Mums reveal the best gifts they received when their baby was born
What do mums really want as a gift when they’ve just given birth? We have the answers!
What do mums really want?
A very kind best friend took to popular forum Mumsnet recently to canvas opinion on what mums truly want after they’ve had a baby.
“My best friend has given birth to a lovely little girl today and I wanted to buy her something to say congratulations,” she wrote.
“I don’t have children and am aware that she is likely to be inundated with bunches of flowers. I’d like to buy her something luxurious for her, and something for baby, but would like to give her something that she’d actually really like. What were the best presents that people bought for you? What do people who just had a baby really want – apart from sleep?”
Of course, the good folk of Mumsnet were only too happy to share tips and their own experiences. They had heaps of great ideas and we think that there is some brilliant inspiration among them. Some of our favourites included …
Bath bliss
“My best present when I had [my daughter] was a set of bubble baths,” one mum wrote. “My boobs were too sore to have water beating down on them in a shower and I took lots of soothing baths.”
“Someone bought me an electric oil burner with some lavender oil which was so soothing,” another mum posted.
“I really liked my soothing bath stuff, bath milk was lovely (nice and healing) and I also got given some stretch mark cream, healing mummy and baby balm, and baby massage oil which are all really nice,” someone else commented.
Handy helpers
But it wasn’t all about sweet-smelling bath products when it came to pampering. HELP was high on the list, too.
“A cleaner for 6 weeks,” was one mum’s best gift from her brother. “Very, very thoughtful and practical.”
“The very best best thing I got was 3 days of SLEEP while my husband took over baby duty so I could recover once we got home from the hospital,” one mum recalled.
Binge bonanza
Let’s face it, there’s a lot of sitting around, babe in arms, with a newborn. Which means, time to catch up some of those brilliant TV shows and books you’ve been dying to check out!
“Amazon vouchers for e-books and DVD box sets,” someone else suggested. “I found both invaluable during long broken nights. Another new mum and I used to joke that our babies would have some sort of Pavlovian response to The West Wing theme tune, as we watched so much of it during night feeds.”
Foodie delights
Lots of mums highlighted how busy the days, weeks and months after a baby’s arrival can be and delicious gifts were the way to their heart.
“Home cooked meals (courtesy of my mum) were greatly appreciated,” a mum confided. “She brought them round then buggered off (or stayed and held baby if he was awake and needed attention while we ate). That was great. Also [my husband’s] niece went to the supermarket for us to save us having to go for a big shop, which was very thoughtful of her.”
Another mum said she’d experienced similar, with a yummy twist:
“One of my friends gave me a grocery shop but it was full of things I hadn’t been able to eat and drink while pregnant. It was bliss – champagne, pate, brie etc!” she wrote.
“Best gift for me was a cheese hamper!” another mum agreed. “I spent my whole pregnancy complaining about all the cheeses I couldn’t have so when I gave birth my boss (!) sent me an amazing cheese hamper – it was highly appreciated!”
But sometimes it’s not even luxuries that hit the spot. Sometimes the simple things are what matter most. One woman said her dear friend had a baby and she knew exactly what would be appreciated.
“I went round there at lunchtime and took with me freshly made healthy sandwiches from a local sandwich shop. I even got a jam one for her older daughter. Her and her husband thought it was the nicest thing.”
For the littlies
Of course, not all postpartum gifts are for mums and dads. Sometimes babies get a little sugar too!
“My sister-in-law brought round a small storage box which matched our living room decor, with changing mat, wipes, pack of nappies etc so I could have a mini-changing station downstairs,” one mum shared. “It was fantastic and we still use it 5 months later so we don’t have to run up and down to DD’s changing table every time she needs changing. Possibly that’s because we’re quite lazy (!!) but it was one of the most thoughtful gifts we received.”
Others suggested more high-quality bath products for mum and baby, but we loved a particularly unusual and long-lasting idea:
“My friend gave me an apple tree on the birth of each of my children. Now strong and sturdy, they started to produce fruit when the kids were toddlers and they loved picking the apples – we still get hundreds of fruit in autumn. The kids love having their own tree – they have been lovely gifts which still go on giving many years later.”
We told you these parents had some brilliant baby and mum gift ideas!
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