Preparing for Baby: The Honest Checklist Every Mum-to-Be Needs
Somewhere around week 30, the nesting kicks in and the lists start multiplying. There’s the hospital bag list. The nursery list. The “things to do before baby” list. Then a list of all the lists. (We see you.)
Here’s an honest preparing for baby checklist — the practical bits you’ll genuinely use, plus the one thing most checklists leave off the page. Because honestly, you have enough to think about with the actual baby — without adding “keep on top of the housework” to the list.
1. The Hospital Bag — only the bits that earn their place
Hospital bag lists online seem to assume you’re packing for a fortnight in the Maldives. You’re not. You’re going to a hospital, probably for a few days, and the bits you’ll genuinely reach for are simpler than the lists suggest.
For you
• Comfortable PJs that open at the front — useful whether you’re feeding or not
• Slippers with grip (hospital floors are not your friend)
• Lip balm — hospitals are dehydrating, trust this one
• A long phone charger cable, longer than seems reasonable
• Snacks. Real ones. The kind that taste good at 2am.
• A going-home outfit with no buttons and no waistband
For baby
• Newborn nappies (hospitals usually provide some, but bring your own)
• Two swaddles
• Two going-home outfits — one newborn, one 0000 (you won’t know which fits until they arrive)
• A blanket for the car-seat ride home
The paperwork
• Medicare card
• Hospital admission documents
• Birth plan if you have one — and absolutely no judgement if you don’t
2. The Nursery — simpler than Pinterest will tell you
You don’t need a feature wall. You need a safe place for baby to sleep, somewhere to change them, and a system for the surprising amount of laundry that’s about to enter your life.
• A safe sleeping space — bassinet or cot with a fitted sheet and a sleeping bag (Red Nose has guidance worth reading)
• A change setup — a change table, or a change mat on top of a dresser; both work fine
• Storage for the clothes they’ll outgrow in a fortnight (true story)
• A nightlight that gives just enough light to see by, without fully waking everyone at 3am
• A laundry basket — specifically for the nursery. You’ll thank yourself.
3. Stocking the House — pantry, freezer, and the basics
The first six weeks aren’t the time for a gourmet pivot. They’re the time for warm, easy food that requires no thinking.
• Newborn nappies and wipes (fewer newborn nappies than you’d think — they grow fast — and more wipes than you’d think)
• Maternity pads, breast pads, and a couple of comfortable nursing bras
• 2–3 weeks of freezer meals — curries, casseroles, soups, anything you can heat one-handed
• Pantry staples — pasta, rice, tinned tomatoes, eggs, bread for the freezer
• Paracetamol and the boring household basics, restocked
4. Getting the Home Ready — the part most checklists skip
Here’s something most checklists don’t say out loud: the early weeks aren’t about keeping a perfect house. They’re about keeping yourself rested and your baby fed — and that takes everything you’ve got. So one of the kindest things you can do for future-you is take the home help off the list before it ever lands there.
Honestly, you have enough to think about with feeding, recovery, sleep, and learning a whole new little human — without the housework being one more thing you carry.
There are two ways Family Clean can lift this off your shoulders, depending on the kind of help that suits you and your home.
Home Assistant — home help that learns your newborn rhythm
In the early weeks with a baby, what you need from home help is different from what you might have needed before. You need someone who learns the new shape of your house — the nap windows, the sterilising routine, where the burp cloths live, which load of washing is which — and quietly keeps things moving while you’re focused on feeding, recovery, and a small human who keeps changing shape.
A Home Assistant is matched to your household specifically. Not a rotating cleaner with a generic checklist — a person who learns how your home runs now, with a newborn in it. In practice, that looks like the laundry mountain getting folded, the kitchen staying clear enough to sterilise in, the bed linen turned over before you’ve had a chance to think about it — the slow, invisible work of running a household, handled while you do the work only you can do.
Barefoot Basics — the two jobs that get harder with a newborn
There are two jobs in the house that get harder, not easier, when there’s a baby in it: the bathrooms and the floors.
The bathrooms, because you’re suddenly using them more than ever — postpartum recovery, the bath rotation, the bottle-and-pump handwash basin that never quite empties. The floors, because you’ll spend more time down there than you have in years: feeding, settling, then baby on the playmat, then crawling. They’re also the two jobs that ask the most of a body still finding its feet again.
Barefoot Basics takes those two off the list. Not a full home clean — just the bathrooms and the floors, done properly, on a rhythm that suits you and this life season. Whether or not you bring in additional home help, having those two handled is a quiet, meaningful gift to yourself in the early weeks.
5. The “Before Baby” To-Do List — small jobs that pay off
A handful of admin tasks worth knocking off in the third trimester:
• Install the car seat — and have the installation checked at a baby shop or your state’s motoring body (RACQ, NRMA, RACV, RAA, etc.)
• Add baby to your private health cover, if applicable (usually within a month of birth)
• Pre-register for Medicare and Centrelink — you can do most of this online before baby arrives
• Charge everything that takes a battery
• Wash the newborn clothes you’ve kept (sensitive-skin detergent if you’re using one)
• Do one big tidy-and-clean of the house
• Stock the freezer
Heads up – a Home Assistant can help with the last 3 things on the list!
6. Things You Don’t Need to Figure Out Yet
If anyone — including yourself — is putting pressure on you to have all of this sorted before baby arrives, you don’t.
• What kind of parent you’ll be (no one knows in advance)
• Whether you’ll breastfeed, bottle-feed, or both (you’ll work it out together)
• Which baby gear is “best” (the answer keeps changing anyway)
• How you’ll balance work and baby (one thing at a time)
• Whether the nursery is Pinterest-ready (the baby will not notice)
7. FAQ — the questions worth asking
When should I start preparing for baby?
Most mums start the practical preparation around weeks 28–32. Hospital bag packed by week 36. Freezer meals stockpiled from week 32 onward. If you’re thinking about home help, the third trimester is the right time to lock it in so it’s in place when you arrive home.
What should I pack in my hospital bag?
Less than the internet suggests. Comfortable front-opening PJs, slippers with grip, lip balm, a long phone charger, real snacks, a button-free going-home outfit, newborn nappies, two swaddles, two going-home outfits in different sizes, a car-seat blanket, and your Medicare card and admission paperwork. (See Section 1 for the full list.)
How many newborn nappies do I really need?
Fewer than the lists tell you. Newborns can move out of size 1 within two to three weeks, so don’t bulk-buy newborn nappies before baby arrives. One pack to start, then size up as you go. Wipes, on the other hand — buy plenty.
How does Family Clean’s Home Assistant matching work?
You tell us about your home, your schedule, and what you need help with. We match you with a Home Assistant who fits — someone vetted, police-checked, and insured. Family Clean has been matching households since 1994. 800+ Google Reviews at 4.8 stars.
What’s the difference between a Home Assistant and Barefoot Basics?
A Home Assistant is personalised, ongoing home help — cleaning, housekeeping, laundry, general home support, all matched to your specific household. Barefoot Basics is a different kind of service, focused on two high-impact tasks: the bathrooms and the floors. Different shapes of help, depending on what your home needs.
If you’re putting your before-baby plan together
If the home-help piece feels missing from your checklist — it probably is. You don’t need to add another tab to your list. You just need someone who already knows what a home with a newborn in it needs.
Read about how the Home Assistant matching works, take a look at Barefoot Basics for your bathrooms and floors, or get in touch and tell us a bit about your home. We’ll take it from there.
You don’t get a medal for doing it all. You get a tired body and a beautiful baby. Take the help.
Family Clean is available in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra.