Luxembourg sees growing demand for homebirths
The vast majority of births in Luxembourg take place in a hospital or clinic. When one thinks of it, this is rather strange, since the woman is not really sick. Perhaps those who insist on giving birth at home are following this logic.
"Demand is growing," notes Danielle Federspiel-Haag, a midwife who has worked in the field since 1995. She also co-founded the Grand Duchy's first maternity hospital. It offered an alternative to hospital and homebirths. The other two are still in operation, although the state has closed this program.
According to the midwife, expats brought the homebirth trend to Luxembourg. Many of these mothers speak English. At the same time, hospital births remain quite regular: of the 6,495 newborns in 2022, only 29 were not born in a hospital.
The number of homebirths does not even reach 1% of the total, but it is worth noting that in 2017-2019 there were 11, 7, and 6, respectively.
The difficulty of homebirths is also due to the lack of qualified midwives in the country to provide the necessary care. For 30 years, there was only 1 midwife in Luxembourg who performed homebirths. Now there are 5-10 of them.
The problem is also related to the payment of doctors. The CNS only covers the cost of one midwife, although specialists believe that at least two midwives are needed for safety.
