About Birth Care Bags York

Approximately ten women a month are going into labour without essential hygiene items like maternity pads, shower gel, toothpaste or disposable pants.

At the moment The Hygiene Bank York are supporting women who are going into labour without the necessary items that they need, but the aim of the Birth Care Bags project is to create a bank of pre packed bags that are ready to go to distribute to their community partners.

We have come together because we could not imagine going into labour knowing that afterwards we didn’t have what we needed to clean ourselves or our babies, knowing that we'd have to face this when we were at our most vulnerable. It is something that many women do not have to think about. We want to create these bags so that everyone woman who goes into labour doesn’t have to worry about those essential items and can concentrate on being there for their babies.

All donations will be used to purchase the following essential items to create Birth Care Bags:

Sanitary Pads

Toothpaste & toothbrush

Deodorant

Shower gel

Shampoo & conditioner 2in1

Pants

Talc for baby

Baby bath stuff

Nappy cream

Cotton wool balls

Nappies

A donation of £20 will buy enough items for one Birth Care Bag, but every £1 raised will be put towards creating bags, so every pound is very gratefully received.

We will be holding a bag packing event in September that will bring together supporters of this project and aim to create 100 Birth Care Bags for the York area.

About The Hygiene Bank York

The Hygiene Bank York distributes essential hygiene items to those of us in the community who are experiencing hygiene poverty. They encourage people in the community to donate new and unused toiletries and domestic cleaning products and have various donation points across the city. They then work with community partners to distribute the products free of charge to those who are in hygiene poverty.

Currently 4.2 million people in the UK are experiencing hygiene poverty. This means new parents having to choose between nappies or formula for their babies, teenagers missing school because they don’t have access to period products, a single father skipping a job interview because he can’t afford both the shower gel he needs to feel clean and the bus fare there.

It is estimated that The Hygiene Bank York support over 200 people per week and works with 9 community partners, its volunteers distributed 2.5 tonnes of hygiene products in 2024.