OB "Freebies"

I worked in OB years ago but we had little knit caps or booties that were made and donated by elderly volunteers and given to each newborn. There were specific beautiful little quilts that were also hand made and wrapped around the stillbirths and then sent home with the parent(s). Our handouts were differentiated between breast and bottle moms. The lactation consultant was instrumental in putting together that kit and it included the contact number for those folks who could help if the mom was having trouble in the home.

I breastfed my kids, and they had different bags depending on bottle or breast. Mine had a hand pump, breast pads, diaper/wipe convenience packs with a coupon, and a nursing gown. I don't know what the formula ones had.

We do the diaper bag thing too, a boppy, and 2 first year golden books as "freebies"

A Boppy? Wow! Those are about $25 apiece. That's a really generous and useful gift. Do you get some kind of volume discount on them? Would love to find a way to give these to new moms.

We get them for about $23 a piece and that is with our name screen printed on each one. We do find that people refuse them b/c they got one as a baby shower gift or it is not their first baby and they have kept a previous one. In that case we give them a light-weight robe and slipper set.

Ducknurse I need to know where you are getting the boppies from , I am on the committee to review what gifts we are giving our patients. please let me know. thanks

we got these educational DVDs for our expectant clients in my childbirth class:

The Best for Baby

www.4baby.com

Yea, there are lots of ads in there but this information is way beyond useful and easy to digest for new and expectant parents.

My local hospital gives away a generic gift bag with the usual suspects (baby lap shirt, blanket, baby hair brush, coupons, newborn care info, etc). Breastfeeding mothers can also get free breastfeeding info and a manual breastpump. My local hospital is also active in the "ban the bags" movement.


I just wanted to chime in here and say that formula itself isn't unethical. Research has shown that formula gift bags undermine breastfeeding in a big way and that is part of the reason why many experts say that formula gift bags are unethical. I hope that helps!

Thanks ducknurse

I work at a "baby friendly" hospital so we aren't allowed to give away anything that endorses a formula company....so no nifty bags filled with formula. We used to give away cakes (usually came with their celebratory dinner for two) but found that nobody was eating them (they were made by a local company but were super sweet). So, we now do the spoons with engraving, some breast milk storage bags, breast pads, coupons, and such. We do promo type things at times (tickets to ball games, bibs, etc) but not all the time. FWIW, when I had my first, I got a lovely "breastfeeding support kit" from my hospital, that included a formula diaper bag and two containers of formula, lol. Didn't find that very supportive though, rofl....