With over two decades of experience of pregnancy and birth, and more than 650,000 users every month, Emma’s Diary, the essential pregnancy support resource has been able to look back at key trends to compare the contents of the modern day hospital bag compared with that of 20 years ago and the contrasts are remarkable.
No need to carry a camera
One of the big differences is that we no longer need to carry a camera in our hospital bag today, providing we have our phone and charger, most cameras on mobile phones are so good today that we don’t need both. Equally, the convenience of reading a book on our Kindle or tablet eliminates the need for a physical book and doubles up as a way to communicate with family and friends online.
Clean eating trend
The trend for clean eating has also seen the choice of snacks and drinks change dramatically over the years, with high-energy drinks, fresh smoothies and snacks such as vegetable crisps and protein bars being popular in 2017.
CDs replaced with streaming music on our devices
The devices we use to listen to music (a popular past time for women in labour) have also changed beyond all recognition as we have moved from portable CD players (and the need to carry CDs in our hospital bags) to streaming music on our mobile phones and tablets. Although our tastes in music may have evolved, using music to help soothe and relax us during labour is still an important element.
Some things never change
We still need disposable pants and they still look as ghastly as they always did! Baby clothes, mitts, maternity pads, nursing bras, slippers, toiletries, tissues and baby wipes are still very much part of the modern day hospital bag.
According to Emma’s Diary – here are its top 15 contents for mums to be hospital bags from 2017 and 1997 (20 years ago).
2017 Mum’s Hospital Bag Contents:
- Mobile 4G smartphone/iPhone
- iPad/tablet
- Music downloaded to your phone and earphones (Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like and The Weekend’s Starboy have been chart toppers this year)
- Lip balm (such as Burt’s Bees)
- Snacks and drinks (water, smoothie, isotonic drink, vegetable crisps)
- Kindle (Into the Water and Caravel are popular books this year)
- Baby wipes
- Birth ball
- TENS machine
- Slippers, socks, nightwear
- Maternity Pads
- Baby clothes and nappies
- Nursing bras
- Disposable pants
- Toiletries and hair brush/clips
1997 Mum’s Hospital Bag Contents:
- Portable CD player (or the minidisc player launched in 1992 for those gadget lovers!)
- CDs/Mini discs – (Blur’s Beetlebum, No Doubt’s Don’t Speak and Spice Girls’ Spice up your Life were all chart toppers this year!)
- Paperback book (Cold Mountain and Harry Potter were popular
- Mobile phone (probably a Nokia 6110 or similar)
- Camera (film, polaroid or first digital if you were into gadgets)
- Snacks and drinks (water, Orbitz drink, bag of Doritos 3D)
- Lip balm (such as Nivia)
- Tissues/cotton wool balls
- Slippers, socks, nightwear
- Maternity pads
- Baby clothes and nappies
- Nursing bras
- Disposable pants
- Toiletries and hair brush/clips
- Address book (with contact numbers)
Mum of two and Marketing Director at Emma’s Diary, Faye Mingo commented: “It’s been great fun looking back at the change in contents of the hospital back of 1997 compared with today. So much has changed and yet so much is still relevant today. What is probably the most astonishing is the change in the way we communicate and connect with others and how that has had a direct impact on what we now take into hospital, whether that’s related to the music we listen to, the books we read or how we converse with others – times change!”