Becoming a parent can be a wonderful time, and mixed emotions become parents in many different ways, feeling everything from being very tired to very happy—sometimes all in the same hour. With challenges like breastfeeding, sleepless nights, and recovery after giving birth, early motherhood can be hard on a mom’s body, sleep, and confidence. But simultaneously, it’s filled with joy, amazement, and endless love. It’s a time when a mom needs support, and these picks celebrate, pamper, and lovingly help during those strenuous early days.
If you’re looking for gifts for other maternal figures, consider our gift guides for moms, mothers-in-law, and grandmothers and our recommendations for mothers, babies, and kids.
Versatile cover-up
Made of a rayon-polyester yarn blend, the luxe We Are Amma Honey Cocoon is wrinkle- and stain-resistant, so mom doesn’t have to worry about Aquaphor smears or yogurt streaksIt’s stylish enough to wear as a scarf when you’re not using it as a nursing cover, a poncho when you’re taking a break from parenting, or even as a baby blanket or stroller cover. The knit weave is breathable enough to let a little light in for the nursing baby but not so vast that anyone else can see. It also comes in a variety of colors; we’re partial to the honey and olive
Sweet smelling
When gift writer Samantha Schoech had her twins, someone gave her the Mustela Newborn Arrival Gift Set. It has a gentle, lovely scent and is made by a French family-owned company, specially designed for newborns’ sensitive skin. The mild five-product kit includes a newborn foam shampoo, cleansing gel, no-rinse water, body lotion, and diaper rash cream. While some may prefer unscented products, we found these to be gentle and pleasingly subtle. “I kept buying it even though it was expensive because I just loved everything about it,” she says.
Mothering memoir
With raw honesty and self-deprecating humor, writer Anne Lamott’s deft memoir Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year has resonated with women for the past 20 years. Lamott shares her journey as a single mom raising her son, supported by loving friends, family, and her faith. Her writing is relatable for all kinds of moms, and while she talks about faith, it doesn’t come across as preachy. When she was a new mom, senior editor Kalee Thompson appreciated that Lamott “acknowledges just how new motherhood pairs the messy and overwhelming with the beautiful—it’s all the emotions.”
Easy-to-clean carryall
As much as we love a great leather tote, it’s not the most practical choice when fluids (milk, spit-up, whatever) fly. The wipeable, durable Del Mar Packable Tote, a favorite of senior staff writer Kaitlyn Wells, is constructed from two water-resistant materials: an exterior of Tyvek and an interior of polyester from recycled bottles. This lightweight, foldable bag comes with two snap-on pouches and can be used as a grocery or beach bag. It’s practical and stylish, featuring fun designs like palm trees, sushi, and pineapples on a navy background with a deep orange inside. You can pick between two sizes: small (13 by 12 inches) or tall (14 by 16 inches).
Cute and comfy mom tank
Nursing clothes don’t have to be frumpily uncool, but many of them, unfortunately, are. The Storq Soft Touch Nursing Tank is different. Made from soft, lightweight fabric, it’s slim-fitting with adjustable straps, plenty of stretch, and a built-in bra with light support. It comes in seven colors and patterns, like bright red and black floral. Storq also has a sizing guide to help your gift recipient find the right fit (or an easy return option if it’s a surprise). This tank is a comfy layer for nursing at home and looks great with a maxi skirt or wide-leg jeans for later wear.
Minimalist mom jewelry
Once babies start grabbing at things, dangly jewelry isn’t practical. These beautiful gold vermeil GLDN Aura Birthstone Hoops fit snugly around the earlobes, snap closed securely, and are a lovely way to celebrate the baby’s birth month. Each earring has eight small gemstones, making them a simple and stylish hoop set. They also work nicely as cute accents if she has multiple piercings. Unlike many earrings we’ve seen lately, these are sold as a pair.
Healing balm
With all the diapers, spit-up, and a newborn’s sensitive immune system, new parents often wash their hands. Help her keep her skin soft with the profoundly moisturizing Kate McLeod Daily Stone Solid Moisturizer. It’s made with cocoa butter and almond and apricot oils. Instead of single-use plastic, it comes as a solid moisturizer she can warm in her hands before using, and it’s packed in a pretty bamboo container.
Good-hair days
Give the gift of good-hair days in a few seconds flat with this excellent accessory. The Day Rate Beauty Petite Power Pin comes in nearly a dozen sizes, and there are 11 colors to choose from, so they can blend in with or stand out against any hair color. Supervising editor Hannah Morrill reports that just one 5.5-inch pin (in prosecco) is enough to tame her thick, medium-length hair. She says the technique takes a little practice, but the result is more elegant than her go-to “mom bun.”
Dinner delivery
Even if you can’t drop off a homemade meal, you can still send her something as good as a home-cooked dish. Ipsa Frozen Meals offers chef-inspired meals like Moroccan braised chicken and Sungold arrabbiata, which are much better than frozen meals. Many new moms we know have loved (and been nourished by) these meals. To send Ipsa as a gift, choose the dishes from the menu, pick a delivery date, and add a gift note on the simple website. You can also get a gift card so she can choose herself. Each meal serves two and shows if it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, or spicy. The meals are fresh, flat-packed for easy storage, and have flexible reheating options. Ensure the company ships to her state before ordering—over 25 states are covered
Flowy dress
Founder Nell Diamond created the Hill House Nap Dress as a new mom to twins, considering how a new mom’s body changes. The A-line dress is comfy enough to sleep in and has fluttery sleeves, a tiered bottom, and a stretchy top that flatters many body types—perfect for lifting the mood of a new mom adjusting to her postpartum shape. It’s available in over 20 pattern and fabric combinations, including blue botanical cotton and black crepe. The kicker? This beauty also has pockets—perfect for pacis and a phone.
Handy bags
With motherhood comes stuff—and ever more stuff. The machine-washable Baggu Go Pouch Set is perfect for organizing and toting all things—pacifiers, linking rings, creams, crayons, and coloring books. The nylon pouches have useful hanging loops and zip closures, and they come in fun mixed patterns and three different sizes. They can meet various needs: as an organizer inside her carryall or a more oversized bag to stash in the back pocket of a car seat.
Take it outside
One of our favorite puffy blankets from testing, the Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket is perfect for park dates and backyard hangouts with new babies. The nylon material is breathable and dries quickly, and its water-resistant coating can handle spills from food or other accidents. Your gift recipient can throw the blanket into the washer and dryer when it gets messy.
Shout it out
Help a new mom proclaim her role loud and proud with the Ingrid & Isabel Mama Baseball Cap. The navy-and-white embroidered cap fits most sizes and can be adjusted with a brass buckle at the back. You can also get the matching “Babe” hat for her little one for a cute matching look.
Low-effort dinner
The last thing a new mom wants to worry about is cooking. Please help out by sending restaurant-quality dim sum straight to her door. The fantastic MìLà Soup Dumplings—available in pork, chicken, or pork and shrimp—come in 50-piece bags, frozen with dry ice. You can order them once or get a subscription. They steam up soft and juicy in just a few minutes, much fresher than soggy takeout. Include a bamboo steamer basket ($30) if she doesn’t already have one; each generous bag contains perforated steamer liners that prevent the little jewels from sticking or rupturing.
Box of surprises
The mix-and-match Care Crates Build-a-Box is one of our favorite care packages because you can fill it with five small presents—wearable, comfortable, fun, indulgent, and wholesome—from a well-curated selection. In addition to being personalized and easy to assemble, each Care Crates box includes a $2 donation to one of a long list of nonprofits; gifters can choose to add more to that donation, too. For a new mom, we suggest the velvet scrunchie for quickly tying back unwashed hair, the leather notebook for jotting down memories and schedules, the chamomile mint tea for chilling out, and the mint lip balm for feeling human. But maybe she prefers confetti and gold chains. That’s what makes this box so great: There are so many different combinations to choose from.
Baby’s first backpack
If you’re looking for something that likely wasn’t on the new mom’s registry but will be helpful in the coming year, consider a great hiking backpack that she can use on outdoorsy romps or even walks to the corner store.
The Deuter Kid Comfort is the most comfortable hiking baby carrier we tried, thanks to its padded shoulder straps and wide hip belt. We also love the parent-friendly extras. It has big pockets in the hip belt for easy access to phones and wallets, plus plenty of other pockets to hold diaper bag essentials. The baby will be comfortable with a padded seat, removable napping pillow, optional sunshade, and a great view of the outdoors. The adjustable aluminum frame means taller and shorter parents can easily take turns wearing it.
Self-watering pots
She doesn’t need another thing to take care of. The MoMA Self-Watering Wet Pot Planter makes it easy to keep plants alive. Just fill the glass outer container with water, and the terra-cotta planter slowly absorbs it, giving the plants the needed water. It comes in three sizes and works best for moist plants, like spider plants or philodendrons.
Personalized necklace
If you’re looking for a piece that will last long after the swaddle days, we recommend the 14k Gold Asymmetrical Initial Necklace from Zoe Lev, a jeweler based in Los Angeles. Made from recycled yellow, white, or rose gold, it’s a necklace she’ll probably never want to take off. The sideways initial in a simple font has a modern yet classic style that fits many tastes. Zoe Lev also offers repairs and changes—like adding another initial later—for a small fee.
Sweet reads
Being a mom is not an experience that one can summarize in a sentence, paragraph, or book. But doctor, mother, and author Grace Farris gives it a shot in her illustrated manual, Mom Milestones, an extension of her Instagram account, where she posts warm and incisive sketches about her humbling parenthood experiences. It tracks a mother’s evolution from Newborn Mom to Elementary School Mom, with pithy reflections such as “Notes I Would Send Myself” and “Tricks That Don’t Work.” This is an affirming read for new moms, mainly a literary road map of the arduous but perfect path ahead.
Tooty fruity
New moms should eat whatever they want, whether heaps of butterscotch pudding or turkey avocado clubs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But once some of the post-labor food frenzy settles, she’ll likely want to nourish her body with sweet and healthful foods. That’s why one of our favorite gift baskets, the Miami Fruit Variety Box, is a thoughtful gesture.
Each shipment of farm-grown goodies includes tropical fruits like kumquat, persimmon, and dragonfruit, as well as more unusual ones like granadilla, goldenberry, and naranjilla.
Easy slider
Many new moms don’t have the time—or the core strength—to bend over and tie laces before running out the door. Give them one of our favorite sandals, the Birkenstock Arizona Essentials EVA, for an easier footwear option. These comfy slides are made from ethylene-vinyl acetate (which is why they’re called that), so they’re waterproof, super light, and even machine washable. You can pick from several bright colors or neutral tones, depending on your gift recipient’s liking.
Gift card for comfort
Nursing clothes are expensive, and a mom rarely receives the item she wants in the size she needs. Remove the guesswork and give her a Kindred Bravely Digital Gift Card from the online maternity and nursing store that Wirecutter moms recommend most. They have a great selection of clothes and gear, like cozy pajama sets, stylish T-shirt dresses, and some of the best nursing bras. The Kindred Bravely French Terry Racerback is among our top nursing bra picks.
Printed Memories
If you can’t choose just one photo to frame, consider giving a photo book (or a subscription for a monthly book) printed by Chatbooks. (Our top-pick photo book service, Mixbook, has no gifting option.) The process is simple. The service draws up to 366 photos from a social media account (Facebook, Instagram, or Flickr), or you can upload images from a personal computer. Then, the service prints out a book in your choice of size, softcover or hardcover, and color, displaying a single photo per page. (The first 30 photos are included in the base rate of $15; each additional photo adds to the price.) Chatbooks will even replace books if a toddler “loves” one too much. The caveat: Chatbooks is the cheapest photo-book service, but it offers less customization.
Simple nap kit
A tired new mom often has only a brief window of time for a nap. Several accessories can help keep disturbances out: Pair our favorite white noise machine (the LectroFan EVO) with our favorite earplugs (Mack’s Slim Fit Soft Foam Earplugs) and one of our favorite eye masks (the Nidra Deep Rest Eye Mask). This kit should help a new mom drown out any distracting light or noise to get at least a little rest. You could also give her a pair of noise-canceling headphones so she can have some blissful quiet time for reading or otherwise relaxing.
Soft, comfy robe
A comfy robe is a great gift for a new parent staying home with a newborn. It’s easy to put on and also handy for breastfeeding or pumping. We recommend a few options in our guide to the best robes, but the Natori Shangri-La Robe stood out for its super soft and flowy fabric. If you think the new mom would prefer something plusher or with more structure, we also recommend the Luxury Plush Long Robe from Restoration Hardware—it’s the coziest one we found.
Framed memories
Special moments deserve to be remembered, so think about giving the new mom in your life a framed family photo, a print of the baby’s tiny footprints, or another keepsake from the first few months with her new baby. Our favorite online framer, Framebridge, has services for printing and framing digital photos or original art.
Swaddles in sweet patterns
Numerous Wirecutter parents recommend giving Aden + Anais Swaddles as a gift for new moms. They’re attractive, versatile, and can serve as nursing covers, burp cloths, and lightweight blankets. Senior editor Harry Sawyers says his Aden + Anais swaddles lasted seven years through three kids. He recommends giving a set of three since at least one will likely be dirty at any given time.
Ice cream dream
A frozen dessert collection gives a new mom something special to look forward to for many weeks (or days). One of the best we’ve tried is from Jeni’s, a popular, woman-owned company in Ohio. Their Best Sellers Collection includes five pints with flavors like Brambleberry Crisp and Salty Caramel. They also have lactose-free options for those who don’t eat dairy. The creamy texture and unique flavors make this ice cream worth shipping nationwide (for an extra $10 to $20).
We love finding thoughtful and unique gifts. Here are even more gift ideas we recommend.
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- The 28 Best Gifts for New Moms: Becoming a parent can be a wonderful time, and mixed emotions become parents in many different ways
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