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Right now I happen to be surrounded by lots of beautiful expecting mamas. I am not exaggerating when I say that nearly every one of my friends is expecting their first, second, and even third baby. I thought that many of you might also have people in your life who are expecting, so I wanted to share my go-to new mama gifts with you.
Life with a newborn presents many unique challenges…Information is not retained. Time moves slowly and quickly at the same time. Only one major task can be completed per day. You begin to think it’s okay to answer the door without wearing pants (true story). All the crying. But I digress…my point is that having a newborn is hard and we need to give new moms some simple tools to help keep it together.
So I have curated a list of the items that I wish I had on hand when I came home from the hospital. Baby shower guests will not oooh and ahhh over hand soap and you’re probably not going to give nipple cream to your colleague at the office baby shower. And it is most likely that NONE of these items is on the expecting mom’s registry (they were not on mine). But trust me when I say that the new mama in your life will thank you later for going rogue.
1. Drybar Gift Card 2. Extra Phone Charger 3. Robe with Pockets 4. MotherLove Nipple Cream 5. Cardigan with Pockets 6. Scarf 7. Slippers 8. Honest Hand Soap 9. Nursing Tank Top 10. Boba Wrap
Let me provide some color for a few of these…
A robe and cardigan with pockets – POCKETS, folks – are critical. You need pockets so that all of your stuff is on hand at all times. For me, my pockets had Advil / pain medication, phone, nipple cream, and chapstick. Pockets help reduce the number of times I had to go up and down the stairs. Same reasoning for the extra phone charger. It’s super helpful to just have extra handy to reduce the need to go up and down / back and forth.
And you need the robe so that you can pull yourself together to answer the door even though underneath you are probably braless / pantless / completely naked. I wore a cardigan with pockets over my nursing tank or Boba wrap every single day on maternity leave. I added a scarf when I went out of the house and wanted to feel pulled together and I could also use the scarf to help cover if I was nursing. Extra points for clothing that does double duty!
I love the Honest hand soap because it doesn’t dry your skin like other soaps even when you’re washing your hands a bazillion times a day. And the organic Motherlove nipple cream was a recommendation from my lactation consultant and it was a lifesaver for me.
If you decide to go with the gift card for a blow out or pedi (both great options!!) please know that this is not a stand-alone gift. This gift should be accompanied by the sincere offer to stay with the baby while the new mom in your life is getting pampered. Even better if you can make the appointment for her. Otherwise, that gift card will sit unused for months or maybe even years. Blow outs were something that I treated myself to when Beatrice was a newborn because washing my hair had become such a luxury and a rare event (it is still a rare event actually almost 2 years later). And to have someone wash my hair for me was just so wonderful.
To pull these gifts together, I like to fill a moses basket (Design DUA has really beautiful ones) with a couple of these items, add Honest diapers and wipes (my favorite!). It’s a very pretty display and every item is functional!
Congratulations to all of the lovely ladies out there who are expecting and enjoy your weekend, friends!
Feature photo for this post by the lovely and talented Meredith Hanafi.