How to find a midwife in Berlin
In Germany, every pregnant person is entitled to the support of a midwife throughout their pregnancy, the birth, and the postpartum period. Although not mandatory, many families find it helpful to have a midwife who can support them during pregnancy and provide regular check-ups for the mother and baby after birth, along with valuable advice.
In big cities like Berlin, however, it can be quite hard to find a midwife. Here’s what you need to know if you’d like to work with a midwife in Berlin:
- Decide where and how you’d like to give birth as this will influence what midwife services you need:
- For a hospital birth, you can either work with the midwife(s) on shift or look for a “Beleghebamme.” These are self-employed midwives affiliated with a specific hospital. They provide one-on-one midwife care before, during and (sometimes) after the birth.
- If you don’t have a Beleghebamme, look for a freelance midwife to cover the prenatal and postnatal care.
There are also midwives delivering babies at home or at a birthing center. Similar to Beleghebammen, they will usually offer the prenatal care but may not have the capacity to offer postnatal care, which you would need to find separately.
- Then, start looking for a midwife as soon as possible.
- Do not give up hope if you can’t find a midwife right away – some only accept clients after the first trimester or spots open up later on your pregnancy – keep trying!
Some midwives also offer classes for parents and babies, such as birth preparation, postnatal recovery, and baby massage. You will have more time to look for your courses, although those held in English usually book up a bit faster than those held in German.
What’s good to know is that your health insurance covers prenatal and postnatal midwife appointments, as well as a (certified) birth preparation course (unfortunately, often only for the pregnant person). If you opt for a “Beleghebamme,” home birth midwife, or a birthing center, there will be an on-call fee, which your insurance might partially reimburse.
As mentioned above, finding a midwife in Berlin can be challenging, so it’s best to start searching as soon as you know you’re pregnant.
Here are a few online platforms you can use for your search: hebammensuche.de, ammely.de, and berliner-hebammenvermittlung.de. Additionally, there’s a Facebook group called Hebammenvermittlung Berlin, and you can also try searching on Midiaid and the GKV Spitzenverband: Hebammenliste.
If you can’t find a midwife or don’t have German health insurance, you can look for a midwife, who will provide support via phone and/or video on call a midwife. Some hospitals, midwife practices, family centers, and OBGYNs also offer drop-in clinics (“Wochenbettsprechstunde”) for families without a personal midwife.
This article was written by Lisa Hübner Moreno, the founder of Kietzee, a platform that helps new and expecting parents feel more confident and connected on their parenthood journey. If you’d like to learn more about the different types of midwives or search platforms available, you can read the full Kietzee article on “How to Find a Midwife in Berlin.”
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