By Nine the Label | Maternity Style & New Mum Advice

The hospital bag. It sits in the corner of the bedroom from about week 34 onwards, half-packed, quietly anxiety-inducing, a physical reminder that the biggest day of your life is coming and you are not entirely sure you are ready for it.

We have been there. Nine The Label was founded by Scarlett Giannotti first-time mum and packing the hospital bag was one of those tasks that felt simultaneously urgent and completely overwhelming. What do you actually need? What is overrated? And what do you wear when you finally walk out of those hospital doors, baby in arms, into your new life?

This is the guide we wished we'd had. A complete hospital bag checklist - honest, practical, and experience-led, plus a considered edit of what to wear for your coming home moment. Because that moment matters. And you deserve to feel like yourself in it.

When Should You Pack Your Hospital Bag?

Pack your hospital bag by week 36, without exception. Babies arrive early more often than people expect, and the last thing you want is to be frantically throwing things into a bag between contractions or asking your partner to find your phone charger at 3am.

Set aside an afternoon around week 34 or 35. Pack methodically. Then leave the bag somewhere visible and accessible by the front door, at the bottom of the stairs, so anyone can grab it in a hurry if needed.

If you're having a planned caesarean, pack by the week before your date. You'll know your timeline, which helps but the preparation still matters.

The Complete Hospital Bag Checklist

We've broken this down into three bags, which is how most midwives and experienced mums recommend packing: one for labour, one for postpartum, and one for baby. You can use a single large holdall with sections, or two or three smaller bags. The separation matters because during labour you don't want to be rifling through tiny vests looking for your lip balm.

Bag One: Labour Bag

This is the bag you need actively accessible during labour. Keep it small, keep it focused.

Practical essentials:

• Birth plan (printed, multiple copies - one for your midwife, one for your partner, one for your notes)

• Maternity notes / pregnancy folder

• Phone and charger (a long cable is genuinely useful - hospital sockets are never where you need them)

• Portable phone charger / power bank

• Headphones

• Camera if you want one beyond your phone

• Your partner's snacks - labour can be long. They need to eat. So do you, if you feel able.

• Isotonic drinks and energy snacks for you: cereal bars, dried fruit, jelly babies, glucose tablets

• A bendy straw (easier to drink lying down or in certain positions)

• Lip balm, gas and air dries lips significantly

• Hair ties and clips - you will want your hair off your face

• A small hand fan, labour wards can be very warm

• Massage oil or a roller if you're planning a massage for pain relief

• Any medication you're currently taking, clearly labelled

• Insurance or hospital registration details if relevant

Comfort items:

• A pillow from home in a dark pillowcase (so it doesn't get mixed up with hospital ones)

• An old, comfortable dressing gown for early labour - something you don't mind getting ruined

• Comfortable socks, warm feet during labour is something a surprising number of women swear by

• A TENS machine if you're using one

• Any items that help you feel calm: an essential oil roller, a playlist loaded and ready, affirmation cards if that's your thing. Labour is intensely personal. Bring what helps you.

Bag Two: Your Postpartum Hospital Bag

This is what you need after the birth - for your stay on the postnatal ward, which may be a few hours or a few days depending on your birth and your baby.

Clothing:

• 2–3 comfortable maternity or nursing nightgowns or pyjamas. Choose soft, breathable fabrics, your body has just been through an enormous event and skin sensitivity is high. Button-front or wrap styles are easiest for feeding.

• A clean, comfortable dressing gown for walking the ward

• Slippers with grip (hospital floors)

• A comfortable outfit for coming home, more on this below, because it deserves its own section

• 3–4 pairs of comfortable, seamless underwear in a size up from your usual, high-waisted, soft, and ones you are prepared to say goodbye to

• A supportive, easy-access nursing bra if you're planning to breastfeed, soft-cup rather than underwired for the early days

• Warm socks

Toiletries and personal care:

• Maternity pads, bring more than you think you need. Hospital ones are functional but not kind. Bring your own.

• Disposable or older knickers - many women prefer disposable for the first day or two

• Witch hazel pads or perineal spray for comfort after a vaginal birth

• Breast pads

• Nipple cream (lanolin-based is the most recommended)

• Your usual toiletries: toothbrush, toothpaste, facial cleanser, moisturiser, deodorant. Being clean and moisturised in those early hours matters more than people anticipate. It is a small act of self-care in an enormous moment.

• Dry shampoo - because a full hair wash may not be top of your list and dry shampoo is transformative

• Hair ties, clips, a headband

• Makeup if you want it. This is entirely personal. Some women don't touch it. Others find mascara and a tinted lip balm makes them feel more like themselves for photos. Neither is right or wrong.

• A small mirror

• Glasses or contact lens supplies if relevant

Other essentials:

• Snacks you actually want to eat, hospital food varies enormously and you will be hungry after birth. Bring food that feels nourishing and comforting to you personally.

• A water bottle

• Books, a magazine, a downloaded series - postnatal wards involve a lot of waiting

• Your own pillow if you didn't use it in labour

• Earplugs and an eye mask - postnatal wards can be noisy and bright at all hours

• Thank you card and cash for parking if relevant to your hospital

Bag Three: Baby's Hospital Bag

Your baby needs surprisingly little in hospital, they're not going anywhere, and the ward will have many basics. But the following will be needed:

• 3–4 newborn vests (short and long-sleeved, pack both as you don't know the temperature)

• 2–3 newborn sleepsuits / babygrows

• A hat - hospitals are warm but newborns lose heat through their heads

• Scratch mitts

• A swaddle blanket

• Nappies - bring a small pack of newborn size, though the ward will often supply some

• Cotton wool or water wipes — for newborn nappy changes

• A coming home outfit if you want one beyond a sleepsuit, entirely optional, entirely special

• A properly fitted car seat, organised before you go in. This is non-negotiable legally and practically.

What NOT to Pack in Your Hospital Bag

A word on what to leave at home, because overpacking is extremely common and a heavy bag in early labour is no one's friend.

Leave behind: full-size toiletries (travel sizes only), your entire jewellery collection, expensive items that could get lost or damaged, too many clothes for yourself (you will not be changing outfits as often as you might imagine), anything you would be genuinely upset to lose or ruin.

Don't forget to arrange: childcare for other children, someone to look after any pets, your notes for the hospital, and your car seat checked and fitted in the car well in advance.

What to Wear When You Leave the Hospital: The Coming Home Outfit

And now, the part we feel most qualified to talk about.

Your coming home outfit is not a trivial thing. It is the outfit you wear in the first photos of you as a mother. It is what you are wearing when you walk through your front door for the first time with your baby. It is what you have on when the grandparents arrive, when the neighbours peer over the fence, when you sit on your sofa and think: we did it.

It deserves thought. And it deserves to be something you genuinely love.

Here is what to look for and what to avoid.

What Works for a Coming Home Outfit After Birth

Comfort is the first and non-negotiable consideration. Your body has just given birth. Whether vaginally or by caesarean, you will be tender, swollen, and physical in ways that a normal outfit simply doesn't accommodate. Anything tight across the stomach, waistbands, structured trousers, fitted dresses with no give, is going to be uncomfortable at best and painful at worst.

What you want: soft waistbands or no waistband. Wrap cuts that don't sit across the midsection. Premium jersey or woven fabrics with real drape. Nothing that requires effort to put on or take off.

You will still look pregnant. This is something many first-time mothers don't anticipate and are then distressed by. Your uterus takes weeks to contract back to its pre-pregnancy size. Your stomach will be soft and rounded for some time after birth. A maternity dress designed for exactly this shape, will fit and flatter you far better than a non-maternity outfit in a larger size. This is not a moment for your pre-pregnancy wardrobe. It is a moment for clothes that understand the body you are in right now.

If you had a caesarean, anything that sits across the scar is going to be uncomfortable. High-waisted trousers or leggings that come up over the incision site are sometimes more comfortable than lower-waisted options, depending on individual healing. A flowing midi dress with no defined waist is often the most comfortable option by far.

Consider feeding access. If you are planning to breastfeed, a wrap-style dress or a top that can be lifted or opened easily makes the early days significantly easier - including in the car on the way home.

What to Avoid

• Anything with a tight or rigid waistband

• Jeans, even maternity jeans for at least the first few weeks

• Anything requiring complicated fastening when you are exhausted

• Anything you'd be upset to have milk, formula, or worse on

• Anything that makes you feel like you're trying to look like you haven't just had a baby. You have just had a baby. That is extraordinary. Dress accordingly.

Our Recommendation: The Nine The Label Coming Home Edit

The pieces that work best as coming home outfits after birth are the same pieces that carried our customers beautifully through pregnancy, which is the entire point of how we design.

The Belle is consistently one of our most chosen coming home outfits. A structured but soft jumpsuit with a forgiving silhouette that works at every postpartum stage. It photographs beautifully, clean lines, elegant cut, nothing fussy and it is genuinely comfortable to wear in the hours after birth.

The Ava is another favourite for coming home. The wrap style means no pressure across the stomach and easy feeding access. The premium fabric drapes rather than clings. And the silhouette is genuinely flattering on a postpartum body not because it hides anything, but because it fits it.

The Serena is the choice for those who want to feel properly dressed for the moment. A more elevated occasion piece - perfect if family photos are happening on coming home day, or if you simply want to mark the moment with something that feels special.

Pair any of these with flat shoes or low trainers, and simple jewellery if you want it. The look should feel effortless, because you have enough to be thinking about.

The Fourth Trimester: Dressing Yourself After Birth

Coming home is just the beginning. The weeks that follow, the fourth trimester are a wardrobe challenge that very few people talk about honestly.

You will spend a lot of time in your home. You may be feeding around the clock. You will be sleep-deprived in a way you haven't experienced before. And yet: getting dressed actually dressed, in something beyond the same pair of pyjamas, makes a genuine difference to how you feel on difficult days.

This is something our customers tell us again and again. A Nine The Label dress worn in the fourth trimester isn't vanity. It's self-care. It's a signal to yourself that you matter, that you are still you, that the person who existed before this baby arrived is still present - just transformed.

Our collection is designed to work through all of this. The same pieces that took you through the first trimester, that you wore to that wedding in the second, that you chose as your coming home outfit - they're still there for you at six weeks postpartum, at three months, at six. That was always the intention. And it still is.

Hospital Bag Quick-Reference Checklist

A one-page summary to print, screenshot, or save for easy reference.

Labour bag: birth plan, maternity notes, phone and charger, power bank, headphones, snacks and drinks, lip balm, hair ties, fan, comfortable socks, old dressing gown, TENS machine, any current medication, relaxation aids.

Your postpartum bag: 2–3 nursing nightgowns, dressing gown, slippers, coming home outfit, 3–4 comfortable knickers, nursing bra, breast pads, maternity pads, nipple cream, full toiletries kit, dry shampoo, makeup if wanted, snacks, water bottle, entertainment, earplugs, eye mask.

Baby's bag: 3–4 vests, 2–3 sleepsuits, hat, scratch mitts, swaddle blanket, nappies, cotton wool or water wipes, coming home outfit (optional), car seat (in the car).

Frequently Asked Questions

How big should a hospital bag be? Most midwives recommend a medium holdall, around 40–50 litres per person, so two bags total (yours and baby's). Avoid overpacking: you won't have space to spread out in a hospital room, and you or your partner may need to carry bags while you're managing other things.

Should I pack a separate labour bag? Yes, if you can. A smaller bag or tote with just your labour essentials means you don't have to unpack everything on arrival. Keep it light and immediately accessible.

What should I wear during labour itself? Most women wear a hospital gown during active labour, which is provided. For early labour, a comfortable nightgown or loose dress you don't mind potentially ruining is ideal. Many women find they care very little about what they're wearing once active labour begins comfort and accessibility are everything.

When is the best time to buy a coming home outfit? Around week 32–34 is ideal. You know your approximate size at full term by this point, and you have time to order, try on, and exchange if needed. Don't leave it to the last minute the coming home outfit is something worth getting right.

Do I need a specific maternity coming home outfit, or will a regular dress work? A maternity or postpartum-cut dress will almost always work better. Your body after birth is still a pregnant-shaped body, your uterus, your posture, your softness. Clothes cut for that shape fit it better. A non-maternity dress in a larger size will typically look and feel worse than a well-cut maternity piece in your size.

How long will I stay in hospital? This varies enormously. For an uncomplicated vaginal birth, you may go home within six hours. For a caesarean or a birth with complications, you may stay two to five days or longer. Pack for at least two nights as a baseline, and have someone who can bring additional items if your stay extends.

Nine the Label is an independent UK maternity and postpartum wear brand, co-founded by two first-time mums who wanted to solve the same wardrobe challenges you're navigating now. Our collection is designed for the whole journey — pre, during, and after pregnancy — in premium fabrics and timeless silhouettes that last. Shop the full collection at ninethelabel.com and follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @nine_thelabel for real women, real bumps, and real style.