My Khmer girlfriend is pregnant and is due in a few months. We are both very excited, but I am also a little nervous about the differences between birthing a baby here versus a western country. Obviously there is no shortage of kids here so I'm confident that it will be fine, but at the same time I'm wondering if there is anything specific that I should worry about, look for specifically, or prepare for. We live in Sihanoukville, so the baby will be born here. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks.

my child was born in Thailand so is half thai but this applies to you;

Are you going to get married?

Get a DR that speaks english so u can communicate with him/her
Take her to the hospital every month after the 4th month
Get some sort of lotion for the moms stomach and use it
This may sound silly but; Talk to your child, play music, read, even before its born

After born;
As soon as the child is born have her or him registered as a citizen of ur country== for American's u file a "report of birth abroad" at the embassy
AND GET THAT PASSPORT.
try and have ur gf breast feed as long as possible (at least a year) dont allow your child to be put on baby formula if at all possible except perhaps after 6 months when it goes to sleep
Dont let her use baby formula that has sugar or honey it it when they go to sleep, it rots the teeth.
Get her in the water at 6 months
Its a child NOT a doll

Next step and most important, decide how your going to raise ur child. Western or Asian or a combination of both.

Than you have 4 years to start thinking of education, so better get a good job if ur going the international school route.

Best of luck!!

Do not forget:

a) little knitted baby hat & mittens.

c) knitted hat for Mum.

b) new born baby milk formula.

I did. The doctors, nurses and in-laws were quite openly disgusted and shocked that I could have forgotten these 3 vitally important items.
I showed them the MotherCare catalogue from Thailand that didn't list any baby hats or mittens, and certainly had no wooly hats for Mum, and I tried to explain that I wanted my son to be breast fed, but everyone was adamant that a hat, mittens and formula were essentials and I was sent off in search (and in shame and shock) of these three items about an hour after the birth.

They were adamant about the formula because they get kickbacks. Seriously, you don't see this?

vladimir wrote:They were adamant about the formula because they get kickbacks. Seriously, you don't see this?

They didn't sell any at the hospital. I know the formula companies do a lot of promotional work...so much so that the doctors and nurses genuinely believed that it was best for baby.

Anyhow, my son got on the breast eventually...and is still on them 3 years later!

haha my friends baby with its baby mittens lol

The milk powder thing is a huge scam and much of it is from China, where they have had problems with tainted milk. Wouldn't touch it.

Breast is best.

but it turns their breasts into empty beanbags

vladimir wrote:The milk powder thing is a huge scam and much of it is from China, where they have had problems with tainted milk. Wouldn't touch it.

Breast is best.

Cannot stress that too much. The baby gets a huge dose of antibodies in the yellowish milk (colostrum) which is produced the first few days after birth.

Breast Milk Antibodies
Antibodies, which are also called immunoglobulins, take five basic forms, denoted as IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD and IgE. All have been found in human milk, but by far the most abundant type is IgA, specifically the form known as secretory IgA, which is found in great amounts throughout the gut and respiratory system of adults. These antibodies consist of two joined IgA molecules and a so-called secretory component that seems to shield the antibody molecules from being degraded by the gastric acid and digestive enzymes in the stomach and intestines. Infants who are bottle-fed have few means for battling ingested pathogens until they begin making secretory IgA on their own, often several weeks or even months after birth.http://kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-prep/h ... _newborns/

The Risks of Not Breastfeeding for Mothers and Infants

Health outcomes differ substantially for mothers and infants who formula feed compared with those who breastfeed, even in developed countries such as the United States. A recent meta-analysis by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed this evidence in detail1:

For infants, not being breastfed is associated with an increased incidence of infectious morbidity, including otitis media, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia, as well as elevated risks of childhood obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Among premature infants, not receiving breast milk is associated with an increased risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

For mothers, failure to breastfeed is associated with an increased incidence of premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, retained gestational weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2812877/

End of health promotion rant

I think vlad is right ! Moreover she needs to check her health often especially blood pressure. Avoid eating very salty food. And you should contact the doctor who trust in first before she gives a birth. My sisters alway do like this because if we don't know any good Dr, it might be difficult.