A midwife is a university-educated health professional specializing in physiological pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. A midwife provides care and advice to women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. In the case of physiological birth, a midwife can supervise care during labor and provide care for the newborn. Midwives in the Czech Republic work at maternity wards in hospitals or provide care independently. According to the WHO, continuous care by midwives is the safest choice for care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
Midwives who provide individualized care in the Czech Republic can be found on the Midwife Map where you’ll find contacts for individual midwives by region (in Czech).
You can read about how to choose a midwife, what to ask, and what is essential when choosing one here.
In the Czech Republic, you can also choose the services of a doula for additional support during childbirth. Doula is a non-medical support profession that complements the work of midwives, doctors, nurses, psychologists, and other professionals. In this sense, a doula is a member of the team that cares for a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period.
The situation in Czech maternity wards regarding birth rights is described in the handbook Pathways to a Happy Birth by the Active Motherhood Movement.
You can read about your birth rights in the Handbook for Pregnant Women by the League of Human Rights or on the Fair Hospital website (in Czech).
It’s a list of wishes and requirements for the care of a laboring woman and her newborn baby. Your wishes and care planning should always be based on the information you have gathered about childbirth and relevant care, and you should always be comfortable with them. You should never just copy your birth plan or birth wish from the Internet without any knowledge about the individual points and their context.
The Active Motherhood Movement can help you find your way around obstetric care in the Czech Republic.
You can also get help from a midwife. You can find contact details of any midwife in your area on the Midwife Map. Their business cards are only in Czech.
Yes, a midwife can also advise you on breastfeeding since it falls within her purview. In Czechia, you can also get advice on breastfeeding from lactation consultants. In case of any questions about breastfeeding, you can contact the Mamila lactation counseling clinic. The website is in Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian.
Your first visit to the gynecologist depends primarily on the type of care you wish to receive during your pregnancy. If you’ve found out that you are pregnant (for example, by using a pregnancy test), the pregnancy is wanted, and you aren’t troubled by any difficulties (lower abdominal pain, lower back pain or pain shooting up into the shoulder, lightheadedness, bleeding, severe vomiting), you don’t have to hurry to get an appointment. Using ultrasound, the doctor can usually find the developing baby only after the 6th week of pregnancy, i.e., 6 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period. By visiting at this time, you can have your pregnancy confirmed and arrange your first trimester screening (not covered by public insurance), which is carried out between the 11th and 14th week of pregnancy. In general, it’s recommended to visit a gynecological outpatient clinic before the 14th week of pregnancy, since according to the care schedule set by the Czech Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, this is the latest you should be issued with a pregnancy card and undergo your first blood and urine tests as well as an ultrasound.
No pregnancy examinations are mandatory. It’s up to you whether to have any. There is a system of recommended examinations and pregnancy clinics that corresponds to the Schedule of Care set by the Czech Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. In addition, you can arrange extra examinations with your midwife or doctor. We recommend that you always ask about what can be found out with each examination and whether this information is important not only for the success of your pregnancy, but also for yourself. We also recommend that you ask about how the examination is conducted, what side effects there are, when the result will be known, and what would happen if the examination showed that something might be wrong. You always have the right to be informed about different care options, to consult the results with other professionals, and to have an individualized care plan.
Any person of your choice can accompany you to the maternity hospital. It can be your partner or another family member, a midwife, doula, or interpreter. Please note that the hospital's internal regulations may limit the number of companions during delivery to one person. We recommend asking about the accompaniment options at your chosen hospital in advance.
Your midwife is allowed to accompany you to any maternity hospital on your delivery day, and the staff cannot prevent her from being with you throughout your stay in the delivery room. In the case the delivery room is small and more people would make it impossible to provide adequate care to the laboring woman, it’s possible to limit the number of companions to one. Additionally, if your midwife is not employed by the hospital, she only counts as your non-medical companion, not as a health professional, and therefore cannot assist you medically during labor. Unfortunately, there is no system cataloguing which midwives that can accompany you during labor are employed by which hospital. This information can only be given to you by the midwife herself, or you can ask the management of the delivery room of the given hospital.
Yes, midwifes can perform newborn screening. You can read about what newborn screening is and which diseases are included here (in English and Czech).
The term obstetric violence includes physical and psychological violence against a woman in the context of pregnancy and childbirth. Obstetric violence constitutes systemic institutional violence. This means that it’s perpetrated by health professionals—not out of a desire to harm, but often unconsciously, under the influence of a system in which they are educated and which considers this unwanted behavior to be normal. Obstetric violence can manifest itself in diverse ways. It can range from disregard for the rights of the laboring woman, to routine interventions that interfere with the natural course of labor, to physical violence such as cutting the perineum without the laboring woman’s consent.There are several types of obstetric violence:
- Physical violence
- Providing care without informed consent
- Disrespect for privacy and intimacy
- Disrespectful treatment and emotional violence
- Discrimination based on specific attributes of the client
- Refusing to provide healthcare
- Detention in health facilities
- Damaging the child's relationship with its mother
During childbirth, a woman in a very sensitive and vulnerable position. Awareness and effective communication are important on both sides—on the part of the laboring woman and on the part of health professionals. During pregnancy, a woman can consult her midwife about the course of labor, what to expect, and what to do in case of complications. She can also make a birth wish list to take with her to the maternity hospital. It’s also a good idea to have an informed companion who will know what to expect from the process and what the woman's wishes are, so that he/she can discuss them with the staff.
It's a good idea to get familiar with the desired birthing location in advance (maternity hospitals often allow pregnant women to take a tour of the delivery rooms) and ideally also get to know the local staff. Depending on your impression of both and on the type of care you’ll receive, you can choose the maternity hospital where you feel safest.
The rights and obligations of patients in the Czech Republic are established in § 28 of the Act No. 372/2011 Coll. The rights enshrined this way can be claimed by legal means and the imposed obligations can be enforced.
We are deeply sorry if you feel you have experienced obstetric violence. As one of your first options, you can speak to a midwife who will listen to you and may be able to direct you further. You can use the free online counseling service I Give Birth in Peace. You may also want to use the services of a psychologist or psychotherapist. In the event of an acute crisis, you can contact the crisis helplines listed below.
It’s also advisable to address your situation with the maternity hospital where the violence took place. The League of Human Rights, which runs the Centre for Victims of Obstetric Violence, can help you with submitting your feedback.
If you speak English and you have a general emergency including acute psychiatric condition or suicidal state you can use the
GENERAL EMERGENCY LINE 122
An ambulance will arrive to take you to the nearest appropriate medical facility.
If you speak English and you are feeling particularly lonely, scared, distressed or desperate and you feel you need to speak to someone, you can use an over the phone crisis line. There is no 24/7 line in English in the Czech Republic, but you can use one of the International lines listed HERE
If you speak Russsian od Ukrainian you can use the following lines:
LIA—social assistance helpline for all those affected by the war in Ukraine
☎️ Free crisis helpline: +420 800 601 020
Help in Ukrainian and Russian. Calls are anonymous (you don't have to disclose any information about yourself that you don't want to).
🕓 Operating hours: Mon–Fri 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sat and Sun 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
☎️ Free information and advice helpline: +420 800 601 020
Information is provided in Ukrainian, Russian, Czech, Romani, and Hungarian.
🕓 Operating hours: Mon–Fri 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Assistance helpline—Charity of the Czech Republic
ІНФОРМАЦІЙНА ЛІНІЯ
📞🇺🇦 Helpline in Ukrainian: 731 432 431 (Mon–Fri 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.)