Hospital bag essentials — the doula's checklist

Most hospital bag lists you'll find online are written by either marketing teams or first-time parents. Mine is written by someone who's spent hundreds of shifts on the postnatal ward as an NHS Postnatal Midwifery Assistant & Infant Feeding Specialist, watching what new parents actually use — and what gets ignored at the bottom of the bag.

Here's what you actually need, what you can skip, and what almost everyone forgets. Tested across South London hospitals — King's, St Thomas's, PRUH, Croydon University, Lewisham.

Pack three bags, not one

This is the single tip that changes everything: split your stuff into three separate bags:

1. Labour bag — what you need during active labour. Small. Stays with you.
2. Hospital stay bag — clothes for after birth, baby essentials. Stays in the car.
3. Going-home bag — outfit for you and baby to leave in. Stays in the car.

This means your partner isn't rummaging through 18kg of packed bag while you're contracting.

Bag 1 — Labour bag (what you actually need)

• Phone + long charging cable (2m+, hospital sockets are nowhere convenient)
• Lip balm — the air is incredibly dry and gas-and-air makes it worse
• Hair ties
• Birth plan, printed, three copies (one for each shift change)
• Snacks for partner — they get nothing
• Bottle of water with sports cap (sucking through a straw between contractions is easier than sipping)
• Flip-flops for the shower
• An old t-shirt or two for labour (you'll bin them — don't bring anything you love)

Bag 2 — Hospital stay bag

• Thin maternity pads — bring more than you think. The hospital ones are bulky.
• Three or four pairs of disposable postpartum knickers — they're properly stretchy, take the mesh-and-pad combo, and you can throw them out as you go
• Comfy nightie that opens at the front (for breastfeeding) — NOT a nice one
• Nursing bras — two minimum
• Breast pads (disposable + reusable)
• Nipple shields — in case latching is tricky in the early days
• Toiletries — travel size, the basics. Dry shampoo is amazing.
• Slippers
• Phone charger again (yes, two)

Bag 3 — For baby + going home

• Three sleepsuits in different sizes (you don't know how big they'll be)
• Vests under the sleepsuits
• A hat
• Scratch mittens
• A pack of nappies (newborn size)
• Fragrance-free, alcohol-free water wipes
• A muslin or two
• Going-home outfit for baby — including a coat or snowsuit if it's winter
• Going-home outfit for you — comfy, stretchy, NOT pre-pregnancy clothes
• A car seat to take baby home — bring it in with you so a midwife can check the fitting before you leave

What you can skip

Here's what every list tells you to bring, that you don't actually need:

• A 'birth ball' — most hospitals have them
• Massage oils — you won't want anyone touching you
• Birth playlists on a Bluetooth speaker — sweet idea, but most rooms don't have great audio and you'll be elsewhere mentally
• Multiple changes of nice loungewear — you'll wear one outfit, sleep in it, and be discharged
• Books and magazines — first-time mums sometimes pack these. You won't read.
• A robe — hospital gets gowns. Bring a nightie for after.
• Camera + extra lenses — your phone is fine, and you won't be aiming for art.

What everyone forgets

• A long phone charger cable (worth saying twice)
• Comfortable cotton socks (your feet get cold)
• An empty plastic bag for soiled clothes
• Snacks for your partner — they really do get nothing
• A list of who to call after birth, in priority order, so your partner doesn't message everyone at 4am

If you're using me as your doula

I'll go through your hospital bag with you in our antenatal session, tailored to which hospital you're at and what kind of birth you're planning. Birth plans for King's are different to PRUH; home-birth bags are different again.

Book a free 30-min discovery call and we can chat through what you actually need.

Eva Levinson is a Postnatal Midwifery Assistant for the NHS, a Doula UK trained doula, and an Ofsted/HSE compliant first aid instructor. She runs And Chillax in Anerley, South London.