We have planned hospital birth, and this is the first time we will buy kraampakket (our insurance doesn't cover it). The kraamzorg lady gave us a list, but we hardly have any clue what all those things are and where to get them. Please share your experience/recommendation on which kraampakket is good and how to go about it. thanks a lot,
I stopped at 'insurance doesn't cover it'. I don't know what a kraampakket is - but I do know that all women outside the Netherlands - and their babies (so 99.9%) - survive without one.
Is it a list of the items you need for a newborn?
As an older mother, I tend to avoid pre-ordained lists given by schools as 'not neccesary but nice to have'. Yesterday, this common sense helped me avoid (you won't believe it but it's true) over €70 in Dutch-English, English-Dutch, Dutch-German, German-Dutch, Dutch-Spanish, Spanish Dutch dictionaries.... and that was just for 1 of my children! Experience has taught me most of these are unnecessary, and I imagine the kraampakket is too.
I think a packet of nappies, cleaning wipes and liquid babybath-soap/shampoo, 7 vests, 7 baby-grows, towels and cleaning-items are sufficient for a start - and bottles/steriliser/dettol, if Mrs sps chooses not to breastfeed. Socks and a cotton hat to protect the baby (heatloss) and sheets/blankets for the baby bed. Baby won't be going out for a couple of weeks? (things change, perhaps this is recommended now) and so a pram/buggy is nice but not initially vital. I'm sure Mrs sps can find a list on an Indian or English website of necessary items. I'm sorry - I'm too old now to have babies 
, and too young to be a grandmother 
so my memory isn't the best.
If your wife is on maternity leave from work and has access to the internet at home, then ask her to research the items on the kraam list(s). One or two items might be cheaper on the lists, but the majority will be MUCH cheaper to buy yourselves. And there are many online websites to get quotes from. My favourite is called BABYDUMP.NL: not for any real reason except that the name is pretty terrible in English! There is the big one (Prenatal), and many others.
By the way, big congratulations on your happy event, sps! When is the happy event due to take place?
congrats sps!
Most of these "essential baby items" lists are overdone. And if you are a first time parent, you most likely won't know what half of the things are. Osita covered it pretty well. Just think - clothing, changing, sleeping, feeding and cleaning and you will be fine.
Clothing - most valuable item you can buy is called romper (babygrow). If you'd buy 10 of sleevless ones (if for summer) and 10 of full body ones (together with feet) you covered clothes. One piece of advice is - control yourselves when you encounter cute outfits in shops, and don't buy too many - you will be too sleep deprived to dress up your baby every day in matching clothes, so keep it simple.
Changing - Diapers, butt cream, wet wipes.
Sleeping - clothing as above (beware of fancy pajamas, they are difficult to put on - even though adorable), bed covers (wait until you go to prenatal or some other shop and see diagram for "recommended cover layout that includes 6 different items - and relax if you don't go for their layout, if you lived in UK or France they would recommend other stuff).
Feeding - if breastfeeding you need nothing (except maybe breast pump, nipple ointment and some bottles to give baby if mother is away). If bottlefeeding - bottles (small ones), milk and steriliser.
Cleaning - steriliser, bottle brush or sponge and some nice neutral detergent for baby clothes. Baby cleaning - shampoo and soap (pehaps oil if it has dry skin), bath, water termometer and towels.
Not essential but practical items are babyphone and pram (they mostly come as 3 in one - meaning base+horizontal basin top used until 6 months + sitting up top used after 6 months + bigger sitting top cover for later on) - pay attention to ease of folding and size when folded - you should be able to do it fast and without breaking a sweat. Humidifier is great in the winter when the air is dry, but not necessary now. Congrats again!
peony said:
One piece of advice is - control yourselves when you encounter cute outfits in shops, and don't buy too many - you will be too sleep deprived to dress up your baby every day in matching clothes, so keep it simple.
Also - depending on the baby, you might be out of the first size within a month: a large baby and it won't even fit into 'newborn' size and will go straight to 0-3 (or even 3-6) months size clothing - another reason NOT to buy too much until he or she is born.
Baby cleaning - shampoo and soap (pehaps oil if it has dry skin), bath, water termometer and towels.
Water thermometer? wow - things got complex. I used the elbow test, followed by the (most sensitive body part) the wrist test. If the water was too hot, my wrist told me not to put the baby in, and I've never overcooked a child yet :D There, that just saved you a tenner....
Not essential but practical items are babyphone and pram (they mostly come as 3 in one - meaning base+horizontal basin top used until 6 months + sitting up top used after 6 months + bigger sitting top cover for later on) - pay attention to ease of folding and size when folded - you should be able to do it fast and without breaking a sweat. Humidifier is great in the winter when the air is dry, but not necessary now. Congrats again!
One thing that is essential is the car seat/baby nest: even if you don't have a car, I'd expect this is a legal requirement for inside the taxi on the way home? If you don't have a car, check with the taxi firm as you might be able to 'rent' one for the journey.
Congrats Mr & Mrs SPS and good luck with the birth of your baby. Our daughter's just turned four but if my memory serves me right the only item we used from our kraampakket our insurance co sent was a bottle of alcohol (and that was because we forgot to buy it). We chose individual items of our own choice from different retailers, locally and overseas. Osita and Peony have very much covered your questions, but what I wanted to ad was some where-to-buy advice. The essential day-to-day stuff is always on special somewhere you simply need to keep on looking. Personally I found Dirk supermarket to be the cheapest on stuff like nappies and formula (even when not on special). Kruidvat would occasionally be worth a shot partly because they belong to a huge English retail group. Interesting: About 2 years ago their house brand nappies was voted the best in NL – dunno what they’re like now. Freebee kraampakket? Apparently Etos is giving these away (value 65 bucks) in exchange for your consumer profile. gratiskraampakket.nl/kraampakketten/felicitas/
First of all, congratulations!
I happen to be putting together all the necessary things for our first baby too, so I know what you are talking about when you say you don't know what half of the things in the list are. But I am getting there and you will too :-)
The kraampakket, at least as it was explained to us by the lady from the kraamzorg, is not the same as the list with baby items. The kraampakket contains things that the kraamzorg nurse will use to take care of the baby and the mom in the first days at home -special sanitary pads, sterile gauze, etc. I do not know if everything is really used, but I guess we will need a lot of the items.
My insurance does cover the kraamzorgpakket (I just requested it a couple of days ago), but you can buy one at "thuiszorgwinkels en drogisten." The thuiszorgwinkels are a special sort of shop to buy/rent things from crutches to breast milk pumps. Anyway, maybe you know all of this by now.
As for baby items, I don't know how your list is, but mine seems very reasonable. I got a couple of those overdone lists from shops and the like, but the one from the kraamzorg is nothing like them -actually it looks a lot like the one Osita wrote.
Babydump.nl and Babypark.nl (they also have traditional shops across the NL) have a huge selection of all things baby. So far, I find the prices for "big" things quite allright -we have actually bought the baby furniture and the stroller at Babypark. Both shops have nice offers, i.e. free baby car seat with the purchase of a complete stroller. Smaller stuff is more pricey there, I think. I am buying a lot of the items in the Hema (clothes but also blankets, towels, bed linnen, kruiken, etc.) and Ikea has also some good things.
Good luck with everything and I hope I was of some help!
Thank you, Osita! I've been told that Hema was always known for its cheap prices and poor quality, but my sources say that it has improved a lot in the last years. What I have bought there seems to confirm this (towels, some underwear, curtains even).
For our baby, I have bought quite some things from my kraamzorg list, as cloth diapers (hydrofiel en flanellen luiers), molton mattress cover, washandjes... Hema sells big packages of all these things for a good price and they seem to me as good as those from any other shop: they look the same and are 100% cotton. The kraamzorg directed me to buy the kruik (a sort of bed warmer) there as well. To me and my family back home, some of these items are new and I wonder if I will actually use them, but since I am totally clueless about caring for a baby, I will let the kraamzorg nurse teach me the Dutch way. So far, I find them competent and very experienced at the kraamzorg, so I trust them.
Besides, I also got those rompertjes that Peony mentions at the Hema. I am buying the ones with hooks that open completely at the front, advised by a recent Dutch mom. They look fine, feel soft and are as well 100% cotton -my criteria at this point. I am hoping though they won't fall apart when we actually start to use them in a few months, though :-)
One thing that I'm not sure was mentioned already that I recommend you getting is extra disposable or net underpants and extra kraamverbanden. I don't want to do the TMI thing, but there's a very good chance that you will need it! You literally only need the kruik for the first week while the baby can't regulate her own temperature so see if you can borrow one from somebody.
I found that the rompers from the AH to be really good quality, and cute! If you're going to be breastfeeding, rent a Medela Symphony from the thuiszorg winkel to help boost your supply in early days and consider investing in a double pump if you're going to continue pumping if/when you go back to work. You can pick these up on marktplaats or via the classifieds on Amsterdam Mamas.
Congratulations!
Thank you, SPS! I am totally going to check the babygrows from Zeeman. We still need to get a couple more, so that is one good tip.
I believe the kruik is meant to keep the baby warm in the first week or so, as Nerissa said. Besides, I have been told that it's also really handy later to keep the bed warm during night-time feeds and the like. We live in an old, cold house and we expect our baby in November, so it seems like a good thing to have.
The washandjes are those washing mitts so very popular here in NL. These special ones are made of hydrophilic cotton and meant to wash the baby. They are very soft and thin, so you can reach every corner.
The alcohol is meant to sterilize the thermometer. There is no naval band in my list or my kraampakket, only a sterile clip. I've heard about different ways to deal with the navel, so I guess it's best to get what your kraamzorg nurse will want to use. Maybe somebody here with some experience can tell us more :-)
I have no idea about the consequences of not making the bed higher. Ours is ridiculously high, so it will be fine. Anyway, I know you can borrow special devices (bedverhogers) to temporarily lift the bed in those thuiszorgwinkels. You can get them from the 36th week. Apparently, you can even get a special bed if necessary.
Marfoe said:
The alcohol is meant to sterilize the thermometer.
Once the baby's sleepless nights kick in, you will find a second use for it. 
