One of the truths of becoming a new mum is that what you receive from family and friends might be beautifully wrapped and nice-looking, but most of the time it’s not practical, it’s not needed and it certainly doesn’t help any mum through the sleep-deprived tears at 2 am.

In the early stages, the best presents for new mums involve care and time. In “normal” circumstances that might involve dropping over a home-cooked meal, maybe helping with laundry, and even watching the baby while the mum takes a nap. Human contact and a little help go a long way when the new mum feels overwhelmed and sleep-deprived.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic is preventing us from doing so many things and being there for our loved ones is among the many on the list. This has forced us to start looking for new ways to spoil the new mums in our lives from a safe distance. Here are a few practical gift ideas that any new mum will really appreciate.

A Box Full of Love

If you want to welcome a friend into parenthood with a thoughtful gift, you can’t go wrong with something in the pampering realm. After all, every extra minute a new mum can snatch is best spent soaking in a bath, accompanied by a candle and a face mask. A gift box packed with gorgeous pampering items for the new mum to enjoy and relax is one of the best presents for new mums you can get.

Your box of love can include some of the following items

• Candle – a calming candle blend will be perfect for burning when the new mum wants to create a peaceful and calming atmosphere
• 100% Natural Bath Salts – to help the new mum heal and recover from birth or aching muscles
• Essential Oils – a de-stress blend of essential oils to help the new mom to take a moment for herself when life gets too chaotic
• Under Eye Treatment – to soothe the appearance of dark circles around the undereye
• Face Mask – to help her feel revitalized after all those sleepless nights and long days of mothering
• Calming tea – to help relax and calm her nervous system so she can properly unwind

If you don’t feel like shopping around for the items to put in your gift box, you can find many companies online that can take care of all the hard work for you. All you have to do is select the gift box you want and the company will wrap your gift, handwrite your selected card and send it to the recipient.

Carrier for Newborn Baby

Pushing around a stroller seems easy enough in theory, but in practice, it can be a little more difficult. Exploring the city with your little one is special, but trying to clamber onto tubes with a stroller can be a nightmare. A carrier for newborn baby allows mums to go places without having to push a stroller from one place to the next. Plus, it keeps the mum’s hands free and makes it easier to just get up and go when they want to run a quick errand.

Furthermore, studies have shown that carrying your baby close to you helps their development, both physically and emotionally. With a carrier for newborn baby, little ones get to discover the new world from the safety and comfort of their mum’s body. They feel the warmth of the mama, the gentle sound of her heartbeat and the comfort of hearing her voice and feeling her movement. During that bonding time, mums can also better respond to their baby’s cues and can learn to meet their needs. All this can help new mums feel more confident as they learn the ins and outs of parenting.

It’s also known that babies in carriers cry less. When babies spend less time crying, they, in turn, spend more time learning and interacting with their environment. They get to see what their parents see, hear what their parent hear or say, so they are overall more involved in their parent’s everyday lives. And it’s not only mums who get to bond with baby. It’s also a loving activity a day or partner can do with the baby any time of the day to soothe the child or just go on a coffee mission in the morning.

An Instant Pot

It’s true that baby clothes do make great gifts, but an instant pot can be a more practical alternative. When a baby arrives, free time becomes a precious commodity and it becomes easy to fall back to microwaveable meals or food delivery every night. But when you get tired of eating these meals and feel like making something for yourself that is tasty, fast and relatively easy to clean up, an instant pot is a great option. With these pots, cooking is much less daunting – simply prep the ingredients, pop them in the pot, close the lid and press the button. You can also get her a good cooking recipe book too for the ultimate experience!