The ACCESS Guide "Having a baby in the Netherlands" has been developed for the International Community to help answer some of the questions that arise when having a baby in the Netherlands: choosing a midwife, delivery, list of hospitals, pain relief, childbirth and baby courses, administration…
 
Many Dutch terms are used throughout this booklet, usually with the English equivalent beside them. Also, you can look up the Dutch word in the vocabulary section at the back of the booklet.

Giving birth in Holland

The Netherlands is one of the safest countries in the world in which to have a baby, both for mothers and for babies. The Dutch philosophy is that childbirth is a natural, physical process, not a medical condition, and that pregnant women should primarily be handled by midwives rather than by doctors in a hospital, and not be treated as patients - unless there are complications.

There's no place like home

The Netherlands has the highest rate of home births in the western world - currently, one in three babies are born at home in the Netherlands. (To compare: in the UK, only about 2% of babies are born at home, in Belgium this figure is closer to 1 %. Similarly 99 % of births in the US take place in a hospital environment).