One of my friends just had her first baby! A boy! Hooray! I wanted to bring her a little “new mom gift basket” with all the things that I could not live without the first few weeks postpartum. Like, all the things that would make me cry if I ran out of. I’m tearing up just thinking about those really hard (and equally amazing) first few days. You know, the ones where you’re like “He’s crying…what do I do!!?” and “I can’t believe he’s so tiny” “My crotch hurts”, and other pleasant and unpleasant things.
So here’s a cute little gift idea for a few essential “new mom” things.
What’s in the kit:
The cute little basket is from Target and fit all my stuff perfectly.
1. Super duper big maxi pads. Just buy the biggest you can find. Don’t ask.
2. Healthy snacks, I included almonds, nut bars, and fruit strips.
3. Luna bar, easy to eat when you are figuring out how to nurse!
4. Nutella To-Go (just for fun)! This is borderline healthy, right? Why not?
5. Hand sanitizer. Because EVERYTHING is full of germs when you’re a first time mom.
6. e.l.f. Lip Gloss(my fave), just a little something to make her feel pretty! Because she probably doesn’t even though she is.
7. Minty gum. I found it so hard to find time for showers/brushing teeth those first few days. So at least she can have fresh breath.
I just remember being starving and dirty for the first few weeks postpartum. Someone gave me a bag full of snacks. I thought it was a weird gift at the time, but I was soon SO thankful for it because I was so hungry.
So that is my recommendation of what to bring a new mom. You can also add baby wipes, Tucks, and bottled water for variations on this basket. You can even stash in a little DIY baby gift like these baby bloomers or a cute onesie!
And of course a warm dinner is nice too!
What else would you fill a basket for a new mom with?
I was given lanolin when I was in the hospital, a nice big tube of it. It was such a lifesaver! The tiny samples they had for me from the hospital didn’t last me the amount of time I was there. I love your list though, I might use it for my own packing list!
Extra large receiving blankets. The commercial ones are never big enough to actually swaddle the baby. And when you do find them big enough, they’re horrifically expensive. But for those of us who sew, they’re a quick and easy $5 gift. One yard of double-napped flannel = one blanket. Cut off the selvedge edges, round the corners, and do a rolled hem (or picot hem, I’ve found those work better on the curves) with your serger, and you have a fast, easy, inexpensive, and vastly appreciated present.
I just did one of these too! My cousins wife just had their first baby.. A girl. We live to far to be able to visit so I made up a package to send her. I included a big bag if cinnamon sugared almonds, a package of flavored decaf coffee, 2 dark chocolate Carmel bars, mothers milk tea, a teether for the baby, and a gift card to go out to eat.
Love all those suggestions. And face wipes because let’s face it, you may or may not being showering this week.
My colleagues sent us a chocolate and coffee themed gift basket (it’s a group of guys; they were clueless) but it was awesome, in part because there were little baggies of chocolate covered coffee beans. So helpful to have a couple here and there when breast feeding and trying to limit coffee/caffeine.
I second the lanolin! I would also include a gift card for food, something hubby can pick up to-go. A cute water cup would be nice, too, maybe fill it with snacks? If she’s nursing, she’ll be hungry and thirsty constantly!
I love this box, Kate! It’s totally full of handy stuff. annd super cute! (and I laughed out loud at your crotch comment…too true, too true.)
An out of town friend sent us an edible arrangements basket! We hadn’t been home in two months and we had no food! That fruit was amazing. Maybe some nursing goods, like instant oatmeal packets, a USB drive with lullaby music or even an iTunes gift card. And really big burb clothes.
How about coupons for a free afternoon on-site baby tending… so mom can nap; laundry or diaper service for a couple weeks; a CD of relaxation music for mom and/or baby.
;)
Toilet paper! Seriously, there’s nothing worse than hubby having to go back to work and suddenly you HAVE to go to the store because you’re out of toilet paper!
Lanolin and nursing pads if a nursing mama, and stool softener if it was NOT a c-section! Along with the maxi pads- another thing no one tells you about until you give birth! Definitely like the pretty li balm and gum idea! This may be TMI, but those Depends thingies worked just as well as maxi pads for me, and less laundry- always a plus!
This is such a great list. I had a friend come over with enough food to cook and make plenty of leftovers, then her and her husband watched my 2yo and newborn while I showered and napped. Best present ever, and I think had she also included Nutella I would have never let her leave ever again.
I would add lanolin, it can work wonders. I’ve also had homemade muffins, a magazine to read while nursing (not a parenting magazine, something that will remind the mom that she is still human and has her own personality… :-)
You are so right!!! After my first baby I knew that next time I’ve to hort such things. A lot of such things ;-)
i just did one for my SIL and included some of these but also put in some baby medicines for later down the line. the kind of stuff you dont think you need till the middle of the night; like bonjela or colic medicine. love the idea of snacks in yours though. I always try to take a meal too or at least prepped food ready to cook.
Great ideas, all of them. And, no joke, those Nutella On The Go things saved my life after having Ivy. I went to Walmart on Christmas Eve, 5 days postpartum (you know, because that was a great idea) and I don’t know if my blood sugar just got low or what, but as I was standing in the insanely long check out lane, I started to loose my vision. It was so scary! and so weird. Like, really weird. I grabbed one of those Nutella things, inhaled it, and then I was fine. NUTELLA SAVES LIVES!
That’s a great list, I’ve recently just had my first baby and was brought some truly useless things. I would have love people to bring snack bars and Nutella