Put Yourself on the List: Postpartum Recovery Picks for Your Baby Wishlist

Picture the gift table at a baby shower. Tiny socks. A stack of muslins. A cuddly rabbit, three sets of scratch mitts and a sleepsuit with ears on the hood.

Now spot the thing on that table for the person who is about to give birth. Go on, have a look. 🔍

There usually isn't one. And that's no criticism of anyone's generosity, it's just that guests buy what's on the list. If the list is all baby, the gifts are all baby.

So here's a gentle nudge: put yourself on it. Your recovery is part of getting ready for this baby, and the people who love you would genuinely like to help with it. They just need you to tell them how.

The bathroom kit for the first couple of weeks

This is the bit nobody puts on a pastel gift tag, and it's the bit you'll use most in those first days home. Whatever kind of birth you have, your body has done something enormous and it deserves some proper looking after.

The basics are maternity pads, big comfy knickers (or disposable postpartum pants) and something soft and loose to wear around the house. Plenty of mums also swear by a peri bottle, a little squeezy bottle you fill with warm water and use when you go to the loo. It sounds like a small thing. Ask anyone who's had one whether it was small. 😅

It's cheap, practical and easy to forget, which makes it exactly the sort of thing you'd rather a friend bought than have to remember on a pharmacy run with a newborn in tow.

Your midwife will talk you through aftercare and what's normal for you, so treat this section as a shopping list, not medical advice. If anything worries you once you're home, speak to your midwife, health visitor or GP.

Feeding comfort, however you feed

Breast, bottle or a mix of both, you'll be spending hours a day holding a baby at chest height. Your shoulders will notice. So will your back.

A good feeding pillow takes the weight off your arms and brings baby up to you rather than you hunching down to them. It's also handy for propping yourself up in bed, and plenty double as a support cushion during pregnancy, so you get months of use before baby even arrives.

If you're planning to breastfeed, washable nursing pads are another quiet hero. Leaks happen, often at the least convenient moment, and a reusable set saves you buying box after box of disposables.

Neither of these is glamorous. Both will get used every single day, which is honestly the best test of a wishlist item there is.

Somewhere decent to sit

Here's a question worth asking before baby arrives: where are you actually going to sit for all those feeds?

For a lot of us the answer turns out to be the corner of the sofa, slowly sinking, with a remote control digging into one hip. It's fine for a week. It's less fine for months of night feeds.

A proper nursing chair with a footstool gives you a supportive seat at the right height, somewhere to rest your feet, and a calm little spot in the nursery that's yours. It's also exactly the sort of bigger gift that works brilliantly as a group present, where a few friends or family members chip in together.

Not got room for a chair? A footstool on its own, a cushion that properly supports your lower back, and a small side table for water, snacks and your phone will transform the sofa corner.

The gifts that aren't things

Some of the most treasured postpartum presents can't be wrapped at all. Ask any parent a year on what they remember, and it's often the lasagne someone dropped round, not the fourth cardigan.

Ideas worth adding to your list:

• Meal deliveries or a freezer fill - a friend who batch cooks a few dinners is worth their weight in gold
• A cleaner for a few weeks - one less thing to feel guilty about
• A dog walk rota - if you've got a four-legged first baby who still needs their outings
• A postnatal massage or a haircut voucher - for when you're ready to leave the house for an hour on your own
• An hour of babysitting - so you can shower, nap or simply sit in silence
• Snack boxes and a big water bottle - feeding makes you hungry and thirsty in a way that's hard to believe until it happens

On BubsNest you can add any of these as a custom item on your wishlist, so they sit right alongside the pushchair and the cot. Guests who'd rather give time than stuff will love having the option.

Making it feel less awkward to ask

If adding things for yourself feels a bit cheeky, you're in good company. Lots of parents-to-be feel exactly the same. But think about it from your guests' side for a second.

Your best friend wants to look after you. Your mum wants to look after you. Most of them remember their own early weeks and would love to make yours easier. A list that includes you gives them permission to do that.

A few tips that help:

• Give it its own section - a little "for mum" corner on your wishlist feels natural, not grabby
• Mix price points - a few small bits like nursing pads sit nicely next to a bigger group gift like a chair
• Add a note - a line like "the things that'll help me look after this little one" makes the reasoning clear
• Include your partner - a good flask, comfy slippers or a meal voucher helps the whole household

Recovery isn't an optional extra once the baby stuff is sorted. It's part of the plan. 💛

Ready to add a few things for you? Head to your BubsNest wishlist and start a little "for mum" section today.