Planning Your Birth in Singapore: 5 Things to Look For (That Most People Don’t Tell You)
Planning your birth in Singapore is about much more than choosing a hospital and packing a bag. It’s about setting up the right people, place, and conditions so you feel informed, supported, and respected on the day your baby arrives.
When you’re pregnant in Singapore, you’re quickly surrounded by checklists: hospital bags, nursery items, baby classes. But the most important “planning” often gets reduced to one question: Which hospital are you delivering at?
As a birth doula, I see every day that your experience is shaped long before labour begins. The choices you make in pregnancy about your care provider, birth place, and support team have a huge impact on how you feel in your body, mind, and heart when you look back on your birth.
In this article, I want to share 5 things to look for when planning your birth in Singapore that most people don’t tell you beyond the brochures and hospital tours.
1. Alignment with your care provider (not just their reputation)
In Singapore, many parents choose an obstetrician because a friend recommended them or because they’re attached to a particular hospital. That’s a natural starting point, but it’s not enough. What really matters is whether this person’s philosophy of birth lines up with your values and preferences.
Some questions to gently explore:
How do they usually support low‑risk, physiological births?
How do they approach inductions, epidurals, and cesareans?
Are they open to positions like side‑lying, hands‑and‑knees, or using a birth ball?
How do they feel about doulas or continuous labour support?
Pay attention not just to the answers, but to how you feel in the room. Do you feel rushed, dismissed, or silly for asking questions? Or do you feel heard, respected, and calmer when you leave? That emotional “aftertaste” is a powerful sign of alignment.
Red flags can include:
“We’ll just see what happens on the day.”
“There’s no need to talk about that now.”
Any eye‑rolling or minimising when you ask about options or preferences.
You don’t need a “perfect” provider, you need one who treats you as a partner in decision‑making and is willing to communicate clearly along the way.
2. The birth place and its real policies
Hospitals in Singapore can look quite similar on paper, but the experience from the inside can feel very different. Beyond private vs public, there are day‑to‑day practices and policies that shape what labour actually looks and feels like.
When you tour or ask questions, go beyond “Do you have a birth ball?” and explore:
Can I move freely in labour (walk, use the shower, change positions)?
What are your usual practices around continuous monitoring vs intermittent monitoring?
Am I allowed to eat and drink in labour, and if not, why?
How many birth partners are allowed in the room (and are doulas included)?
Are student doctors or midwives usually present at births here?
The answer you’re looking for is not one “right” policy, but clarity. Knowing how things usually work in that setting helps you decide if it feels like a good fit for you, and what you might want to request or adapt ahead of time.
You can ask a simple, revealing question:
“What does a typical low‑risk birth look like here?”
3. Your support team and continuity of care
When planning your birth in Singapore, it helps to understand what kind of labour support and continuity of care to expect because who is actually with you during labour can shape the entire experience.
Singapore’s maternity system offers several pathways:
Private hospitals (like Thomson Medical, Mount Elizabeth Novena, or Parkway East): You choose your obstetrician who will provide all your prenatal care and typically attend the birth to deliver your baby.
Public hospitals – subsidized line: For Singapore citizens. You cannot choose your doctor; whichever obstetrician is on shift during your appointment or labour will care for you.
Public hospitals – private line: Foreigners are automatically on this pathway (though Singaporeans can opt for it). You can choose your obstetrician, similar to private care.
However, even when you have chosen your doctor, it’s important to understand the practical reality of how care looks during labour. Many expectant parents imagine that their doctor and nurses will be with them throughout the entire process. In truth, your doctor usually comes in only at a few key moments often to check your progress during early labour, when you are fully dilated, and again to guide the birth as you begin pushing. They may pass by briefly if they’re nearby or if any major decisions need to be made, but for most of your labour, they will not be continuously present.
Similarly, nurses provide incredible care, but their role is to monitor multiple labouring patients at once. They will come in periodically to check your vital signs, adjust the fetal monitor, or update your notes — and then step out again. That means you and your partner will likely spend long stretches of time together, often navigating contractions on your own between check‑ins.
This is why continuous birth support matters so much. A birth doula in Singapore offers exactly that unwavering presence from early labour through birth, providing emotional reassurance, physical comfort techniques, and clear information about what’s happening. A doula does not replace your medical team or your partner; instead, she works alongside them, bridging gaps between hospital protocols and your personal preferences. In a system built around shifts, handovers, and short check‑ins, that steady, familiar presence can make all the difference in helping you feel grounded, informed, and supported.
When preparing, consider asking your care provider or hospital:
Who will actually be with me during most of my labour?
How often is my obstetrician usually present?
Are birth doulas welcomed in this hospital’s labour rooms?
These questions help you build a birth team that balances medical expertise with the continuous, compassionate care that supports both your body and your emotional experience.
4. The environment and how it makes your body feel
We often talk about “setting the mood” for birth as if it’s a nice extra: dim lights, music, maybe an essential oil or two. But your environment is not just a vibe it’s biology.
Your body releases hormones like oxytocin more easily when you feel safe, private, and unobserved. Bright lights, constant interruptions, loud noises, or feeling watched can make it harder to relax, and that tension can affect the rhythm of labour.
As you plan, consider:
How easy is it to control the lighting in the room?
Is there space to move, lean, sway, and change positions?
Can you use the shower or bath for comfort?
You don’t need a perfect, spa‑like room. You need an environment where you can exhale, drop into your body, and follow your own rhythm. Small adjustments a dimmed light, your own pillow, a birth playlist, a safe hand to hold can make a big difference to how you experience each contraction.
If you want more practical ideas on this, you’ll love my post on how your birth environment shapes labour, and another one with concrete, simple ways to shape your birth space in Singapore.
5. Communication, consent, and decision‑making
Even in the smoothest births, there are usually moments when decisions need to be made: about monitoring, breaking the waters, starting or adjusting an induction, or moving to the operating theatre. How these conversations are handled has a huge impact on how respected you feel afterwards.
As you plan your birth, pay attention to:
Does your provider explain options in plain language?
Do they offer benefits, risks, and alternatives, rather than just one path?
Do you feel pressured, or do you feel like a partner?
You don’t need to know every possible scenario, but it helps to have a few phrases ready that keep you in the conversation:
“Can you walk us through the benefits and risks?”
“Are there any alternatives we could consider?”
“Is this an emergency, or do we have time to think/talk?”
“Can we have a few minutes alone to discuss?”
These questions are not confrontational; they’re tools to help you stay present, informed, and involved in decisions about your body and your baby.
Bringing it all together
Planning your birth in Singapore is not about scripting every detail or forcing a specific outcome. It’s about setting up the conditions that make a positive experience more likely:
A care provider whose approach feels aligned.
A birth place whose policies you understand.
A support team that offers real continuity.
An environment where your body can relax and do its work.
Communication that honours your voice and your consent.
From here, you can dive deeper into more specific topics: choosing a care provider, shaping your birth environment, and finding the right birth doula in Singapore. Think of this article as your “start here” guide an invitation to plan not just for a healthy baby, but for a birth where you feel informed, supported, and deeply respected.