How to pack in diaper bag for newborn at hospital
OB/GYN Shares What You Need to Pack to Bring to the Hospital for Mom, Partner, and Baby!
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hi everyone we are the doctors bjorkman a physician couple going through pregnancy ourselves
for the very first time and this week we are going to share with you guys what we are going to pack
in our hospital bags when we go to the hospital to have this little baby yeah after years of catching
babies and years of taking care of babies we said it's finally time to put that practice to work as
we're getting ready ourselves if you've never met us before i'm sarah i'm an ob gyn also in
the third trimester of pregnancy i'm kurt and i'm a pediatrician and we are at the doctor's bjorkman
welcome back um as you guys know i am an ob gyn and i have been delivering babies for years
so i have seen lots of moms come through labor and delivery with their hospital bag and now it is
time for me to pack my hospital bag and so i want to share with you some of the things that i think
are essential that you guys are also going to want to pack i kind of think of dividing the bag
situation into one for mom one for dad one for baby and we'll tell you kind of what
we're putting in each of those mine curts and then babies um but also just remember that you don't
need a ton of stuff you're only gonna be there a few days you don't need to roll in like you're
staying for a month and we'll make sure you have everything you need without going crazy
the first thing i think about are those things that i'm going to want when i get there in labor
or if i'm go undergoing an induction that's going to take a couple days to get things going
what am i going to want to like be comfortable on labor and delivery and the first thing i think of
is a pillow your own pillow from home with your own pillowcase um just to have it's
one of those things if you get to take a nap or rest you're just more comfortable
hospitals are not hotels and so sometimes their blankets are really thin and their pillows are
not super comfortable and they're lined with plastic and um definitely i am taking a pillow
some of the other things i think about for the during labor process are is stuff we're gonna
pack in dad's bag because obviously we need all the room we can get in ours and that's going to
be things like a long cell phone charger an ipad and some different things and so we're
going to talk about putting all that in dad's bag the one other thing i think of for labor is
some kind of like sports bra or bra for you to have on under your hospital gown if that makes
you feel more comfortable i think i it's a very active process you might be up and walking around
i think i'm gonna want a sports bra on you know it's kind of like a
long workout um i want one that's easy access though so i got a nursing bra um it's one of those
ones that like unclips so that as soon as they hand me baby i can be skin to skin really quickly
it unclips in the back in case you need more access for an epidural
this one came from target we can try to link it in our description um it seems super comfy
all my friends really like that brand it's the audin brand by target i'll let you know
um the other thing i've seen some moms get is a cute hospital gown or something not planning on it
labor's really messy if it gets dirty or blood on it or whatever they can give you a brand new one
you don't have to worry about washing it so that is not something i would pack in your hospital bag
that's kind of the labor stuff the rest of the things are kind of what you need for
postpartum and to be comfortable i think the biggest thing to think about for that
is you want everything to be easy access and loose and really comfortable
other things you're going to want a pair of plastic shoes or shower shoes or flip-flops
for walking around the hospital walking to the shower doing different things it does feel more
like your room and your home environment but again hospitals are gross it is not a hotel so i would
strongly recommend you throw in a pair of shoes waterproof so you can just wear them in the shower
i also would recommend you take like a makeup bag or toiletry bag
that has you know little bottles of your shampoo and conditioner from home if you want to take um
wash your hair while you're there i have a thing a dry shampoo because i just live on dry shampoo
but something with deodorant a chapstick maybe nail clippers a couple different hair ties
um just that you have to have access to those things a toothbrush there is a toothbrush buried
in here somewhere and some toothpaste because nothing makes you feel like a new person again
after you brush your teeth i am there's makeup in half of this i'm not a big makeup wear but i
absolutely think taking a little makeup is fine i know i go from looking like a zombie to looking
like a human being if i put a little eyeliner on and just like a little bit of blush and i just
feel slightly more like a human if i have a little makeup to put on and i don't want to crop my head
out of every single picture that is taken of me with that new baby so i'm absolutely going to take
um a couple like things with makeup some eyeliner some mascara and some blush to have that if i
want it other things not to bring don't you do not need to worry about bringing any undies you
probably won't be wearing them during the labor part because if they break your water it's just
a hot mess and then postpartum it's still a hot mess the hospital has mesh undies and big pads and
all the things that you need i want you to make sure you take as many mesh undies home as you can
because you're gonna want those in the days and weeks postpartum and also they're gonna have other
things that i want you to take home they're gonna have tux pads and perry bottles and all that stuff
that's in your hospital room take it home with you so we're on to postpartum clothes
and again i said the key is like loose comfy things and so i have um like i have i'm up here
apparently the thing to do is kind of just live in a robe again you want everything to be easy access
your nurse is going to have to come and check push on your belly and make sure your uterus
is in the right spot you're going to be trying to breastfeed the last thing you want is to be
restricted and also you're just kind of you know you want easy access so i have a robe i have
a like a one sweater um that i will just put on over me and a pair of comfy loose gray sweatpants
and that's it that's my plan for walking around the hospital you will need one outfit to go home
in i'm gonna pack i have packed this like long long like maternity dress because again you really
are gonna feel kind of wrecked and kind of gross um after having a baby so a nice long
dress a loose sweater to go over it going home outfit for you you'll need a going home outfit for
baby and then going home outfit for dad of course but we're going to talk about those separately
okay so when it comes to what does dad need for this hospital stay i mean the list here
is mostly very minimal for what dad actually needs but a lot of the things that i've been
thinking about are just how am i going to be prepared to be as supportive for sarah during
labor and that postpartum period as possible and so kind of the things in my mind for that are
entertainment and then just support for that so i think big things from a dad's standpoint
while mom is in active labor are making sure that we've got things to pass the time and we're set
up from that so that can be things like making sure you have your ipad or i know we're going
to bring a couple cords to try to hook devices into the tv that's in the hospital room some
hospitals you may be successful at that may be easy to link whatever gadget you have to be able
to watch movies on the tv otherwise i know we're going to bring our ipad so if for whatever reason
we can't cast things to the tv we can just watch it on the ipad i also have like a little portable
bluetooth speaker uh with a playlist that i made kind of thoughts about kind of like as
asking sarah like does she want like motivational music does she want something peaceful do we want
our baby to be born while kesha is playing kind of all of these little things and so i
hopefully have a couple different playlists set up for whatever mood we're in uh when pushing
time comes and then also to pass the time in between i think other important things are you're
going to use electronic devices while you're there to communicate with family or to pass the time
so do not forget chargers definitely we've got kind of iphone chargers and then other
things with that too is so mom may be stuck in a hospital bed with an epidural that could be a
long ways away from the outlet so make sure you have a long charging cord for phones or
gadgets that you can use for that as well um other things with that so we like love our little like
portable charging brick too just for in case the outlet is a long ways away from the hospital bed
they're usually lost about what's in the room but you just never know um other things
so thinking about like recording kind of big life event so there's definitely limitations
on how much you can videotape but we know for sure we're going to want to try to document
this process as much as possible so making sure the camera that i'm shooting this on comes with
us um and whatever we need we also have like a little um iphone stand that we could maybe take
a picture with so we may not have people there to take pictures of us just something we could
use to help document this moment that we think is going to be one of the most memorable days
uh in our life um other things so um snacks right so during the labor process mom is not able to eat
um and so kind of thoughts of like that's just what am i going to need to make sure that i am
fed and happy so that i can be as supportive as possible right you don't want to be
unsupportive because you're hungry and grumpy because you're hungry and so i want to be well fed
and then also thinking about like mom is going to want to eat when she's done she'll just have like
a run this marathon of a process that is labor um and be ready for whatever snack she wants um so
things i think about just like something easy that you don't have to refrigerate you know this
is definitely not going to be our go-to's neck but something that's going to be easy
whether it be a protein bar jerky whatever kind of snacks you're going to need for that as well
other things so as sarah mentioned you know the hospital is not a hotel but also you're
not staying there for a very long time so my the clothes that i've packed are things that are comfy
that are easily breathable whether it be kind of workout type clothes that i can be movable in and
if sarah needs me to move from point a to point b fast i'm going to be able to do that to help her
out and then just think about sleeping in whatever clothes i'm in you know i know sarah already
mentioned bringing a pillow if you feel like you want to have your own pillow please make sure and
bring that other things to think about something that we're not going to show you here because we
already have it installed in our car is the car seat right and so part of having the hospital bag
packed and being ready to go to the hospital at a moment's notice is being ready to bring baby home
at a moment's notice too and so we actually installed it two days ago we got our car seat
installed in our vehicle ready to go so that if baby surprises early we're all set uh we'll plan
on doing an episode in the future just showing you about proper installation and how baby's gonna sit
in that car seat safely and then just kind of wrapping things up too so like knowing that i'm
going to need to wear clothes the thought like for me i'm always thinking about what am i going
to pack stuff in and so our hospital bag situation is not going to be this large massive bags we've
got two kind of carry-on size rolling pieces of luggage and actually the plan is that my bag has
such little few things for me that baby's bag is going to be able to fit inside of my bag so
that then we can re wheel in with two pieces of luggage and then walk out with two and then
baby's bag on my back and then also sarah made sure that i've got a cute outfit packed so that
when we have a chance to like take a cute picture in the hospital if it works out that we can do
that and then i've got something nice to our home for that first time bringing home our baby girl
so when it comes to baby's bag as i mentioned we have this uh little backpack this is we're
planning on this being our diaper bag i think this is made by a company called the land it's actually
given to us my friend who used it hand-me-downs are awesome what i can say taking care of lots
and lots of newborn babies is that you don't need to bring much to the hospital for baby
other than that car seat right there everything they have everything so they've got diapers for
baby they have butt creams for baby they've got cute little plain white swaddled shirts they've
got baby blankets receiving blankets pacifiers hats they've got little hats for baby they've got
formula for baby if you need it there are breastfeeding supplies if you need those too
and so if i can encourage you to do anything is don't plan on bringing a ton of stuff for baby
what you're going to need is you're going to need things to get baby from the hospital to home and
the biggest thing there is a car seat that is appropriately aged appropriately placed in the
vehicle securely and then you're going to need to bring the car seat into the hospital to put baby
in also ever the practical dad and pediatrician of course um we want to document this and you
have all these cute outfits so the one thing that i think you probably do want to take for baby is
one cute going-home outfit or an outfit for pictures or if you have any of those little
um you know gadgets or wooden signs with the baby's name on it or different things like that
so we picked our one favorite little going home outfit it's so soft and it's so soft and it's just
a bag it's just a bag like everybody says bags are the bastard zippers and it comes with a cute
little there's a cute little hat and a swaddle just something for a cute picture to document
it and take the baby home in but if you forget forgot that it doesn't matter the hospital has
clothes the little outfit you can send the baby home in and it's no big deal and they're going to
be cute no matter what they're wearing yes i think one other thing like thinking about the diaper bag
so there are diapers in the hospital that you can take home with you um we mentioned the butt
creams that they have you can take with you in our diaper bag something that they may not have
it's just like a good changing pad yeah that's going to be in our diaper bag for like the blowout
that is invariably going to happen between the hospital and home and so just being ready for that
um but other than that that's kind of what we have planned um if you guys have other thoughts about
things that yeah if i'm forgetting anything for my bag or his bag or the baby's bag please leave
a comment we would love to know that this is our first time we may end up attending this after we
live through this first hospital experience and see how we did on what what's in there um but we
appreciate your advice and hope this is a good start for you on what those essential things
you're going to need when you go to the hospital to have your baby yep absolutely please make sure
you're subscribed and next week we're actually going to talk about all the things that happen
for baby during that first 24 to 48 hours in the hospital so make sure you catch that bye guys
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video
is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical advice
any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider
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