t the case for those being induced), so I needed all that a home. By the time I got to the hospital, it was too intense for me to even think about any of that. In fact I think I may have thrown it across the room had it been offered to me!

I also didn’t need the baby carriers I packed. I wasn’t really able to walk around much, so those were just taking up space in my bag. We were either holding baby skin-to-skin or had her in a swaddle. We gradually practiced getting her in the sling and Moby wrap the first week we got home.

One last thought is that everyone LOVES to give you advice as a new parent, and you will get tons of conflicting advice, including what to bring in your suitcase. Be open minded and flexible to see what your baby needs! He or she will eventually show you what they like best.