From the Mall to the Airport Gate, The Baby Products Every Gulf Mum Needs
By Hermoine Macura-Noble
Special to The Times Kuwait
Whether you are navigating the mall with a clingy newborn, pacing airport terminals in Kuwait, or doing the school run solo in Riyadh – life as a mum in the GCC is beautiful, busy, and physically demanding. Between the heat, the pace, and the reality of often parenting far from extended family, having the right products in your corner can make an enormous difference.
The truth is, nobody prepares you for how physical early motherhood really is. The endless holding, rocking, feeding, and settling or the way your shoulders ache by midday. What experienced mums will tell you, though, is that a handful of well-chosen products can genuinely change the texture of your days by quietly taking some of the strain off your body and your mind.
Caring for baby’s skin is one of the first things Gulf mums learn to be intentional about. The combination of fierce outdoor heat and relentless indoor air conditioning creates a uniquely challenging environment for a newborn’s delicate skin. Dermatologist-recommended options like Allergika Dermifant Kids Cream and ISDIN Nutratopic Pro-AMP are just two products earning loyal followings among Gulf parents. The key is using a gentle daily moisturizer across the whole face and body, and reserving more active barrier creams specifically for rashy or reactive patches.
When it comes to sleep – two products are vital. The first is a good breathable swaddle for newborns and sleep sack for babies over 3 months. Aden + Anais muslin options are particularly loved by pediatricians and parents for their open-weave fabric that regulates temperature without overheating baby in air-conditioned rooms.
Lightweight and easy to wash, they pull double duty as pram covers, nursing shields, and impromptu changing mats. The second is a white noise machine, which is arguably one of the most underrated investments a new parent can make. In apartments where building noise and street sounds are part of daily life, a consistent sound environment can be genuinely transformative for nap time. Hatch Rest and the Dreamegg are two models that mums turn to for good reason.
And then there is the product that ties all of these essentials together – the one that shows up at the school gate, in the airport queue, during the late-night feed, and on the days when you are doing everything alone. The Hackerlily HipSurfer was created by Laura Campbell, CEO and Founder of Hackerlily – a mum who herself navigated spondyloarthritis through two pregnancies and understood from the inside just how much the physical demands of early parenthood can take out of you. “My kids did not want to feel strapped in and restricted,” Laura explains.
“They wanted to be close, but they also wanted freedom – to move their head, see me, play, face in, face out, and explore the world around them.”
Designed without shoulder straps, the HipSurfer redistributes baby’s weight through a wide, padded waistband. It takes around 15 seconds to put on with no help needed, which means parents actually reach for it rather than leaving it in the cupboard. Built-in storage means you can skip the separate nappy bag for shorter outings, and its washable, customizable cover system means both mums and dads are genuinely happy to wear it – something Laura was deliberate about from the beginning, knowing that style and practicality rarely meet in the baby product world.
What makes the HipSurfer stand out beyond its design is the depth of expertise behind it. Laura spent years refining each version of the prototype with input from chiropractors, pediatricians, osteopaths, occupational therapists, women’s health physiotherapists, sleep specialists, and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants.
That collaborative approach shows in the details – the way it sits higher on the waist and hips makes it particularly practical for mums recovering from a caesarean, where lower-sitting carriers can feel uncomfortable in those tender early weeks. Sleep experts have also recommended it as a kind of mobile breastfeeding pillow, because it works whether you are sitting, standing, or walking – incredibly useful when your baby will not latch, you need to reset the environment mid-feed, or you are simply trying to keep moving while keeping your baby calm and close.
The feedback Laura hears most often says everything. Parents tell her it has taken really stressful shopping trips and exhausting sleep-time routines and brought a sense of calm to those moments. “It is not just taking the weight off their body,” she says, “it is taking the weight off their mind as well.” For expat mums in the Gulf parenting without their usual support network nearby, that quieter kind of relief – is often exactly what is needed most.
The HipSurfer is suitable from birth right through to toddlerhood, making it one of those rare products that keeps proving its worth at every stage rather than being used briefly and packed away. And because there are no complicated buckles or adjustments, grandparents and partners can put it on in seconds when they visit – making it just as useful for shared caregiving as it is for the solo days. Parenting in this region asks a lot of your body, your patience, and your resourcefulness. The products that truly earn their place are the ones that are quick to use, easy to clean, suited to the heat, and built with real life in mind. Invest in fewer, better things. And give yourself grace for everything else.
By Hermoine Macura-Noble
The first Australian English speaking News Anchor in the Middle East. She is also the Author of Faces of the Middle East and Founder of US-based 501c3 charity – The House of Rest which helps to ease the suffering of victims of war. For more from our Contributing Editor, you can follow her on Instagram, here.
