Newborn checklist: everything to have ready before baby arrives
What you actually need, organized by category. Check items off, add your own, come back any time.
First baby and no idea where to start? This newborn checklist covers what should be ready before the birth: the hospital bag, the nursery, the car seat, feeding gear, the paperwork nobody warns you about, and postpartum care for mom.
It is written for first-time parents around what babies actually use in the first months — not a 400-item shopping list. Your checkmarks save automatically in your browser, so you can stop and pick it back up without losing anything.
A good time to start is around month six. That leaves room to compare car seats properly, to get the insurance and leave paperwork moving, and to reach the due date without a last-minute scramble.
When to start?
Month 5 – 6
Pick the hospital, confirm it is in-network, sign up for a birth class, choose a pediatrician, start the nursery.
Month 7 – 8
Car seat installed, baby clothes and feeding gear, bath and diapering supplies, leave paperwork with HR.
Month 9
Hospital bag by the door, diapers stocked in size 1, key numbers saved, freezer filled.
Learn more:Hospital bag: the complete checklist
Learn more:Newborn sleep: what you really need
Learn more:How to choose a car seat
Learn more:Breastfeeding: what you really need
Learn more:Newborn bath: baby tub or shower?Newborn skin: how to take care of itDiaper rash: causes and remediesBaby thermometers: which kind to buy
Practical tips from midwives
- 1Install the car seat weeks early, not the night before. Get the install checked by a certified child passenger safety technician while there is still time to fix it — the hospital will not let you leave without one, and rear-facing base angles are fiddly.
- 2Add the baby to your health insurance right away. Having a baby opens a special enrollment period, and HealthCare.gov says coverage can start the day of the birth even if you enroll up to 60 days afterward — but you do have to enroll. Employer plans run their own deadlines, so ask HR before the due date.
- 3Pack the hospital bag by the end of month 8 and leave it by the door. Tape the contents list to the outside so your partner can find things without calling you.
- 4Do not buy many newborn-size clothes. Babies grow out of that size in weeks, and some skip it. Put the volume into 3–6 months instead.
- 5Save the numbers before you need them: pediatrician, OB or midwife, hospital labor and delivery, 24-hour pharmacy. In active labor nobody wants to be scrolling contacts.
- 6Fill the freezer in the last few weeks. Cooking is the first thing that disappears from your life once you are home.
One list, different stores
A baby registry across three stores
Start with what you still need: skip anything you already have or plan to borrow. Add your chosen gifts to your registry; checklist selections are not transferred automatically.
Diapers
Target
Sleep sack
Etsy
Stroller
Amazon
Illustrative gifts and stores, not product recommendations or store partnerships.
Family in the US and Europe?
Share the same registry and let guests choose their interface language from eight options. For each gift, choose a store that delivers to the recipient and check its shipping, returns and payment terms.
The registry displays amounts in the currency you select; it does not convert currencies or arrange international shipping. Purchases and money transfers take place outside BabyWish.