Home Birth Equipment List

This page is intended as a 'shopping list' for you to tick off items which you may want to have ready for a home birth. The items listed are just suggestions, taken mainly from the page on Practical Preparation for Home Birth - it is certainly not necessary to have most of them. Complementary therapies are mentioned because some women find them helpful, but they are not necessarily effective or right for everyone, and I do not intend to endorse them by listing them here. Delete those you don't fancy.

Essential Items

These can be put in an emergency bag, if you decide to pack one. Otherwise it might help to have them all in one place so your birth partner can find them for you.

• Old or disposable pants/knickers
• Toothbrush and toothpaste
• Clean clothes
• Plastic bag to put your dirty clothes in, if you transfer to hospital.
• Maternity sanitary pads
• T-shirt or nightdress
• Phonecard
• Phone numbers of people to call after the birth
• Cash
• Baby clothes and receiving blanket
• Newborn nappies
• Cartons of juice/drink
• Glucose tablets or other food.
• Camera and film
• Flannel or sponge for mopping mother's brow

General:

• Reference books to consult in labour, eg New Active Birth by Janet Balaskas, Home Birth by Sheila Kitzinger.
  
• Music:
  • Stereo with batteries/available power supply
  • CDs or tapes
  • Playlist with directions for birth partner
  
  
• Candles for decoration, scent or 'atmosphere'.
  
• Birth ball - can be ordered from the Active Birth Centre. See Birth Balls article on the MomCare website for more ideas on the use of these before and during labour.
  
• Birth stool - see www.birthwise.co.uk to hire in the UK, or buy cheaply in the USA from www.birthsupplies.com/
  
• Birth Pool:
  • The pool itself! See Waterbirth for suppliers in the UK.
  • Hose long enough to reach taps
  • Adaptors to fit your taps
  • Tarpaulin to go under and around pool
  • Towels
  • Buckets
  
  
• Light food and drink for labour
  
• Food and drink for birth partner, midwives, other children
  
• Bendy straws and/or spillproof drinking cup/bottle
  
• Hot compresses, hot water bottles, or DIY heat packs
  
• Tarpaulin, plastic sheeting, old sheets etc.. Shower curtains make good splashproof surfaces for giving birth.
  
• Hydrogen Peroxide, to remove any bloodstains from carpets. Not that you are likely to get much mess anyway.
  
• Biological washing powder - with stain-digesting enzymes, even if you normally use the ultra-gentle, ultra-green non-bio versions. To remove any stains from clothing, towels etc..
  
• Dustbin bags for waste disposal
  
• Hand mirror for watching crowning, if you fancy it.
  
• Gift for older children from new baby
  

Complementary Therapies, if they appeal to you:

• Aromatherapy:
  • Essential oils, eg Clary Sage, Jasmine, Rose, Lavender, Frankincense, Tangerine or Bergamot are commonly used in labour.
  • Burner for aromatherapy oils
  • Candle to go in the burner
  • Base oil for massage
  
  
• Herbal remedies if you want to use them, eg Blue Cohosh to strengthen contractions.
  
• Homoeopathic remedies if they appeal, eg 'Natural Healing for Women' by Susan Curtis and Romy Fraser, of Neal's Yard Remedies, recommends:
  • Caulophyllum 30 or 200 (homoeopathic version of Blue Cohosh) to strengthen contractions,
  • Aconite 30 or 200 if mother is fearful or anxious
  • Carbo Veg 30 or 200 for exhaustion
  • Pulsatilla 30 or 200 for an irritable or weepy mother with weak contractions.
  
  
• Phone numbers of any therapists you may want to contact.
  
• Accupressure bands for nausea
  
• TENS machine with batteries
  

More suggestions from midwife Mary Cronk are on a separate page, together with a list of the equipment which Mary takes to births.

There is a UK company selling boxed sets for home birth - see www.homebirthkits.com/

You might also find the pages on Practical Preparation for Home Birth, Home Birth Plans and Antenatal Preparation for Home Birth interesting.

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This page updated 28 April 2000.

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