Pregnancy can bring a lot of questions at once. Find calm, practical starting points for maternity care, the choices ahead and preparing for your baby, so you can focus on the next useful step.
What would help today?
There is no single timetable for feeling prepared. Choose the question that is on your mind, and use these guides to make the next decision easier to understand.
I’ve just found out
A straightforward first plan for starting maternity care, noting questions and working out what needs attention first.
Appointments and pregnancy care
Understand the purpose of routine care, what you may want to ask and where to check how services work where you live.
What do I need to buy?
Think through what will suit your home, travel, budget and plans, including what may be optional or can wait.
Preparing for birth and the first days
Gather practical questions and preparation ideas while leaving room for plans and circumstances to change.
A few useful places to begin
You do not have to make every decision now. Start with reliable information for the question in front of you, then come back as your needs change.
- Getting started: Begin maternity care, list medicines or health questions for your care team and see what can wait. Read the first-steps guide
- Appointments and screening: Find out what routine care may include and prepare questions for your maternity team. Explore appointments and care
- Food, medicines and wellbeing: Check current, authoritative guidance and ask a qualified professional about what applies to you. Explore pregnancy health and wellbeing
- Planning purchases: Compare products by intended use, fit, safety information, drawbacks and whether buying now is necessary. Explore pregnancy buying guides
A practical first plan
Pregnancy: a first-time mother’s guide to getting started
Start with the steps that open maternity care and may need personal advice. This guide helps you organise early questions and understand what can wait.
Clear information, with room for your circumstances
Pregnancy and maternity care can vary between people and across the UK. Our guides should explain what a page covers, show where advice comes from and distinguish general information from personal clinical advice. For a concern about your health or pregnancy, contact your maternity team or another qualified healthcare professional; use current NHS or other appropriate official guidance for time-sensitive questions.
Useful guidance, as your questions change
Sign up for considered guidance and practical ideas for pregnancy and your baby’s first year.