What to Pack in Your Baby’s Hospital Bag

Not only should you pack a hospital bag for you when you’re pregnant, but you should pack a hospital bag for your baby!

Here’s what an experienced mom packed the first time, what she didn’t use, and what she packed the second time! A super helpful list of what to pack in your baby’s hospital bag!

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Last week I told you everything that I packed in my hospital bag, both with Little J and now with our baby who is due in three weeks.

Today, I am going to share with you what to pack in your baby’s hospital bag! Because yes, I highly recommend having two separate bags. You will want to be able to find everything easily while you are at the hospital, so it just makes a lot of sense to pack things separately. Trust me.

Before I tell you my lists, if this is your first baby, I recommend using your diaper bag as your baby’s hospital bag. It’s nice because you can get some of the stuff in there that you want to pack in a diaper bag anyway, and second, it is the perfect size (at least mine was). I also was eager to start using my cute diaper bag, so packing things for baby in the diaper bag just made sense.

For baby girl, since I was going to need to bring my diaper bag places up until I went to the hospital bag, I just chose another bag to fill for her hospital bag.

One more thing. I packed a lot of things for Little J when we went to the hospital. I used almost none of it. I do think it is important to be prepared just in case you do need something or you decide you want to change them into new clothes from home every day, but you should also ask your hospital before what kinds of things they provide.

For example, diapers and wipes are things that I am guessing all hospitals provide you with. But really, check with your hospital before you decide not to pack something.

Alright so now I will tell you what I packed the first time, what I actually used the first time, and what I am packing the second time in my baby’s hospital bag. Please read all lists because you may find that you will want to pack some things that I am leaving out my second time. It really just depends on the person and your preferences!

What I Packed in My Baby’s Hospital Bag (the first time)

2 Pairs of Pajamas

The button-up ones are best for newborns and little babies because when you change their diapers you don’t have to take their whole outfit off. Buttons are best.

Going Home Outfit

I packed a hat, a onesie, and pants. This was something my husband and I had fun picking out together because the going home outfit is special! Too bad for us, Little J didn’t was too small for his going home outfit.

Diapers

Our hospital provided diapers, but I packed some anyway. And I didn’t use them at all. So they took up space in my bag. It just depends on if your hospital provides them or not.

Wipes

Same thing as the diapers. I didn’t use them at all.

A&D Ointment

This is a really helpful thing to have if you have a boy and are planning on getting him circumcised. You use it a lot to help protect their little man parts from sticking to the diaper. I can’t remember if the hospital provided some, but I’m sure they did. But it’s still nice to have some if you are circumcising your boy.

2 Bibs

I didn’t use these at all because Little J wasn’t big on spitting up, and I didn’t put them on him when he was nursing. I don’t think you really need a bib when you are nursing unless your baby spits up a lot, and burp rags are the most helpful with that. Honestly, I didn’t use bibs with my kids until they started eating solid food.

2 Burp Rags

I definitely used these. I actually ended up tucking them into my nursing bra so that whatever Little J leaked out of his mouth just got on the burp rag and not all over my nursing bra. Very helpful.

Blanket

We ended up using the blanket we brought for Little J’s newborn photos.

Receiving Blanket

Why I thought I needed so many blankets is beyond me, but we didn’t use this at all because the hospital had little blankets to swaddle Little J in.

2 Extra Hats

The hospital has hats, so I didn’t use the ones I brought.

2 Pairs of Socks

Baby’s toes can get cold too, so you want to bring a few pairs of socks, especially if you dress baby in clothes you bring from home that don’t have footies.

2 Pairs of Mittens

Babies have sharp nails, and it is super duper hard to file them or clip them when they are little. If you have your baby wear tops that have built-in mittens then you won’t really need them to wear mittens as well, but in tops without those little fold-over mittens, you want to put mittens on them. Otherwise they will scratch their little faces.

2 Pacifiers

I’m actually not sure why I packed these because I didn’t plan on using pacifiers for our baby until he was a few weeks old.

Lotion

The hospital had lotion, so I didn’t need this, but it might be nice to have a small little bottle for baby just in case. But you can call the hospital and see if you need to bring some.

Baby Wash

This is pretty unnecessary because the nurses help you give your baby its first bath while you are there, and they will have baby wash for you to use.

Boppy

Super important to bring. Using a Boppy makes a huge difference in nursing. It is a million times better than using just a regular pillow, and I definitely recommend bringing a Boppy.

What I Used From My Baby’s Hospital Bag (the first time)

First, here is a dramatic picture of everything I did and did not use from my baby’s hospital bag the first time. (Sorry the picture’s not great, it was before I started blogging!)

So it’s pretty obvious I only used a few things:

Pair of Pajamas

The outfit we brought for Little J to go home in was actually too big, so we ended up using one of his pajamas as his going home outfit. No big deal. He still was adorable. And we kept him in the baby sleep sack things the hospital gave us while we were there because they made it easy to change his diaper and they had built in mittens. And they covered his feet. So they pretty much eliminated having to use mittens, socks, and pajamas.

Blanket

Again, we only used this for newborn photos at the hospital. They had blankets there, which is why we didn’t use the receiving blanket I brought. But it was nice to have one special blanket for the pictures.

Hat

The hospital gave us hats, but I used one hat we brought for Little J’s going home outfit. It was March so he needed some protection!

Burp Rags

I pretty much would not ever try and nurse Little J without a burp rag, so these definitely got used while we were at the hospital.

Boppy

Not pictured above because I packed it with my stuff in my hospital bag, but I definitely used this thing. So helpful!

What I Packed in My Baby’s Hospital Bag (the second time

3 Pairs of Pajamas

The first time I just had Little J stay in the outfits the hospital had, but I am going to bring three pair of pajamas for our little baby girl in case I want to change her into little girly outfits. And she can just stay in them all day and night. And I am bringing 3 because they are all different sizes (preemie, newborn, 0-3). You never know how big your baby is going to be, and I want to be prepared no matter what.

Going Home Outfit

We have a perfect little coral dress picked out for baby girl, and it’s small enough that I think we’ll be okay if she is small, too!

3 Burp Rags

I loved the burp rags I made for Little J, and I made some more for baby girl. These were really helpful when I was nursing Little J, and if baby girl ends up being a spitter-upper, I will be prepared! (Here’s a really easy tutorial to make your own!)

Blanket

I wanted a nice blanket for pictures again, so I packed a cute blanket that would look good with the outfit I got for her pictures.

Outfit for Pictures

I didn’t pack one of these last time because we just had Little J in the outfit the hospital had, and then a few just wrapped in the blanket, but I wanted to make sure that this time I was prepared! We have a little ruffle lace romper and I can’t wait to see how she looks in it!

Extra Hat

I know the little pink hospital hat will be cute, but I wanted to bring another hat for her that was different.

2 Pairs of Mittens

If I do end up changing baby girl out of the hospital outfits, then I want to make sure she has some mittens so she doesn’t scratch up her little face.

Boppy

Since I am planning on nursing baby girl, I am definitely bringing this.

Hair Bows and Headbands

Pretty much an essential when you are having a baby girl, right? Yeah, no explanation needed.

There you have it! There’s what I packed the first time we went to the hospital, what we used from that first time, and what I packed this time for baby girl. I hope that it is helpful to see what I packed, what I didn’t use, and what I still packed again.

Everyone is different with what they will use, and I really do recommend calling the hospital to see if they will have diapers and wipes and lotion and the like for your baby. Those things take up quite a bit of space in your bag, so if you don’t have to pack them, all the better!! Anyway, good luck at the hospital and with your new baby!!

And don’t forget to check out 15 Things to Do After Your Baby is Born and What to Pack in Your Hospital Bag, too (there’s a free printable checklist you can download)!