Posted by This summer, a new chapter started in my life, we are happy to share that we gave birth to a baby boy on 2nd June! Having a newborn at home is both exciting and chaotic, but we are surviving!
Here is a picture of Tiantian when he was 12 days old. Between feeding, cleaning, and sleeping, I was able to also tackle the administration of the new family member. One interesting thing is that I discovered that giving birth to a newborn baby in Belgium can enjoy quite some benefits, from different organizations. In the interest of the authenticity of this blog, I have applied for all the benefits and would like to share my experience here.
Benefits from the government
- Start amount (maternity allowance)
The start amount is given to the mother for preparing the child’s birth (such as baby bed, stroller, etc.), and it can be paid out as soon as 2 months before the due date. You can apply as soon as you get the certificate from the gynecologist (around the 5th month).
The start amount is a one-time payment and is different for different regions.
In Flanders – € 1.190,68 for each child
In Brussels – €1.288,87 for the first child and € 585,85 for a subsequent birth
In Walonia – € 1.288,87 for each child
How to apply?
There are 5 payment funds you can get in touch with FONS, Infino, Kidslife Vlaanderen, MyFamily ,or Parentia.
2. Growth package/Child benefit
The growth package is a monthly payment to the mother’s account to support the day-to-day activities of the newborn, it will be paid until your newborn is 25 years old.
The amount depends on the child’s condition and the family income, for a child born in 2023, the minimum amount is €173.2 per month.
If the family income is lower than 34.526,91 euros, there will be also €69.12 per month added to the monthly growth package.
How to apply?
You should choose the same payment fund where you applied the start amount/maternity allowance.
Benefits from your mutuality
In Belgium, every person is/should be subscribed to a mutuality, this is the payment fund taking care of your health insurance reimbursement. Apart from all the other benefits you can get from your mutuality, they also provide a great deal of support for maternity. It will administrate a ton of benefits for your new baby, make sure you subscribe your newborn to the mutuality and apply for the benefits.
As usual, the benefit given by the mutuality differs slightly from one to another, I am using my own mutuality (Neutraal Ziekenfonds Vlaanderen) as an example here. Make sure you check out your own mutuality for the exact details.
- Birth premium – one-shot €300 (€150 per parent)
- Reimbursement for diapers (€100 euro per year for the first 3 years)
- Maternity assistance (extra hands to take care of the baby until 3 months after born) up to €300 reimbursement
After reimbursement, the maternity assistance is only a maximum of 5 euros per hour! Make sure you take advantage of this. - Vaccines reimbursement €50
- Half hotel price for collaborated vacation resorts (yes we took the baby for a short vacation in Walonia when he is one month old)
- Lower tariff for renting breast milk pumping machine and baby weighing scale
- Free assistance to take care of the sick child
Again, please check your own mutuality for details, some mutualities give away coupons for baby stores, which is also very interesting.
Benefits from your commune
One week after we registered our son to the commune, we received a letter, that informed us that we were entitled to a birth premium from the commune (65 euro), surprise surprise!
We just need to simply fill in a form and send it by email.
Make sure you check your commune for the child benefit, some communes have benefits for diaper disposal (for instance special garbage bags for diapers).
The above is a bit of a summary regarding the benefits of a newborn child, I hope you find this post helpful. Raising a child is a long project, luckily Belgium has a lot more support in place to ease the financial burden, I will have more posts coming up soon!
More about birth in Belgium: How much does it cost to give birth in Belgium?
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