Midwife after delivery?

[Anonymous]

Do midwives come to your house if you want after the baby is born to provide any help and advice with baby care?

I'm from Germany and it's pretty standard there that a midwife comes regularly after delivery to your home to help you/show anything from feeding to bathing, swaddling etc (of course there health insurance pays for that).

Is this possible and if so how much might that cost? Can you do that even if you're not working with a midwife for the actual delivery?

[Anonymous]

No, I don't think midwives here will come to your house after the baby's born. You would have to hire a post-partum doula for that. You can also hire a lactation consultant for breastfeeding support. And there are also sleep consultants, night nurses, etc. Here, you can find a specialist for everything but you have to pay for them yourself (not covered by insurance).

[Anonymous]

I birthed at BirthCare in Alexandria (a birth center). Both the midwife and the birth assistant made visits to my home in the days after my son's birth. It was covered by the insurance. Don't know if they will do it for hospital births. I believe it is standard procedure for homebirths too. So between, them and the lactation consultant we hired for a "check-up" we were seen by someone at home for 3 days following the birth. Between that and having my mom there, I felt very well supported.
Congrats and good luck.

[Anonymous]

If you are delivering at a hospital, the nurses there can show you the basics of baby-care - swaddling, giving a bath etc. Many (all?) hospitals in the area have lactation consultants on staff, who can come in during your stay and advise on positioning, latch etc. Otherwise, you would need to hire a post-partum doula, or a nurse or something to come to your house. It's usually not covered by insurance but it never hurts to give them a call and find out what they might cover (for example I found out too late that I could've received a 10% discount on a childbirth education class we took at the hospital).

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Many of the midwives in this area who work at birth centers, and all of them who do homebirths, come to your house for follow-up visits. Usually both the midwife and birth assistant/apprentice will visit you, and if you hired a doula she'll make a home visit as well.

Let's see, I think the DC Birth Center midwives do post-partum home visits and I know for sure that Birthcare does. Someone correct me if I'm wrong....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of the midwives in this area who work at birth centers, and all of them who do homebirths, come to your house for follow-up visits. Usually both the midwife and birth assistant/apprentice will visit you, and if you hired a doula she'll make a home visit as well.

Let's see, I think the DC Birth Center midwives do post-partum home visits and I know for sure that Birthcare does. Someone correct me if I'm wrong....

DC Birth Center midwives do post-partum home visits within 48 hours and the birth center can provide a breastfeeding peer counselor if needed.