Natasha Archer, 31, pleaded guilty to 16 charges including theft and handling stolen goods in the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Between April 16 and May 15 this year, the 31-year-old stole a total of $375 worth of items from Coles, Lincraft, JB-Hifi, Woolworths, the Reject Shop and EB Games.

Archer, who was pregnant, stole a white iPhone 7 plus from the pokies at Craig's Royal Hotel on April 29.

Police searched the 31-year-old's room at the Sovereign Hill Hotel on May 15, and found items still in their packaging inside duffel bags. She told police she planned to sell the items to pay for accommodation.

On March 16 last year, the woman went to the Woodgrove Shopping Centre in Melton and stole $762 dollars worth of items from Big W and $732 dollars worth of items from Kmart.

Archer entered the Coles supermarket at Stockland Shopping Centre in Wendouree on December 15 in 2017, and was seen placing items into pre-paid Australia Post parcel bags which she then put in her trolley.

The items, including seven Neutrogena wrinkle treatments and 724 grams of extra large prawns, totaled $473. On the same day, the woman had also stolen $333 worth of items from the Reject Shop.

Archer also stole $1000 of Post Pak bags from Central Square in Ballarat on November 27 in 2017.

The woman's defence lawyer, David Tamanika, said the woman had only given birth three weeks ago and he believed that a community corrections order (CCO) was in range for the offending.

Magistrate Steven Raleigh said that community service hours on a CCO would be difficult for her considering the new baby, and although the woman said she was drug-free and had offered to be drug-tested, he wanted her to get counselling.

"You're not going to jail, you've been to jail before, but it's not going to happen today," he told Archer.

Archer was assessed for a CCO, and will return to court on Wednesday.