Home Birth Checklist – 33 Must-haves for Your Home Birth Kit

If you’re planning a home birth, you’ll probably be asked to put together a home birth kit. Here’s a home birth checklist of everything you’ll need.

I t’s hard to believe our 37 week home visit is right around the corner! I’ve been busily putting together our home birth kit. Since some of you have asked, I thought I’d share just what I’m putting in the kit.

33 Must-have Supplies for Your Home Birth Kit - As you’re preparing, make sure you have the products on this home birth checklist, and you’ll have all the necessities for a fantastic natural childbirth. Includes essentials for water homebirth, too!

Most of these items you’ll probably be able to find by going on a little scavenger hunt around the house or by asking friends and family. I even had a friend offer to give me her old towels for my first birth!

Just about everything else in your home birth kit can be purchased inexpensively. Check with your midwife as to what she expects you to have as the list may vary a bit.

Contains affiliate links to some of my favorite homebirth supplies.

Home Birth Checklist

1. Large Mixing Bowl

2. Tube of Lanolin or Nipple Cream

3. Ear Bulb Syringe (new)

4. Thermometer

5. 2-3 Cotton Baby Hats (I got the ones in the picture on Etsy. So cute!)

6. Small Bottle of Oil

7. 2-3 Adult Diapers

8. Plastic Sheeting or Tarp

9. 6-12 Receiving Blankets

10. 6-8 Bath Towels & 6 Hand Towels

11. 2-6 Washcloths

12. Plastic Sheet, Water Proof Mattress Cover, or Shower Curtain

13. 1 Box of Tissues or Roll of Toilet Paper

14. Heating Pad or Hot Water Bottle

15. 1 Package Large Chux Pads/ Underpads

16. 2 Large Black Yard Waste Garbage Bags

17. Hand Mirror

18. 12 Large Super-Absorbent Sanitary Pads

19. 8+ Kitchen Size Garbage Bags

20. Flashlight

21. Lead-Free Hose (for water birth)

(not pictured)

22. 2 Sets of Sheets to fit the birth bed

23. Exercise Ball

24. Food for Mom

25. Hydrating Liquid  (I like coconut water)

26. Food for Midwives and Birth Team

27. Bendy Straws

28. Space Heater or Fan

29. 2 Tennis Balls

30. Bright Portable Light

31. Several Bottles of Hydrogen Peroxide

32. 1-3 Ice Packs

33. Acetaminophen and/or Ibuprofen

What was the most important item on your home birth kit checklist? 

shannon Clark, LIFE & FINANCIAL Coach

As a mom, I know what it's like to feel exhausted, overwhelmed by life, and inadequate to meet my children's needs. But I also know you don't have to stay there.

As an author and coach, I've had the joy of encouraging more than 9.1 million moms to find forward motion with their faith, family, and finances — without the frenzy.

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26 thoughts on “Home Birth Checklist – 33 Must-haves for Your Home Birth Kit”

  1. Thanks for the list! Ifam considering a homebirth for the next child (if there will be one).

    Not to sound vain, but for the second birth, I made sure that I oacked a brush, hair ties, and a make up bag…but it helped me be in a much better mood.

    For the hosptial bag, I also packed puzzle books and books to read because I barely slept and was very sick of tv from the first time around.

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  2. I think the birthing tub was the most important thing I had! what a difference the water made for pain management!! If I’d had nothing else, I would have been ok I think!

    My midwives also suggested having hyrdogen peroxide on hand, which they used to clean up the few drips of blood on my carpet before they left, bless their hearts.

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    • Oh yes! We will definitely have one of those! I can’t believe we pick it up next week!! I thought it was funny our midwife suggested having several bottles of hydrogen peroxide. Last time there was literally one tiny spot of blood on the carpet and it did come right up. Midwives are seriously so amazing and give so much of themselves to help women.

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    • Congratulations! Hope everything goes well for you! We got a crash course in packing hospital bags a few weeks ago with our little scare. It was hard to imagine every little thing I might need while away from home. In the end though I realized there was nothing we couldn’t buy or ask someone to pick up for us from home if we really needed to.

      Reply
  3. What a great list! I didn’t have a home birth, but I really wanted to with my first child. I ended up honoring the wishes of my hubby and went the traditional route, in the hospital, but I think it’s home births are wonderful – wish a checklist like this had been around when I was contemplating it!

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    • I’m afraid my poor hubby didn’t have much of a choice, but he did get on board pretty quickly thank goodness! The idea really does take some getting used to. After our first home birth, I don’t think either of us can imagine doing it any other way though.

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  4. I had a home birth with my son last October. I was very adamant that my mother stop on her way to our house to get some food for the midwives. My mom only lives about an hour away but by the time she got to my house, I had already had the baby. So, me trying so hard to get everything on a list just like this one didn’t really work :) My midwife had a specific birth kit on http://www.radiantbelly.com/ which has a lot of supplies you might need including homeopathic arnica which I thought was helpful for healing after the birth.

    Good luck mama!

    Reply
    • Oh that is so funny! I hope you weren’t too disappointed not to have your mom there, but at least the midwives were able to make it in time. That sounds like a fast labor!

      Thanks for reminding me. I just picked up some Arnica for my home birth kit this afternoon. I’m also getting Phytolacca and Cramp Bark.

      Reply
  5. I had a home water birth with my son last October.

    I had a list just like this one and was very adamant that my mother stop on her way to my house and pick up some food for my midwives. My mom only lives an hour away but by the time she stopped and got food and made it to my house, the baby was born.

    It is hard to tell what will be necessary for your exact situation but it is better to be over prepared than under prepared I guess.

    My midwife had a specific birth kit she wanted me to buy on http://www.radiantbelly.com/ They have a lot of the supplies you listed as well as homeopathic arnica which I used for healing after the birth.

    Good luck mama, you seem like you have it together and have done your research :)

    Reply
  6. What a great list! Thank you! My sister is planning a home birth for next month and I’ll be sharing your blog with her :)

    I am a Birth Photographer in Spokane [www.laurafifieldphotography.com] and will be documenting her home birth….Birth is such an exciting & miraculous event to witness!

    Laura

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  7. As a midwife, I don’t use bulb syringes at birth. They are not as effective as a DeeLee suction catheter which I carry in my midwifery supplies. It is old school to think that babies cannot clear their own airways after birth.

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    • Thanks for sharing the great info and experience Vickie!! I definitely agree, babies should be allowed to clear their own airways. I did like the “snot sucker” for my little ones as babies, not for birth though.

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  8. Old table clothes the kind with flannel on one side and waterproof material on the other worked excellent for my home birth! I ended up having my son in my bedroom where we have carpet. My midwife suggested to get them and it worked perfect! After the mess we just picked them up and tossed them! We had an extra one we left on the carpet for about a week after the birth just to make sure nothing got on our new carpet!

    Reply
  9. Awesome list! I would add, Dermaplast (the blue bottle), tucks pads, flushable wet wipes, peri-bottle, Depends (actually, I think these are already on the list, but seriously, get them!), and “padsicles” (or Perineal Cold Packs, which you can find online). ABSOLUTE MUST HAVES for me, whether I’m in the hospital or at home.

    As for food for the birth team, I made a variety of muffins and froze them a few weeks before my homebirth. I took them out to thaw when my contractions started. Of course, this probably wouldn’t work if you had a short labor, but it wasn’t my first baby, so I knew I’d have some time. :-D I’ll do the same thing this time, plus have my husband pick up a fruit and veggie tray or something. The muffins were really great to have after I gave birth, too. I’m always starving afterwards, so it was nice to have a filling snack ready in the middle of the night.

    Also, a friend of mine gave me a really great labor-aid recipe and we made a big batch. I put half in a jar in the fridge and froze the other half in cubes. I ended up mostly using the frozen stuff. It was so refreshing! That and honey sticks were my go-to when labor really got going.

    Painters plastic works really great for lining the bed, and the package I got had enough extra to cover the carpet on one side of my bed and leading into the bathroom. One sheet was the perfect size to fit over my king sized bed.

    I have a couple older boys that occasionally wet to bed, and I recently discovered that they make bed pads (the same size as chux pads) with adhesive on the corners, so they don’t slip around. I wish I’d known about them before my last homebirth. Definitely getting some for this time around, so I can sleep on one without having it shift around on me. Not that I really have to worry about leakage, because Depends really are amazing, but it is nice to have it there just in case.

    Reply

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