Welcome International Families!

You are an international family looking for pre-natal and / or post-natal professional help and guidance through the process of having a baby to be born in Germany ?

You prefer to speak English rather than German?

Let me introduce you to my support as a midwife and as a Developmental Psychologist

Midwife Support

For Mothers-to-be: Pre-natal Consultations

If you get the blue line or positive symbol or whatever indicates that – yes! – you are pregnant, it is time to make an appointment with your gynecologist and your midwife at the same time. You should start your search early, as most midwives only take a few clients at a time and can be booked up. I always recommend to see a gynecologist and a midwife side by side. Your doctor will take care about your medical issues, I can and will do so as well. But mothers-to-be have many more questions on their exciting course to become a mum. You may meet me in addition to your doctor and address all your mayor or minor topics in order to get reliable answers with heart and mind – no matter whether they are medical, organizational, practical, psychological, …

Midwives prepare you as an expectant mother for childbirth in relevant courses.

For Newborns and their Mums: Post-natal Consultations

You are entitled to midwifery-led postnatal care during the first twelve weeks after childbirth. Once your baby is born and you are back at home, I will see you regularly. At your home, or in my office I will look after you and the baby. Then I will advise you on how to take care of the baby in general, nursing and feeding issues (breast or bottle), including weight control, the baby´s special behavior, the residual of the umbilical cord, skin care, and all other questions on the daily care of your newborn baby. I will attend your own recovery from birth such as the healing processes of wounds (episiotomy stitches or Caesarean Section).

I am a midwife with conviction – therefore I put a special focus on breastfeeding support and lactational advice.

Furthermore, you may contact me for all your concerns and problems as a young family and please, do not hesitate to address your worries.

Payment

Any midwife support is covered as treatment by statutory health insurance for all patients presenting their Krankenversichertenkarte. All costs will be settled directly with your health insurance company.
Private patients will be sent an invoice based on Hebammengebührenordnung (HebGebO) Selbstzahler and can expect reimbursement of the costs from their insurance company according to the company´s terms and conditions.
Good to know: In case you are supported by a lactation consultant (breast feeding consultant), who is not a midwife, her bill will not be payed, since this service is not covered by the range of statutory health insurance benefits. So just ask your Hebamme!

My second academic profession is to help you and your child as a Developmental Psychologist Master of Science.

You are emotionally in need?
Psychological Support

Developmental steps in the course of becoming a mother or a father take their time and love on first sight for parenthood must not always be the case, which is very normal. Yet these steps may be emotionally complicated and once you are overwhelmed by worries and anxious sentiments and you are stuck in your ambiguous thoughts, you should ask for psychological support.

Sometimes infants profit from their parents´ developmental psychological support to help them better understand the child´s behavior.

Parents having a colicky baby with daily long and tiring fussy periods contact me in order to help them find smart solutions for soothing their baby. Others ask for coaching when their child has sleep problems with problems to be put down or frequent waking up through the night. Some mothers need advice in the weaning process to stop the child from nursing all night long in order to fall back to sleep. This phenomenon tires mothers and fathers enormously if lasting for long periods.

Some parents notice their baby´s or toddler´s excessive fussiness in other strange situations that stresses them permanently. Feel free to come up to me to with your experiences.

Just to let you know about uncomplicated fussiness

Normal infant fussiness starts at about 1-3 weeks, peaks at about 6-8 weeks, and is gone by about 3-4 months. For a while most babies will “fuss” about 2-3 hours per day, no matter what you do. In addition, babies are often very fussy when they are going through growth spurts, which is no reason to worry.

Once you experience that well-meant advice, given by family, friends, or an internet counsellor do not bring a lasting positive change to the crying, sleeping or feeding problems of your child, you should see a professional coach on these dysregulation problems.

Cues for severe dysregulation problems

The child

• doesn’t sleep well, day or night
• needs excessive support by its parents to be put down to sleep
• seems to have more intense reactions than other babies or kids
• isn’t content to just sit or play – seems to need parents´ constant entertainment
• rarely seems to be happy or content
• doesn’t easily fall into a routine

The parents

• are exhausted and at a complete loss
• feel responsible for their babies complicated situation
• imagined their life together with a baby to be completely different
• search competent and professional advice
• wish to come back to a normal and more laid-back life

What I can offer:

• individual consultations based on scientific research in consideration of parents´ individual prerequisites
• parental support to implement new coping strategies
• strengthening parents´ competencies and parental sensitivity
• development of an alternative sight of the child´s reactions
• development of positive parent – child relationship experiences

Payment

My psychological support and consultations are short-term interventions. As such they are no psychotherapy and therefore not covered by statutory health insurance. You will receive an invoice that I will charge accordingly to my fees below.

Private patients will be sent an invoice and can expect reimbursement of the costs by the insurance company according to the company´s terms and conditions.

Contact

You should use the e- mail contact form on my website (funk@bebzeit.de). Then you make sure, that your request is placed securely at any time.

You can call me for further information (+49 160 7008800) and you should use the mailbox in case I am busy.