1. How and when did the idea for Maternita come about?
The idea came to me along with the birth of my first daughter. When I was pregnant with her, I lived in the Netherlands until shortly before birth. When I returned to Germany, I was overwhelmed with the surplus of options and information. I wasn’t quite sure what suited me and what information was good… and what wasn’t. As a result, I could not shake the feeling of stumbling aimlessly into parenthood. And I wanted to change that! I met Inga, who did not have the time or the nerve to worry about baby strollers, maids and co. because of her premature twins. Yet, she still needed all that for her children. It was a match! Since then, we work and fight for more enlightened freedom of choice, self-determination and support for families. After all, babies do not come with an instruction manual.
2. What can pregnant women expect from you?
Pregnant women receive neutral, individual and professional information, suitable contacts and of course a lot of help and relief. We have a comprehensive portfolio of organizational help. Some parents would like brief advice on parental benefits and parental leave, others want to be educated about birth places and birth-accompaniment options, and yet others may need help finding a daycare / childcare facility. We offer all of this to a varying extent, partly as workshops, partly as individual appointments and partly as part of our “Navigate through Pregnancy” package. We think that well-informed decisions are the cornerstone of self-determined parenting. We want to give our parents the foundation for this.
3. Pregnancy is a very personal matter. Why is it worth getting support for some things?
Whether you’re an expat, just having arrived in Germany and not knowing how everything works here, or an expectant mother working full-time, who wants to find the right parental leave / parental benefits model, or parents of twins with another little sibling, who have different demands on place of birth and support – these are all examples of customers who find us.
It‘s important to bear one thing in mind: we must not make assumptions. Each family has their own unique challenges and individual needs. We try to work with the family or solve these challenges for them so that they can go their own way, finding the right support in the right places. An old proverb sums up the essence of our services quite well:
It takes a village to raise a child. We try to build this village together with the parents as needed.
4. Do you also organize baby showers, baptisms and personal shoppers for baby equipment?
Yes, we do and we have corresponding partners who support us. However, those are areas in which parents are also happy to be involved, as they are more fun than completing applications and filling out paperwork. When advising about initial baby supplies and furniture, we focus on pollutants, sustainability and child safety. These remain completely underestimated topics even though they are extremely important to many parents.
5. What are your future plans? And how can you balance business expansion with a growing family?
We are currently working on our podcast series “9 Months and 100 Days”, where we share our knowledge with even more parents. In addition, we hope to finally go live with our video-class in the fall, which will revolve around parental benefits and co. Since I’m expecting baby number three in August, it will be a challenge. Nevertheless, for us self-employed women another baby does not mean things will come to a standstill.
Basically, we always re-evaluate what our priorities are and what motivates us to do our current work. We create space for projects, sometimes move a thing or two into the background and communicate with each other a lot. But I also have to say very clearly that I would never have gotten this far without Inga. She carries Maternita on when I can’t, and she always keeps a cool head despite my many ideas that keep bubbling up. We are now a team of five, which means work can be distributed even better. There is nothing more important and rewarding than a good team – and we’ve got one!
Maternita, Germany’s leading baby planner, offers pregnancy counseling and organizational support for expectant and growing families. We provide assistance from finding a midwife to advice on initial baby supplies. Various workshops and courses on parental benefits, child safety and more, enable us to effectively accompany families into their new life with baby.
Team Maternita, photo: Maternita