If you are anticipating an early birth or a baby that will need extra help from the NICU, you may be wondering what to include in your hospital bag in addition to the usual postpartum and newborn supplies. We’ve got you covered here with a FREE printable packing list and a NICU Pumping Log available for download at the bottom of the page!
What You Should Know
The average hospital stay after childbirth is 48 hours for a vaginal birth and 96 hours for a cesarean birth. If your baby is admitted to the NICU you may be approved to stay a little longer—ask! The NICU specific items you include in your hospital bag should cover the first 2-5 postpartum days before you are discharged home. Once home you will have the opportunity to pack a NICU Parenting Bag for your trips to and from the NICU.
What You Should Pack
Pumping Gear
Under normal circumstances you may not have planned to immediately pump for your baby. Human milk is especially beneficial for premature infants, and if you wish to provide breastmilk for your baby—by breast/chest or pump—then your labor of love will be to establish and maintain a milk supply while your baby is hospitalized. Having an adequate milk supply at discharge will offer you the most options and make it possible to reach whatever human milk feeding goals you may have. Best practice is to begin double pumping with a hospital-grade breast pump as soon as possible (within the first hour is ideal, but no later than 6-12 hours after birth) and continue 8-12 times a day for the duration of your baby’s stay. (If you have twins or multiples aim for at least ten sessions per day with the goal to pump 27-32 oz by day 14 postpartum.) Even if you don’t believe your baby will be in the NICU for long, the first two to six weeks are crucial for establishing your milk supply. Print our Breastfeeding Log (below!) to keep track of your daily totals—note the expected amounts in the first few days (nothing! drops!) and don’t be discouraged. Just. Keep. Going. The NICU will supply you with a pumping kit, syringes for colostrum, and storage containers. We recommend protecting one 4-hour stretch overnight for sleep and building your pumping schedule equally spaced around the remaining hours.
Pack: Two hands-free pumping bras or one zip up/velcro tube-style bra, two pumping/nursing tops for comfort and easy access. Pump part sanitation wipes for quick clean ups in between sessions. A few copies of a NICU Pumping Log—we’ve got you covered, simply download your free printable below! A nursing cover for pumping, if you desire—modern NICUs offer private rooms, and curtains with sleeping areas for privacy, but there may be times when you are pumping and you want to make yourself available to providers for updates or communication opportunities. A pack of disposable belly or back heating pads for after-pains while pumping. Discuss ahead with your insurance company or the NICU social worker to determine eligibility for renting a hospital-grade pump directly from your hospital or for pick-up at a local pharmacy.
Robe for Skin to Skin Holding
Kangaroo Care has many benefits for you and your baby. Even tiny, intubated babies with umbilical lines can be safely kangarooed. An easy set up for discrete kangaroo time is to change into a breathable cotton robe wearing just a bra underneath. Hold your baby upright, their belly in contact with your chest, and wrap the robe around them with a receiving blanket draped on top for extra warmth. If you wear a hands free pumping bra you can also pump while kangarooing and take care of two important parenting tasks at once! Holding your baby skin-to-skin should last at minimum for one uninterrupted hour and can continue for as long as your baby tolerates and parent desires. Hair ties are useful for keeping long hair out of the way and preventing baby from getting tangled up.
Pack: Light to medium weight cotton robe, two receiving blankets, hair ties.
Skin-to-Skin Baby Wrap
Kangaroo time can become tedious if you do it for many hours in a row. A baby wrap specific for skin to skin will make it possible to safely hold even the smallest babies securely on your chest and allow you to have hands-free time for texting, reading, journaling, or just resting quietly without having to literally hold on to your little baby. Kangaroo care-specific wraps are available online for micropreemies, preemies, and twins, and some are pumping friendly.
Pack: One skin-to-skin-specific wrap appropriate for your baby’s size, and your need for pumping access or holding more than one baby at the same time.
Lovey for Baby
One of the most emotionally difficult aspects about the NICU is being separated from your baby: being discharged home without them, leaving them behind after every NICU visit. One thing you can do is buy a cotton lovey to scent with your smell by sleeping with it in your bed for a few nights in a row, or by wearing it under your breasts or behind your neck while in the NICU when you are with your baby or when you are at home. Buy two loveys so that if one falls on the floor you can take it home to be washed and still have one to leave with your baby. Position the lovey snuggled up against your baby in their isolette or open crib so they can smell you and feel close to you even when there is physical distance.
Pack: Two cotton loveys.
Items to Personalize Your Baby’s Isolette or Pod
Make your baby’s home-away-from-home as cozy and inviting as you can. You may bring photos to tape to the outside of their isolette, or a name banner to decorate the door of their NICU pod. Print off and display Instagram photos to help NICU staff get to know you and your family. Receiving blankets from home can be used as mattress covers in the isolette or open crib to refresh and personalize your baby’s space. Receiving blankets are also useful for kangaroo time and for covering your baby’s isolette to help limit light.
Pack: Family photos, two receiving blankets, a keepsake, stuffed animal, or name banner to personalize baby’s space.
Nutrition and Hydration
The NICU is an intensive care unit. Food is generally not permitted but easy to eat snacks and a closed water bottle (with a lid, or straw) will help keep your energy up between meals. Meals and liquid foods like yogurt, juice, soup, etc. can be labeled and stored in the family lounge but you will be asked to leave the NICU and then scrub back in, which can feel like a burden. Stay hydrated and satiated in between meals with granola bars, fruit snacks, jerky, and other portable dry goods.
Pack: Water bottle with lid/straw, dry snack foods.
Baby Clothing
NICUs have varied policies based on minimum weight and stable condition that dictate when babies can wear clothing. Very sick or very small babies will not be dressed immediately. Even in the most straightforward circumstance it could be a couple of days to a week before your baby will be ready to wear the tiny things you’ve picked out for them. One exception is baby hats—the hospital will provide a hat for your baby, but a special hat from your stash is a sweet and welcome addition—bring two so you have an alternate if one drops on the floor and needs to go home to be washed. Many mainstream brands now carry preemie clothing up to 7 pounds, and micropreemie clothing and hats for babies as small as 1-3+ pounds can also be found online. Any clothing you bring should allow access for monitoring wires. While it may be difficult to know now what your baby’s clothing needs will be, you can be prepared with two t-shirts, and two sets of button-up footless onesies or gowns.
Pack: Two preemie or baby hats. Two appropriately sized t-shirts, two preemie or newborn button-up footless onesies or gowns. Two receiving blankets. Multiply these amounts if you have two babies or more!
Book List
Preemies, 2nd. Edition. The Essential Guide for Parents of Premature Babies by Dana Wechsler Linden, Emma Trenti Paroli, et al.
Hold Your Preemie by Jill Bergman and Nils Bergman