After the Baby Comes

You would think that once the delivery is over the problems are over, too.  But that is often not the case.

Post-partum complications for the mother or the problems of a sick newborn are fortunately rare.  The common after-birth pains much more often have to do with social issues.

Citizenship is one of those major issues.  What will be the citizenship of your baby?  And how do you go about establishing that?  This can be particularly perplexing if you and your partner are not of the same nationality.  We cannot emphasize strongly enough how important it is that you investigate this long before the baby is born, and that you make the necessary arrangements.

A surprising issue for many of our survey respondents was the matter of breast feeding, especially in third world countries.  Most expatriates, it seems, would rather breast feed than bottle feed their babies.  But this trend comes at a time when in many developing countries it is becoming fashionable to bottle feed.  Many mothers may find the nurses surreptitiously giving their babies a bottle.  The World Health Organization is working very hard to make breast feeding the norm all over the world.  If you are meeting resistance, therefore, in your efforts to nurse your baby, you may find an unexpected ally in the local regional health officer.

Another concern, especially for North Americans, is the matter of circumcision of a male infant.  Outside of North America, this is not a commonly performed procedure. It may be difficult for you to find someone both trained and willing to perform it.  If this is the case, we advise delaying the procedure until it can be done properly by someone with the necessary skills and equipment.

When and how you return home from the hospital may require a lot of forethought, especially if you live in a remote area.  It is generally felt safe for a mother and infant to travel by whatever means necessary once both have demonstrated that they are not going to have any complications.  After some experimentation with short post-partum stays in the U.S., most evidence seems to point to a 48-hour stay as a reasonable post-partum minimum.