Having a baby in Amsterdam: kraamzorg guide

If your pregnancy is straightforward, you may never see an obstetrician in Amsterdam. A midwife runs the show, home birth is a real option, and a maternity nurse turns up at your door the day after.

The short version

Low-risk pregnancies are looked after by a community midwife (verloskundige), not an obstetrician [1].
You choose between a home birth, a birth centre, or a hospital birth. Around 15% of Dutch births in 2024 were at home [1][2].
Kraamzorg, a maternity nurse at home after the birth, is covered by basic insurance for between 24 and 80 hours, with a small hourly own contribution and no eigen risico [3].
You must register the birth at the gemeente within three days [4].
Your baby isn't automatically Australian. You apply for citizenship by descent before applying for a passport.

Why it feels so different from home

In Australia most people choose between the public hospital system, often with midwife clinics and an obstetrician in the background, or a private obstetrician. Either way, birth happens in a hospital for almost everyone.

The Dutch system starts from the idea that pregnancy and birth are normal events. If everything is low risk, your midwife looks after you from the first appointment to the postnatal check, and you go to a gynaecologist only if there's a medical reason [1].

	Australia	Amsterdam
Lead carer, low risk	Hospital midwives, GP shared care or private obstetrician	Community midwife (verloskundige) [1]
Where you give birth	Almost always hospital	Home, birth centre or hospital [1]
Epidural	Widely available in hospital	Hospital only, not at home [2]
After the birth	Hospital stay, then home visits from a midwife	Home quickly, with a kraamverzorgende coming daily [1][3]
Cost	Medicare (public) or private gap	Basic insurance, plus small own contributions [3]

You don't need a GP referral to see a midwife. Many people call a midwifery practice as soon as a home test is positive.

Pregnancy with a verloskundige

Midwifery practices in Amsterdam are usually small group practices serving a part of the city. Choose one near home, because they may come to your house in labour.

Your midwife will:

see you regularly through the pregnancy and check your health and the baby's growth [1];
counsel you on prenatal screening, including screening for chromosomal conditions and the anatomy scan [1];
arrange ultrasounds, usually at the practice or an affiliated centre [1];
refer you to a gynaecologist at a hospital such as OLVG or Amsterdam UMC if a risk turns up.

If you're already high risk, for example with some pre-existing conditions, a twin pregnancy or a history of complications, you'll be under hospital care from the start.

Order your kraampakket

Your insurer will send you a free maternity package (kraampakket) on request, with supplies for the birth and the first days [1]. You'll want it ready by about the third trimester, especially if you're thinking about a home birth.

Choosing where to give birth

Home birth

For an uncomplicated pregnancy, home birth is an established and safe part of Dutch maternity care [1]. The midwife brings equipment and medicines, and a kraamverzorgende usually assists [1]. You'll be asked to raise the bed on blocks, a classic Dutch moment that no Australian antenatal class prepares you for.

The trade-off is pain relief: epidurals and nitrous oxide aren't available at home [2]. If you change your mind in labour, you transfer to hospital. In central Amsterdam that's usually a short drive, but think about stairs and lifts if you live in a narrow canal house.

Birth centre or poliklinisch hospital birth

You can also give birth in a birth centre or a hospital without a medical reason, still with your own midwife [1]. This is called a poliklinische bevalling, and you usually go home a few hours after the birth [1].

Because there's no medical indication, a statutory own contribution applies. Zorgwijzer lists €23.50 a day each for mother and baby; some supplementary policies cover it [3].

Medically indicated hospital birth

If your midwife hands over to a gynaecologist, or you choose an epidural, you become a hospital patient and care is generally covered by basic insurance [1][2]. Kraamzorg sits outside the eigen risico [3]; for other pregnancy and hospital costs, check your own policy wording.

Kraamzorg: the maternity nurse at home

This is the bit Australian parents rave about afterwards. A trained kraamverzorgende comes to your home for several hours a day in the first days after the birth [3]. She checks mother and baby, helps with feeding, shows you bathing and settling, keeps an eye on jaundice and recovery, and does some light household tasks.

Kraamzorg detail	What to expect
Hours covered by basic insurance	Minimum 24, maximum 80 hours; around 49 hours is standard with breastfeeding, 45 with formula [3]
Period	Currently within about 10 days after birth; to be extended to six weeks with the same total hours [3]
Eigen risico	Doesn't apply [3]
Own contribution	A statutory hourly fee; Zorgwijzer lists €6.00 an hour for 2027 [3]

Booking kraamzorg: step by step

Check your insurer's contracted agencies. On a natura policy, a non-contracted agency can mean extra costs.
Book early. Register with a kraamzorg agency as soon as your pregnancy is confirmed. Amsterdam agencies can fill up.
Have the intake. The agency visits or calls in the later months to plan the hours and check your home set-up.
Prepare the house. Bed blocks, a changing area and the kraampakket within reach.
Call when labour starts. Your midwife and the agency coordinate who comes when.

After kraamzorg ends, care passes to the youth health service at the consultatiebureau, which runs regular check-ups and the national vaccination programme for children.

The paperwork after the birth

Register the birth at the gemeente

You must report the birth within three days to the municipality where the baby was born [4]. In Amsterdam that means the gemeente Amsterdam, by appointment or online where offered. A parent can do it, or another adult who was present [4]. Bring your passport and, if relevant, your marriage certificate or proof of acknowledgement [4].

If the mother is registered in the BRP, the baby gets a BSN once the birth is registered [4]. If you're unmarried, sort out acknowledgement (erkenning) of the child before the birth if you can. It's easier than doing it afterwards.

Then add your baby to your health insurance. There's no premium for children under 18, but they must be registered with the insurer [5].

Australian citizenship and a passport

A baby born in Amsterdam to an Australian parent doesn't automatically get an Australian passport. You first apply to the Department of Home Affairs for citizenship by descent, then apply for the passport through the Australian Embassy in The Hague [6]. Our guide to citizenship by descent has the forms, fees and timing.

Get several international birth certificates (internationale akte) from the gemeente; Home Affairs and the passport office will want them.

Leave and pay

Dutch leave is set by law and paid partly by your employer and partly by the UWV, the employee insurance agency [7].

Leave	Length	Pay
Pregnancy and maternity leave	At least 16 weeks, 6 of them right after birth	Full salary, reimbursed by UWV [7]
Partner's birth leave	1 week within 4 weeks of birth	100% from employer [7]
Additional birth leave	Up to 5 weeks within 6 months	70% via UWV [7]
Parental leave	26 times your weekly hours, until child turns 8	First 9 weeks paid at 70% via UWV if taken in the first year [7]

Your employment agreement or collective agreement may top these up [7].

Australian Parental Leave Pay has its own residence and work tests, so check with Services Australia before you count on it while living in Amsterdam.

What about the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement?

Australia does have a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with the Netherlands [6]. Services Australia lists childbirth among the hospital care it can cover, but only for visitors with an A111 certificate, for essential care within 12 months of arrival [8]. If you live and work in Amsterdam, your pregnancy is covered by your Dutch basic insurance, not by Medicare.

Want to compare midwifery practices and kraamzorg agencies with other Aussie parents? Ask in Cooee Netherlands, our Facebook group for Australians in the Netherlands. Members share who they used, from Noord to Zuid.

Having a baby in Amsterdam: midwives, home births and kraamzorg