“Demand is going up,” says Danielle Federspiel-Haag, who has worked as a midwife since 1995. Demand, that is, for options to give birth somewhere other than a hospital.

“For sure it was expats who brought this movement to Luxembourg,” she adds, commenting that women opting for home births are largely English speakers.

In 2022, Federspiel-Haag cofounded the first birthing house in Luxembourg, offering a third option besides home and hospital. (Potentially interesting if you live in a small flat or have other kids around.) Later in 2022, however, the ministry of health stopped the practice, although the Lunata centre remains open and still facilitates home births.

Hospital births remain the norm, however: of 6,495 new babies in 2022, only 29 weren’t born in a maternity ward. Still, compare that to 11, 7 and 6 from, respectively, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

For about three decades until 2021 there was only one midwife in the grand duchy who performed home births, says Federspiel-Haag, estimating that some five or ten midwives are now offering the service.

Currently, the National Health Fund (CNS) will only reimburse the cost of one midwife who assists with a home birth, although Federspiel-Haag says that in her practice they always bring two as a safety precaution.

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