Midwifery-led care

We provide continuous, midwifery-led care tailored to your needs - from pregnancy through the postnatal period - with familiar faces, personal guidance, and space for your choices, in close collaboration with specialised care when needed.

Pregnancy

Midwives are the primary healthcare professionals for guiding you through a low-risk pregnancy and supporting your childbirth. One of the main advantages is the continuity of care we can provide: you will be supported by a small team of caregivers, giving you the

opportunity to get to know each other well. This creates familiarity and highly personalised care and helps reduce unnecessary interventions.

During a first appointment, we determine whether your pregnancy can be guided by us. Even in higher-risk situations, we can explore whether

we are able to continue supporting you, in close collaboration with a medical specialist.

During the prenatal period, you can come to us for:

- prenatal medical check-ups

- private consultations to help you prepare for childbirth

- information sessions on preparing for labour, birth and postpartum

- consultations to help you prepare for breastfeeding

- creating your birth plan

Sometimes things run a different course. In the event of a pregnancy loss, unwanted pregnancy or questions about conceiving, you are very welcome to contact us.

Labour and Birth

During preganncy, we prepare for birth together. Informed decision making is central to our approach. We see it as our role to provide you with clear information about your rights, the available options, and the benefits and risks of different scenarios. Together, we create a

birth plan. While we cannot predict exactly how labour will unfold, we take your preferences into account and support you in making informed decisions at every step.

We are on call day and night. If you are unsure about anything, you can contact us by telephone. Think you may be in labour? We will come to your home. Together, we monitor the progress of labour and decide at the appropriate moment to leave for the hospital.

We have a unique collaboration with hospital UMC Sint-Pieter. Your baby will be born there under our guidance, in collaboration with a hospital midwife. Would you prefer to give birth in

another hospital? That is also possible. A ZIB midwife can support you there as well, although in other hospitals they do not hold medical authority. Even so, having a familiar caregiver by your side makes a significant difference.

After the Birth

You did it! You gave birth to your baby. We stay with you a little longer to ensure a good start (delayed cord clamping, skin-to-skin contact, and initiating breastfeeding). Afterwards, you will be transferred to the maternity ward, although by mutual agreement you may also

choose to return home a few hours after giving birth.

In case you prefer not to stay in hospital, but feel unable to rest properly at home, a postnatal stay at the birth house Pass-ages could be an option. All of this can be discussed with us.

For postnatal follow-up, we visit you at home. We monitor both you and your baby medically and provide breastfeeding support. After some time, you may also return to our practice for further appointments.

Be sure not to miss our Babyboost, a weekly informal gathering for new parents. We also organise many other activities, so do take a look at our calendar.

Lactation consultation

De Melk Kliniek is the place to be - live or online - for all mothers (new or expecting) who want to guide their newborn safely and healthily through the postnatal period and their first year of life. Whether you choose breastfeeding or bottle feeding, we fully respect your choice. We support and guide you so you can feed your baby with confidence and peace of mind. We work with experienced midwives and lactation consultants. We not only support and inform parents, but also other healthcare professionals involved in this field, such as general practitioners and midwives.