Your English guide to birth in Germany
Step by Step
Everything that needs doing
From the first weeks of pregnancy to the first months with your baby.
Every practical job from Step by Step, in the order it comes up: the care and appointments, the choices worth making before you are asked, and the paperwork that goes alongside. Start at the stage you are in and work forward. Most of it is a phone call or a form, and none of it needs doing all at once.
First trimester: setting up your care
Confirm the pregnancy with a gynaecologist, usually between weeks 5 and 8, and come away with your Mutterpass. A midwife can confirm it too, if you already have one.
Decide who holds your routine care: a midwife, a gynaecologist, or the two of them sharing it. A midwife can carry out almost all the check-ups; the scans and fine diagnostics stay with the gynaecologist.
Find a midwife (Hebamme). They book up fast, often within weeks of a positive test, and you contact them directly without a referral.
Ask whether that midwife also does postpartum home visits (Nachsorge). If not, look for a second midwife who does.
If you are privately insured, call your insurer to check what your cover includes.
First trimester: what your care looks like
Read through the routine check-ups, scans, and fine diagnostics week by week, so you know what is coming and what is optional: birthandmother.com/guides/step-by-step
Check-ups roughly every four weeks, each one recorded in your Mutterpass.
First routine scan, weeks 9 to 12, alongside blood tests and infection screening.
The first-trimester screening window, weeks 12 to 14: the nuchal scan, and NIPT, the blood test that looks for trisomy 21, 18 and 13. Both are optional. The nuchal scan is usually paid privately, and NIPT is covered only in particular circumstances, so ask what applies to you.
Second trimester: checks and screening
Check-ups continue every four weeks.
The second of the three routine scans, weeks 19 to 22: the basic scan, or the extended scan if you choose it.
Glucose screening (oGTT), weeks 24 to 28.
Read up on individual health services (IGeL-Leistungen), the extras offered beyond covered care: additional ultrasounds, toxoplasmosis and CMV screening, group B streptococcus (GBS) testing, Doppler scans. Ask the price, and whether your insurer covers it, before you agree to any of them: birthandmother.com/guides/the-german-maternity-system
If fine diagnostics are offered, ask what the scan can and cannot tell you, and take the time you need with the decision.
Second trimester: where, and who
Look at the birth places near you: a hospital, a birth house (Geburtshaus), or home with a midwife. The best one is whichever fits you, your family, and your wishes for this birth.
Book a tour or an information evening (Infoabend) at the ones you are considering, and ask whether English-speaking midwives are on the team.
Register with your chosen birth house or home-birth midwife now. They take a limited number of births a month.
Choose a paediatrician (Kinderarzt) for your baby's first check-ups.
Second trimester: the first forms
Tell your employer in writing, usually somewhere between weeks 12 and 20, with your due date. The day-to-day maternity protections start once they know.
Book your antenatal class (Geburtsvorbereitungskurs). The birthing parent's place is usually covered, and popular classes fill months ahead.
If you are not married: arrange the Vaterschaftsanerkennung and Sorgeerklärung at the Jugendamt. It can be done any time before the birth.
Read up on Elterngeld and Kindergeld at familienportal.de, so the forms are familiar when they matter.
Third trimester: checks and registering
Check-ups move to every two weeks, and monitoring (CTG) may begin.
Third routine scan, weeks 29 to 32.
Register at your hospital (Anmeldegespräch), around weeks 30 to 34. This is the formal pre-birth appointment where they take your details and talk through your preferences.
Write your birth preferences (Geburtsplan), even just a page: birthandmother.com/guides/birth-preferences
Confirm your postpartum midwife, and what their first visits will look like.
Third trimester: work and money
Send your due-date certificate to your insurer to claim maternity pay (Mutterschaftsgeld).
Register parental leave (Elternzeit) with your employer in writing, at least seven weeks before it starts. It is binding for the first two years.
Maternity protection leave (Mutterschutz) begins six weeks before your due date. You may keep working through those weeks if you want to, and change your mind at any point.
The last few weeks, from around week 36
Pack your hospital bag.
Fit the car seat, or plan how your baby will come home.
Fill the freezer, and arrange who can help in the first weeks (Wochenbett).
Save the key numbers: your birth place, your midwife, a taxi.
Full term is week 37. Past your due date, extra monitoring is usual, and what happens next is for you to decide with your care team.
After the birth: in the first week
Register the birth at the registry office (Standesamt). The hospital often forwards the paperwork, but you confirm it.
Order several copies of the birth certificate (Geburtsurkunde). You will need them, and some are issued specially for Elterngeld and Kindergeld.
Book your baby's U2 check-up with your paediatrician, due within the first 10 days of birth.
Add your baby to your health insurance.
Welcome your postpartum midwife for the first home visits (Nachsorge).
After the birth: in the first months
Apply for parental allowance (Elterngeld) within three months, for full back-payment.
Apply for child benefit (Kindergeld) through the family benefits office (Familienkasse). It needs your baby's tax ID (Steuer-ID), which arrives by post; it is only back-paid so far, so don't leave it too long. From 2027 it is expected to be paid without an application in many cases.
Keep the baby check-ups (U-Untersuchungen) on schedule with your paediatrician.
Register your baby's residence (Anmeldung) at the citizens' office if your city asks for it.
If your baby needs a passport or citizenship papers, start that when you are ready.
birthandmother.comOctober 2026