I have no qualms about preparing a gift pack for new moms.  Most of the
mothers in my practice are very low income and don't always have money for
extras.  In our practice we give new moms/babies a LED thermometer (the glass
ones break easily and are hard to read for our parents) at the two weeks
visit.  Our health educator gives each mom a "how are you doing" call about
3-5 days postpartum to screen for feeding questions, baby care questions and
postpartum depression. Due to the vagaries of Medi-Caid payment we are unable
to see every infant at 3-5 days but can bring them in if they have a
"problem."

Personally, I would have appreciated in a gift pack

- a nice mug with cover/straw in cup container- non tippable for mom to
remember to drinks fluids (actually the hospital I delivered at gave me this)

- a pair of cotton breast pads- not the disposable kind

-thermometer

-a card with useful phone numbers ( eg LLL/nursing mother's group,new mother's
group, health care providers number, number of local hospital, number of local
poison control)- one you could put on the refrigerator or by the phone.

-reminder card about using a car seat and putting baby on back to sleep (just
my pediatrician bias- please don't flame me for this :-)  )

Just a few thoughts,

Pierrette Mimi Poinsett MD FAAP
Modesto CA