What is a birth plan and is it mandatory?
The birth plan (in Polish: plan porodu) is described in the Minister of Health regulation on the organisational standard of perinatal care. The current wording of the standard has applied since 7 May 2026. Under it, the birth plan covers all elements of medical care during birth, in particular your expectations about the place and conditions of birth, the presence of a person close to you, pain relief, consent or refusal of procedures, skin-to-skin contact and feeding.
The standard requires the person looking after your pregnancy, that is a midwife or doctor, to agree a birth plan with you during antenatal care and add it to your medical records, and once you arrive to give birth, to the hospital records. Not having a plan does not stop you from giving birth in hospital: if you do not have one, staff ask about your preferences on admission and write them down in your records.
The regulations do not prescribe a birth plan template. They do, however, list the topics it should cover, and those are a good basis for your own plan.
When and with whom should I write my birth plan?
You agree your birth plan with the person providing your pregnancy care, that is a midwife or an obstetrician. Preparing for birth and the birth plan, including your preferences and expectations, are also part of the antenatal education programme, which under the standard is the midwife's responsibility. The doctor looking after your pregnancy must refer you to a POZ midwife (a primary care midwife funded by the NFZ, Poland's public health insurer) for antenatal education.
According to pacjent.gov.pl, a POZ midwife looks after you free of charge under the NFZ from week 21 of pregnancy. She provides antenatal education once a week from week 21 to week 31, up to 10 visits, and twice a week from week 32, up to 16 visits. This is a good time to go through the points of your plan with her step by step.
The regulations do not specify a week of pregnancy by which the plan must be ready. It is worth finalising it after the visit between weeks 33 and 37, though. The standard provides for a pregnancy risk assessment at that point, including the recommended place of birth, and, if you want an epidural, an anaesthetic consultation as well. The plan is not set in stone: it changes along with your health and your needs.
What should I put in my birth plan?
The table pairs the topics listed in the standard with what the regulations already guarantee. That way your plan can focus on your own choices rather than repeating the standard.
| Topic | What you can write | What the standard says |
|---|---|---|
| Birth companion | Who you want with you at the birth: your partner, your mum, a friend or anyone else you choose. Whether they should also stay during examinations. | A person close to you can be anyone you choose. Staff must make it possible for you to have their support. |
| Movement and positions | That you want to walk around, use a ball, wall bars, a mat, a bean bag, the shower or a bath, and choose your own pushing position. | The hospital must make it possible to use, among other things, a ball, wall bars, a bath or shower, a mat and a birthing stool. In the second stage of labour you can take whatever positions you find most comfortable. |
| Pain relief | Which methods you want to try first, for example breathing, massage, warm compresses, TENS or water immersion, and whether you want an anaesthetic. | You have the right to relief of labour pain. The hospital provides at least one pharmacological method and publishes the available methods on its website. |
| Procedures | What you agree to and what you do not, for example breaking your waters, oxytocin, continuous CTG monitoring, an episiotomy, an enema, shaving. That you want to be asked for consent before every procedure. | Interventions should be limited to those that are necessary. An episiotomy only when medically justified, an enema and shaving only at your request. |
| Eating and drinking | That you want to drink and eat light meals during labour. | You can have clear fluids, including in active labour. Light, easily digestible meals are something you agree with the person caring for you. |
| Umbilical cord | That you want delayed cord clamping. Whether you want your birth companion to cut the cord, which is worth asking the hospital about in advance. | The cord is clamped once it stops pulsating, but not earlier than one minute after the baby is born. |
| Skin-to-skin contact | Who should take over skin-to-skin contact if you cannot, for example your partner. | Contact lasts uninterrupted for at least two hours if your and your baby's condition allows, including after a caesarean section. Weighing and measuring happen after it ends. |
| Feeding | That you want to start breastfeeding during skin-to-skin contact, or that you do not want to or cannot breastfeed. | Lactation care follows your decision about how to feed. Formula is given on a doctor's order and in line with your decision, after you have been given advice. |
| Special needs | A disability, chronic conditions, the need for an interpreter, diet, cultural or religious considerations. | This is one of the topics the birth plan is meant to cover. |
The standard says nothing about photos and videos of the birth. If you want to take them, ask about the rules at your chosen hospital and write down in your plan what you would like. Remember that staff may end up in the frame.
You can also write down what you expect after the birth. On the maternity ward, care procedures and checks on a healthy newborn are carried out after you have been informed and have given consent, in your presence if your health allows.
Does the hospital have to follow my birth plan?
A birth plan is not a contract the hospital must carry out point by point, but it cannot ignore it either. The standard requires staff to read your plan, discuss it with you, explain the reasons for any procedures and the consequences of not having them, and follow the plan as far as possible.
- Medical reasons: staff may intervene in the course of labour only for medically justified reasons. Each intervention must be recorded in your records along with the reason for it.
- A change in circumstances: the birth plan is adjusted to your and your baby's health and to your changing needs.
- Consent: the plan does not replace consent to procedures. Staff ask for your consent every time, and you can give or refuse it once you have been informed. You give written consent to pharmacological pain relief.
- Person close to you: staff can refuse their presence only if there is a likely epidemic risk or for the sake of your health and safety. A refusal is recorded in your records.
- The hospital's resources: care is tailored to your needs while taking into account what the hospital can organise, so the bath may, for example, be in use.
Skin-to-skin contact after the birth may be interrupted only at your request or when your or your baby's life or health is at risk, and this is recorded in your records. If your health does not allow contact with the baby, the baby's father or another person close to you whom you have chosen takes over.
What if the birth does not go to plan?
Birth can be unpredictable, so it is worth writing into your plan straight away what you want if things change. For example: who should be with you and take over skin-to-skin contact in a caesarean section, whether you want to be kept informed of every change as it happens, and how you want to feed if your baby has to be separated from you. In that situation the midwife, with your consent, collects colostrum and passes it on to be given to the baby.
If you are planning to give birth outside hospital, the standard requires the person caring for you to discuss the risk factors with you in advance and agree what to do if complications arise. You write this information into your birth plan.
Changing the plan during labour is not a failure. The plan is there to help staff understand your expectations and to help you take part in decisions with full awareness, which is your right under the standard.
How do I write a birth plan? A checklist
- Check your chosen hospital's website to see which pain relief methods are available. The hospital must publish them and update them at least once a year.
- Ask whether you can see the delivery room beforehand. The standard provides for the chance to get to know the place of birth.
- If you are thinking about an epidural, book the anaesthetic consultation that the standard provides for between weeks 33 and 37 of pregnancy.
- Write briefly and in bullet points, in order from labour, through the first hours with your baby, to your stay on the ward.
- For each procedure, state plainly whether you agree to it, do not agree to it, or want to decide at the time.
- Add what you want if a caesarean section is needed or your baby is taken for observation.
- Go through the plan with your midwife or doctor and ask them to add it to your records.
- Show the plan to the person who will be with you, so they can remind staff of it while you focus on giving birth.
- Pack a copy of the plan in your hospital bag along with the documents pacjent.gov.pl reminds you about: your blood group result, your pregnancy record book, your GBS swab result and a recent full blood count.
If you would like to go through your birth plan in an extra, longer session, on MyMidwife you will find midwives who run antenatal classes (szkoła rodzenia) and consultations, including online, as well as midwives who accompany you during birth.
Where can I report that my rights during birth were not respected?
You have the right to access your medical records, including the notes on procedures and the reasons for them. If you believe your rights as a patient have been breached, you can contact the Patient Ombudsman (Rzecznik Praw Pacjenta). Their helpline, 800 190 590, is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also write to kancelaria@rpp.gov.pl or submit a request to open an investigation.
