5 Pregnancy Must-Haves You Might Not Have Thought About

Congratulations on your pregnancy! After you've made your initial booking in appointment with your midwife, it's time to think about what you're going to need for your pregnancy. Fuzzy pregnancy brain is a very real thing and can certainly hinder list writing!

So here is a list of 5 very practical, very useful pregnancy must-haves which you might not have thought about! Ps check out our printable pregnancy checklist HERE!

1. A good drinking bottle

When you're pregnant, it's recommended that you cut down on caffeine and drink a whopping 2 litres of water a day. This is so much easier if you have a good drinking bottle. By good, I mean one that you enjoy drinking from and want to carry around with you. The bottles with the timings written down the side are pretty useful for keeping me on track when I'm trying to get enough water in!

2. A hot water bottle

Such a simple thing, you probably already have one lying around in a cupboard somewhere! The aches and pains that come with stretching ligaments and carrying that extra weight do take a toll and relaxing with a hot water bottle on your back or ribs can be really useful, I use one almost every night during pregnancy!

3. Magnesium

Remember, when you're pregnant, your muscles are moving and stretching. The extra strain can be rather uncomfortable at times. Magnesium is great for relieving achey muscles and research shows that it can have other benefits in pregnancy such as reducing a number of pregnancy complications. There are different ways of incorporating more magnesium into your body including through diet or supplementation, through baths using epsom salt and in lotion form, applied to the skin.

4. A birthing ball

So you've probably heard about birthing balls but did you know they can be used throughout almost all of your pregnancy and even postpartum? For my last pregnancy, I blew up my birthing ball at around 28 weeks... and I could have used it earlier than that! Not only does it provide a comfier place to sit, it can help to strengthen your muscles, preparing you for birth. What's more, when baby arrives and wants to be bounced, you can just sit and gently bounce on the ball to take the weight off your feet!

5. Hand Sanitiser

It's good to be a little more aware of germs throughout pregnancy (you really want to avoid any extra illness if at all possible!) but there's another use for hand sanitiser. Many women find that smelling hand sanitiser from the bottle helps with symptoms of nausea. It's not exactly known why this works but for a couple of pounds, we think it's worth a try if you're suffering!

So, that's our list of 5 pregnancy must-haves you might not have thought about.

Did you know, we have our very own pregnancy checklist? It's minimalist, natural and has space to customise. Check it out in our Birth Affirmation and Checklist Bundle HERE!