A comprehensive list of all the basic things that a new mother leaving the hospital would need

Very good request! It seems like just yesterday we brought our daughter home from the hospital, and now she is 2! I will break the hub into two sections one is things that you NEED others are things that make life a little easier on a new mom.

The first and most important will obviously be the things you need. The first item you will need is a car seat. Without this you can not leave the hospital. When looking at car seats I recommend looking for one with the carrier having a curve in the handle for easy carrying. This will not be a big deal when you first come home, but as you get further in, it does help as the child gains weight.

When putting your car seat in the first time I recommend going to the fire department. They will put it in for free and show you the proper way to strap the base in. This was very helpful for me to see the first time, if you can't get there the biggest tip I can provide is to make sure once you thread the belt through that you pull the belt all the way out, you will hear it click, when you do it will retract clicking. This locks the seat-belt in the tight position so that when you make turns etc the seat doesn't move, since the belt usually engages only when the breaks are applied quickly. (Yes I have made this mistake before and had to pull over to correct it!)

Now for items you will need around the house. This portion of the list are things that are vital to survival, not the bells and whistles I will write later. You will need a place for the baby to sleep. This can be a crib, bassinet, pak n play, or even a drawer, just something that they can be secure in. If you get a crib make sure that you have no spaces between the mattress and the crib bars.

You will need 5-10 footie sleepers. They usually sell them in packs of 6-10. We did not use any blankets with our daughter and still don't to this day. Blankets, dolls, crib padding, while they look cute are dangerous and potentially the child can suffocate in them. The footie's cover their feet and keep them warm. A tip with sleepers is if they are zippered make sure that you pull the zipper up when zipping so you don't catch the baby, and if they only open on one leg make sure to put the leg that does NOT open in first and take it out last. This isn't as big of a deal when they are young, but as they get older it makes life easier.

You will need 5-10 onesies. These are also sold in packages of 6-10. They spend a lot of time in onesies and it allows them to start moving (down the line) without the outfit riding up over their head or choking them.

Formula or a pump. If you are bottle feeding you will want to make sure to have enough formula, this is something that will keep for quite a while and you will be using it for at least a year. So don't worry about having too much. It is easier to store it and use it later than have to go out and get more when you are in the throws of the first 3 months.

If you are nursing GET A PUMP! This is the one thing I would say don't scrimp on. You will use it A LOT so get one that is good. If you are large chested (I am), you want to make sure that the cones are solid cones and not flexible. The flexible ones can not stand up to the weight of the engorged chest and were not as effective in my opinion. Personally the Evenflo worked the best for me. It was the cheapest at $150, but it was my best friend for a year and a half. It was the only one that had the solid cones that I could find.

A tip with pumping is to remember that you will not get much milk at first. (Don't forget you don't pump the first 3 days, that is colostrum which the baby needs directly, it has all the antibodies in it.) You will know when your milk comes it it is very painful and your chest gets hard. At first if you get 1/4 of an ounce or so after a feeding you are doing well. Remember the baby will only drink 1-2 ounces at a time at first.

You also want to get a hand pump if you are pumping. This is something you can take with you easily so if you get engorged while out you can manually pump which is much quieter, and easier to carry. The $20 First Steps pump worked great for me. Again if you are larger make sure that the cones are solid not flexible!

If you pump you will want to get freezer bags as well. This is a MUCH cheaper way to store the milk than buying the containers that go with the pump. (I didn't find out about these until about 6 months in!)

You will also need bottles, make sure to get the right size nipples, if there is too much flow it will come out too fast and the baby can't drink it. Also if you are nursing you want the baby to still have to suck to get the milk out of the bottle. I would not worry about a bottle warmer personally. We used an old pot, a small one, that we just kept on the stove for when we wanted to make a bottle. It took the same amount of time, and was easier. When we were done we tossed it.

Diapers and wipes are a big one! If anyone asks what they can give you, say DIAPERS! You will use these like crazy! Babies poop and pee A LOT! We went through a large jumbo pack bought at Sam's at least every other week if not faster. I have found Huggies work well for boys, but Pampers were great for our daughter. If you get a bad batch, call and let the company know they will ask for the batch number and send you coupons for more.

Another thing would be Balmex (you don't need much of this, it goes a long way!) and soap. You want to stay away from anything with Sodium Laurel Sulfate, these have been proven to affect the baby (not really sure how, but I know it does).

Finally is that you need to have a large box of pads. This is something I did not know or realize, but you will bleed for up to 6 weeks after the baby is born. You can not use a tampon, so you will need pads and at first you want super absorbancy. (I am sorry if that sounds gross, but it is true and I really wish someone had told me prior to comming home!) If you try to exert yourself too much you will bleed longer. So be very careful with this.

A lot of the things above you can also get some from the hospital if you ask. While they will not provide you enough for a long period of time, you will get some extra and every little bit helps.

Towels and laundry detergent are a must. You will want to wash your clothes on a high setting until the child is at least 6 months or has quit throwing up. If you don't the smell does not come out! We learned to place towels on all the couches as well to catch the spills so they didn't smell.

These are the things that you NEED. A couple of things that are nice to have but not needed would be a mirror for the car. This can be placed on the back seat so you can see the baby while driving. A monitor for the bed room. We really didn't use this, but our house is small and even though she was tiny her lungs were big! A baby gym, the baby will spend a lot of time laying around we liked giving her something to look at. A baby bath this can be done in the sink if you can't afford one! Download some classical music from the internet, it helps the synapses in the baby's brain form and is free. A boppy is kind of nice too as they get bigger but again not needed.

Also use something like Hubpages to keep your sanity. Find something you can do while you are at home when the baby is sleeping to keep you in touch with the real world!

Best of luck and if you want to check out any of my other hubs I wrote a lot about bringing home our daughter. It was very rewarding but also very hard. At that time I didn't know about places like Hubpages and thought I was on my own and the only one who had felt overwhelmed.