Of everything in the Dutch maternity system, kraamzorg — professional, insurance-backed help at home once your baby arrives — tends to surprise expat parents the most, usually pleasantly, once they understand what it is. There simply isn’t a direct equivalent in most other countries, so it’s worth explaining from scratch.
What Kraamzorg Actually Is
Kraamzorg is professional postpartum home care: a trained kraamverzorgende (maternity nurse) comes to your home for several hours a day during roughly the first ten days after your baby is born. She checks on you and your baby’s health, supports breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, helps you recognise warning signs, and — this is the part expats are often most surprised by — helps with light household tasks so you can focus on recovering and bonding with your baby.
How Many Hours You’re Entitled To, and What It Costs in 2026
You’re entitled to a minimum of 24 hours and a maximum of 80 hours of kraamzorg in total, depending on your and your baby’s needs as assessed during an intake — this is decided together with your kraamzorg organisation, usually around week 30. There’s a statutory eigen bijdrage (personal contribution) of €5.70 per hour in 2026. Unlike some other healthcare costs, kraamzorg does not count towards your eigen risico (annual deductible), so this hourly contribution is the only cost you’ll see for the care itself.
How and When to Arrange It
Because of an ongoing nationwide shortage of kraamzorg capacity, the advice has changed from what it used to be: register with a kraamzorg organisation as soon as your pregnancy is confirmed, ideally before week 16, rather than waiting until later in your pregnancy. Registering early doesn’t lock you into anything — the actual intake conversation, where your needs are assessed in detail, typically happens around week 30 — but it does protect you from being offered fewer hours or an organisation further from home simply because you registered late. Your verloskundige (midwife) can usually recommend an organisation she works with regularly.
What’s Covered, and What Isn’t
The hours and the eigen bijdrage described above are the standard picture under every basisverzekering. Some aanvullende (supplementary) insurance policies cover part or all of the eigen bijdrage, or add extra hours beyond the standard maximum — it’s worth checking your own policy for this, since it varies by insurer and package. For the fuller cost picture, including verloskundige care, the birth itself, and doula support, see Health Insurance & the Real Cost of Having a Baby in the Netherlands.
A Typical Day With Your Kraamverzorgende
While every household’s schedule looks a little different, a typical visit includes checking your temperature, blood pressure and recovery, checking your baby’s weight, temperature and jaundice, supporting whichever way you’ve chosen to feed your baby, walking you through anything that looks unusual so you know when (and when not) to worry, and helping with practical tasks around the house so you can rest. It’s hands-on, personal care — not a quick check and gone.
How This Works Together With Doula Support
Kraamzorg and doula support aren’t the same thing, and they don’t overlap the way you might expect. Kraamzorg is medical and practical home care that starts after birth and continues day-to-day for about ten days; doula support is continuous, personal guidance that starts during pregnancy, continues through the birth itself, and then shifts to phone and WhatsApp availability plus a single follow-up visit afterwards. In practice, many of my clients have both — kraamzorg handling the medical and practical side day by day, while I stay reachable as the familiar person who’s been there since before the birth. If you’d like to understand how the two fit together for your situation, get in touch.
While your kraamverzorgende is looking after the medical and practical side at home, there’s also a short list of official paperwork to get through in those same first days — see After the Birth: Registering Your Baby and the Dutch Paperwork Every Expat Faces for exactly what and when.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to arrange kraamzorg myself, or does the hospital do it?
You arrange it yourself, directly with a kraamzorg organisation — it’s separate from your hospital or verloskundige registration, which is exactly why registering early matters.
Does kraamzorg count towards my eigen risico?
No. Like verloskundige care, kraamzorg is exempt from the annual deductible — you only pay the fixed hourly eigen bijdrage.
What if I need more than 80 hours?
Extra hours beyond the standard maximum are sometimes available through an aanvullende (supplementary) insurance policy — check with your own insurer.