UK vs Australia for pregnancy and birth

[OchreDreamer]

Hi all,

I’m from Australia and living in London. My partner is from London and I do love living here. But we’re now thinking about having babies and the idea of being pregnant and delivering in the UK really scares me. Not just because I won’t have my family around me, but because the medical system is just so foreign to me. I’ve been here 8 years and love our life here, but there is still so much that just doesn’t make sense to me.

Am I crazy to even consider having a baby in the UK? Or should we go to Australia and have a baby there with the hopes of coming back to London eventually? What’s been your experience having a baby in London? I’ve only ever heard horror stories, especially with how quickly you leave hospital. Whereas everyone I know that’s had babies in Australia, specifically Melbourne where I’m from, has nothing but positives to say regarding pre and post birth for mum and baby.

Any thoughts (positive and negative!) are welcome :)

Well yes, I have given birth twice in London, as I am British. I don't know what care is like in Australia to compare it to. My births were fine and I was happy with my care. I wanted to leave hospital ASAP so stayed 36 hours first time and 10 hours second time. I have Australian friends who have also given birth in the UK. It seems pretty drastic to relocate for months to avoid giving birth in the UK. I would try to compare care objectively and not over think the horror stories, as people tend to share them more than the 'all was fine' stories.

What are the differences in care standards or social norms that worry you?

Most people I know in Australia give birth privately, which is obviously a very different experience to giving birth for free on the NHS. I've had one baby here and I can't say I thought the experience was amazing - carousel of midwives, impossible to get the right number to contact anyone, postnatal ward was grim. We went home with 36hrs but tbh I was desperate to get out of there.

But I never had any concerns about baby's safety, it didn't cost me a penny and I couldn't imagine relocating to Australia just to have a baby. Especially since if you want to go private you have to get private health and then wait for the coverage to kick in. However if you were planning on moving back soon anyway, it miiiight be worth it.

Can't speak to the experience of giving birth publicly in Australia, but I expect it's a bit more similar to here.

Can't speak for the Australian system, but having had a baby in NZ while friends were having them here I would say that the care I received was a million times better. Key difference for me was that I was given a list of midwives and was able to speak to / meet them before choosing one that suited me - and then saw this midwife for all ante natal appts, the birth and post natally. All appts took place in my home over a leisurely cup of tea, and she visited me daily for the first week after birth (including a social call on her day off the day after birth as she had had to leave before baby was born as had been in duty for hours and needed sleep) and then once or twice a week for 6 weeks.
Meanwhile friends here seemed to be in a conveyer belt, traipsing into hospital for appointments, even post natally, and seeing a different midwife every time. Fuck that shit.

If you’re in London you could have your antenatal care and delivery at a private hospital. Expensive but cheaper than relocating!

Oh also, I had all my midwife appointments at home with the same midwife each time (actually same midwife for two pregnancies). Not in London but on the NHS. I don’t know if any NHS trusts in London work on a case load basis but it was great for me.

I would imagine that paying to have your baby at a private hospital would be cheaper and much less disruptive than moving to the other side of the world and then moving back again with a baby/child.

(I gave birth once in London and twice in a different city in the UK…….. and all 3 births were fine and I was happy with the care I received).

Or should we go to Australia and have a baby there with the hopes of coming back to London eventually?

Would you actually do that though? Uproot everything, move to Australia, have a baby, then uproot everything again (plus a young child) and move back to London?

I mean, I can see why you'd want to be around family etc, but I'd think you'd need to view this as more of a permanent move tbh.

I've had two babies here and had nothing but great care. But I've no idea on the stats around birth in this country vs Australia. I'd bear in mind that you do tend to only hear horror stories though, people don't generally talk lots about how it was all just fine.

Only have a baby in the country you want to stay in until they are 18. In the event of marital breakdown you can be prevented from moving.

The physical giving birth and the relocating back to be close to your family are too quite separate issues. Have a look at the different citizenship constraints between UK & Aus. Was DH born in the UK?

If you could afford £20k then just have the baby privately in the UK. Moving to Australia just for maternity care seems pretty drastic, unless you want to move back there anyway but that’s totally separate to any concerns about the NHS.

I have given birth in London and Melbourne and the experiences were very similar. Both excellent care - before, during and after labour.

So we wouldn’t just go to Australia to have a baby. It is something we’ve spoken about doing just because all my family is there and my partner wants to see what it’s like to live there too. When I say come back to the UK I more mean eventually, like after a couple of years for example. That’s hard to say right now. I’m more just considering what pre and post natal care experiences have been like for people.

I'm in Australia and the stories of how women are patronised and bullied in pregnancy and labour by midwives in the UK (that I read on Mumsnet forums) are astonishing to me. Of course similar can happen here- but in the UK it seems to be seen as quite normal and the midwives are excused from what reads as utterly unacceptable behaviour by many with "they're just overworked etc".

Midwives are overworked here too- probably not to the same degree though- yet the standard still seems to be a basic level of compassion and patience.

I've had three babies across two big public hospitals in Australia and the care across pregnancy, labour and post partum is just exceptional.

The main exception I can think of is that the UK has a more developed system for homebirth supported by the NHS- in Australia (Sydney at least) there's only a couple of public hospitals which support homebirths and you have to live in those catchments. You have to hire private midwives otherwise.

Also it's a great place to have a baby/ toddler as the winters are so mild (except in Melb/ Adelaide and surrounds) that you can spend a significant amount of time outdoors, summer or winter.

www.royalfree.nhs.uk/services/maternity-services/postnatal-care#:~:text=Postnatal%20birth%20reflections-,Going%20home%20after%20the%20birth%20of%20your%20baby,to%20come%20and%20see%20you.
Have a good look at this OP
It's all evidence based
Good luck

It might be worth looking up whether there are specific threads on the hospital where you would give birth in London (i had one last year on my births at St Georges for example). Care varies so much between hospitals, you can't really make a generalised statement. I never felt bullied or patronised. With DD1, i had the same midwife for all my care. With DD2, i did see lots of different midwives but that was partially because two of them went on their own mat leaves during my pregnancy and also because I was in an "out of area" team. Also worth thinking about neonatal care, just in case it's required. Our DD1 spent two weeks in NICU / SCBU and had amazing care.

I see pp have mentioned about going private, but there's also the option to hire doulas or private midwives to support your NHS birth, which could also be an option to put your mind at ease if you decide to stay in the UK. The one I was looking at was around £6-8k so considerably cheaper than a fully private birth.

Your main consideration should be where do you want to live and raise your kids should you split with your partner. That's the country to go for because moving countries if you split once kids are here is a whole different ballgame.

Would you want to stay in Oz till your kid is 18yrs old? As custody arrangements are very different over there. Birth is a short window.