Advice hugely appreciated

[Laos2011]

Hello from an expectant father, baby boy due 4th April. First post on this site

Will try and keep my bio short and then get to the single question....

Girlfriend lives in Laos (South East Asia) at the moment. She will be having our child there and then I will be looking to get her back to the UK as soon a practicaly possible after the birth. I am flying out there for 5 weeks to be with her, will be my first time in Laos.

Laos is a very poor undeveloped country, I am bringing over what I can, clothes etc... but there is a limit to what i can bring based on luggage allowances and practicality. I would love to bring over a large sterlising unit, buggy and breast pump, my suitcase will obviously not support such items. I wont have the luxury of a mothercare or boots on every street corner.

If there was 1 single thing you would recommend I bring over, what would it be?

I appreciate thats a very open ended non specific question but I just want to pick the brains of mums and parents to be. Understanding that I will be fairly remote from "civilisation" I am just looking for ideas of things I could not live without and probably not get over there.

All feedback greatly received

If you think the breast pump is going to be used, then Milton sterilising tabs & Avent hand beast pump - not bulky at all. You can then sterilise things in any plastic container with boiled water.
A sling rather than a buggy would be easy to transport.
Good luck. Very exciting!

Take your pick of all or some of the following, all would be very useful in my book.

some of that hand sanitiser gel....

I used a tiny travel steriliser when I went on holiday, it packs down really small and you can get two bottles in, or most parts of a manual breast pump.

I'm assuming that she will breast feed, it's much more the norm in that part of the world but if she wants to express I bought a tommee tippee manual breast pump which comes in it's own microwave steriliser box (if you will have access to a microwave)

You could also take her a tube of Lansinoh cream for sore nipples. That's tiny so wont' take up any space.

If you have room some always ultra night time pads - they're less bulky than maternity pads but are just as good.

I'll keep thinking....

A sling is a great idea, have a look at ring slings (lots of reviews on here).

The feedback so far is much appreciated.

Although I have friends and family who are offering advice, it still gets VERY intimidating walking into Mothercare as a first time dad, and thinking i need one of everythig in there!!!

FYI - She does intend breast feeding.

I will be googling all the suggestions so far, thanks for the advice, keep it comming :)

Having lived in Thailand, I saw women using slings to carry their babies, so I wouldn't bother with one of those.
Good breast feeding bra if you know her size and some nappy rash cream. My daughter is so old I can't remember what I used for her.
Bangkok, despite being a throbbing metropolis was useless for baby stuff, so replacing the teats on bottles would be tricky.
I really wouldn't advocate bottles, having seen the north east of Thailand, sanitary arrangements are poor at best.
Definitely don't bother with a buggy, they are not used. Certainly not in Thailand, I had problems trying to give ours away.
The most important thing is vaccinations. I don't know what is given in Laos, but in Bangkok friends who had babies received hep a and b very soon after birth.
Good luck wiht your foreign adventure.

This might be a trickier one, but if you know what size she'd like how about a couple of good breast feeding bras?

Some washable breast pads.

Don't worry about going in to Mothercare, I'm sure if you explain your situation you will get so much help!

One thing my mum used to do when travelling to the far east and carrying tons of stuff, She used to send stuff ahead as unaccompanied luggage. It might be worth investigating to see if you can get round the luggage allowance.

Alternatively, have you spoken to the airline you're flying with and explain the situation. They may well let you take a pushchair free of charge, seeing as you are collecting a new born baby. Worth asking, they can only say no. Some of those Maclaren's pack down really tiny, and are suitable from birth. But i'm no pushchair expert.

Sudocreme is your best bet for nappy rash, it can be used for tons of other things too, doesn't just have to be nappy rash.

Both mine have suffered from heat rash in tropical climates, so talc (even medicated talc) was really useful for that. Again, doesn't take up much room.

Another thing worth bearing in mind, soley based on my Thai experience is medicine.
I know that a lot of drugs are counterfeit. Take some english paracetamol and calpol.

Fantastic ideas so far, thanks :)

mosquito net maybe?
agree sling much better way to go than pushchair.
a few pure cotton sleeveless baby vest things if it's going to be hot
nice cotton blanket?
some muslins
newborns really need very little other than their mother's milk and a few bits of clothing. Don't be talked into buying lots of stuff you don't need.
DO get your partner something lovely you know she would like to show how proud you are of her!

I am slightly confussed by thermometers.

It would appear I could spend £3-4 on a "strip" thermometer or up to £40 on an electronic all singing all dancing one . Any suggestions?

(I am probably being REALLY lazy here, I will use the serach function on this site as I am sure I am asking questions that have been asked 1000 times before)

the electronic ear thermometers are good and you can get a reading in seconds even from a wriggling baby so can be worth the money. Strip ones give rough estimate but may be good for travelling. The digital ones that you can put under the tongue or under the arm are also good and accurate but not as easy to use as the ear ones. If you have the money may aswell get the ear one as you will always have call for a thermometer as your baby grows.

these www.greenbaby.com/Green+Baby+Products/baby/baby+clothes/sleepwear/ORGANIC+EASY-CHANGE+SLEEPGOWN_GBC014.htm sleep gowns are good though don't know what sort of night temps you will have. They don't have the poppers so easy to change nappies at night

sorry link www.greenbaby.com/Green+Baby+Products/baby/baby+clothes/sleepwear/ORGANIC+EASY-CHANGE+SLEEPGOWN_GBC014.htm

We have an ear thermometer and they're excellent. We paid about £40 for it when ds was a baby, still use it now he's 3.

My advice for any new parent or parent to be is to invest in some muslin cloths. They are useful in a myriad of ways - mopping up sick or spills; a light cover to protect baby from heat or cold; a sling (if you are skilful - do a bit of practising with a doll first to see if it would suit you); even can be folded as a nappy if needed. They wash and dry quickly and easily and they fold up very small. They are the one thing I would never have been without. You can get them in any mothercare, boots or such like. Don't be conned into thinking you need lots of stuff. You really don't. Best of luck.

Breastfeeding obv best in circumstances, don't worry aboput a pump, she won't need it unless she wants to go out without you and leave you to feed baby from bottles.

Get a few breastfeeding bras, in different sizes, as she will have bigger breasts when she's just given birth and for a while after.

Spare batteries for thermometer, obviously. Braun Thermoscan now takes AA batts, instead of the awkward 2032's it used to!

Not sure about sun protection for baby - some SPF cream maybe, or a hat - not sure what they do over there. But if you are white and the baby is mixed race, it'll be more vulnerable to the sun than most Thai kids.

You can also get little pop-up nylon travel cots, with mosquito nets over them and a hood, which might be really useful.

Ear thermometer is a good idea. Make sure you get some proper sized batteries for when the originals run out though.
Our thermometer was redundant until someone bought out replacement batteries.

I have never used a muslin cloth in my life. But I imagine you can buy fabric in Laos. Can you not order stuff online and have it shipped? Or amI being naive? What would your girlfriend be doing for baby stuff otherwise? Most of it is probably unnecessary tbh.

Bof! Really?

I have about a zillion, they are magic.

How did you clean the pouffe??!!!

Hehe- with a nailbrush iirc

It's no good- I can't help it. OP- is your girlfriend actually from Laos, or somebody 'Western' who is working out there? How did you meet?

BOF, oh the questions I want to ask, but am too well mannered and bought up to do so.
OP, do get some advice about registering the child as yours. We had a friend who wanted to take a Laos citizen to the UK, he had dreadful problems AFAIR because the Laos govt. are really not keen on their citizens being involved with foreigners.

this

would be a good nursing bar, as they are not very size specific and will stretch with her.

i have two and find them very comfortable

i'm sure a sling will be available there.

i would echo the suggestions for medicines, paracetamol, ibuprofen etc, cheap, useful, transportable.

i'm not sure if disposable nappies are readily avaialble, and i'm no expert but what about some bamboo reuseable nappies, i believe they dry quickly and would take up less room in you suitcase than big packs of disposables?

congratualtions and good luck

LOL at BOF being nosy while the rest of us speculated

Congratulations on becoming a daddy in the not so distant future.

Definitely the ear thermometer - the strip ones only give a VERY rough guide. You want to know if baby has a temperature of 37.8 or 38.8.

Calpol and Baby Nurofen

Bepanthen is great for nappy rash.

I would take a couple of microwave sterilising bags - you can buy them in John Lewis. (Assuming you have access to a microwave).