7 Practical Gifts to Give New Parents

New parents are overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for a newborn baby. They are tired and can always use gifts to help them practice good self-care, and make life with a baby easier. In this article, we suggest seven practical gifts to give new parents.

What is a Good Gift for Parents?
A push gift is a thoughtful idea. However, a Today Parents survey of almost 8,000 parents, both moms and dads, found that 45 percent were not fans of push presents. Only 28 percent loved the idea of a push present. As push presents for dads become popular, it is good to keep in mind what new parents really need. Many gifts for a new mom also make great practical gifts for dad.

And what do new parents need? A new parent is someone who has little time to go shopping or take care of themselves. Their newborn baby keeps them up at night they're simply exhausted. They are adjusting to life with a newborn. So, what they need are gifts that help them practice self-care, including eating and getting enough hydration, and anything to make life just a little bit easier to care for a tiny human.

7 Practical Gifts for New Parents
You can spoil and pamper new parents with practical gifts, which shows them that they matter to you. While new gifts for parents tend to focus on the baby, in this guide we focus on the new parents who need all the support and love they can get.

Self-care Gifts

Self-care is defined as “taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health,” according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Self-care brings numerous benefits, including helping manage stress and increasing energy, which are two things new parents need.

Since new parents tend to overlook their own needs to meet the needs of their baby, giving a gift that helps them take care of themselves is an invaluable gift. Even small acts of self-care can make a big difference, and these self-care gift ideas focus on things that help new parents get enough nutrition, hydration, calmness, and feel comfortable.

Here are some self-care gift ideas for new parents:

1. Food Delivery
Proper nutrition is important for anyone, but it is particularly important for new mothers. Eating healthy foods helps a new mother recover from childbirth, and if she is breastfeeding, proper nutrition will help produce breast milk, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Mothers who are nursing need around 500 extra calories every day. Eating a well-balanced diet gives a new mother and her baby “the best chance of staying happy and healthy,” as Abbot recommends.

It is hard for new parents to cook because finding the time (or energy) to prepare a meal with a newborn baby is difficult. Getting them a subscription to a meal delivery service helps them eat healthy food. There are many meal delivery services out there to choose from, so pick the one that you think is best for new parents.

2. Subscriptions
“Mindful parenting is a lifelong practice,” said Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Starting a mindfulness practice will be helpful for new parents, as mindfulness has numerous benefits, including better sleep, reduced stress, and increased energy levels. Those are all things new parents need, but as the Centre for Mindfulness puts it, adding something new to their routine is overwhelming to new parents. That is where app subscriptions to mindfulness-based apps come in handy. There are numerous ones out there that offer guided meditations and daily inspiration. Giving new parents a subscription to one of those apps is a gift that keeps on giving.

There are other subscriptions you can give to new parents, including:

• DYPER subscription. With a DYPER subscription, diapers are delivered to them, saving them the headache of buying diapers.

• With a new baby, going to the gym is hard. A subscription to an app such as MyFitnessPal helps new parents work out at home.

• Audible allows busy new parents to enjoy books.

• Music app subscriptions such as Amazon Music or Spotify allow new parents to chill out with their favorite tunes.

3. Pressure Cooker
A pressure cooker is a great gift for new parents because it is so versatile. Here are some of the ways that new parents can use a pressure cooker:

• They can sterilize baby bottles. Parents have to spend so much of their time sterilizing bottles and pacifiers. A pressure cooker can sterilize quickly and parents can throw the bottles and pacifiers into it while the baby is sleeping.

• They can quickly cook baby food. Since a pressure cooker can cook baby food in minutes, it makes it easy for parents to make food for their baby.

• They can quickly cook themselves a soup, stew, or even a turkey breast.

4. Comfortable Clothes
After a woman gives birth, her body is in transition. She is healing and needs comfortable clothes that can accommodate her body’s changing shape. What she needs are postpartum clothes. Here are gift ideas for a mother who just gave birth:

• Loose sweatpants or lounge pants
• Leggings
• Oversize t-shirts
• Robes
• Cute pajamas
• Loose dresses
• Loose-fitting/draped cardigans

5. Reusable Water Bottle
Staying hydrated is always important, but when you are caring for a newborn baby it can be hard to remember to drink enough water. That’s where a reusable water bottle that keeps water cold comes in.

Gifts to Make Life Easier
A gift that makes life easier for parents is a gift that helps the baby because calmer parents mean a calmer baby. Babies pick up on emotional cues from their caregivers, from the moment they are brought home from the hospital. “Even very young infants look to caregivers to determine how to react to a given situation,” said Jennifer E. Lansford, Ph.D., a professor with the Social Science Research Institute and the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Here are two gift ideas to make life easier for new parents:

6. White Noise Machine
Newborn babies like white noise, and the reason why is that they are used to the noise. A womb is a noisy place. They hear the mother’s heartbeat, the sound of the blood rushing in the mother’s body, and the rhythm of every breath the mother takes. A white noise machine makes them feel comfortable because it is familiar.

When you look for a white noise machine, keep in mind that the American Academy of Pediatrics warned against a few white noise machines because anything higher than 50 decibels could damage a baby’s hearing.

7. Insulated Coffee Mug
Coffee is something many people reach for when they are tired. When you are caring for a newborn, it’s easy for your cup of coffee to become cold before you can finish it. A gift of an insulated coffee mug will help the parents drink hot coffee. You might also consider giving them a coffee gift subscription so coffee is delivered to their house.

Giving a practical gift is a gift in itself

When you give new parents a practical gift, you give a gift that says, “I care about you and your well-being.” A practical gift helps them adjust to life as a parent and shows them that you are there for them during this new phase in their life.