Expat Guide to Pregnancy In Singapore: Costs, Hospitals, Birth and More | Johnny Africa

Pregnancy is a transformative journey, and understanding the nuances of giving birth in Singapore can make the experience smoother and more reassuring. From the world-class healthcare system to government support schemes, there’s a wealth of information that can help expecting parents navigate this special time.

This post will cover everything you need to know about having a baby in Singapore including the hospitals, tests you can do, and most specifically the costs associated with having the baby. I won’t just talk about the cost of delivering the baby but everything leading up to it. Living in Singapore as expats, we are not entitled to a lot of the same cost structures as local Singaporeans or PRs so this cost breakdown is entirely from the perspective of an expat with private insurance.

I won’t hold anything back in this post and by the end of it, you’ll see exactly to the dollar, how much we paid for delivering a baby in Singapore. Of course, everyone’s needs and desires will be different including the hospital you want to deliver and the types of treatments you’re going for (natural vs c-section birth). This post is our experience which will hopefully be a good reference guide for you to plan out your own pregnancy journeys!

Health insurance for a Singapore Pregnancy

Health insurance is one of the most important factors for how your pregnancy turns out. For expats, we are not eligible for any state aid and any form of insurance is entirely dependent on the employer. As an expat, I’ve seen insurances that range from bare minimum garbage to red carpet service. It really is the luck of the draw and what you end up getting with your company.

For many of my friends that had bad insurance, they took out extra maternity related insurance that would cover more of the costs. I’m not an expert on health insurance so I can’t help you with this part and this blog post is entirely our personal experience.

Our health insurance in Singapore

For us, we were incredibly fortunate to have a very comprehensive and generous maternity policy. In total, maternity related costs were capped at S$22,750 a year. This was much higher than most of our friends. The maternity budget is reserved exclusively for pregnancy related things like the birth delivery, NIPT, and more.

Standard visits to the OBGYN for the ultrasounds and other similar types of visits did not come out of this budget but from a much larger outpatient pool that was unlimited. Safe to say, this insurance is almost akin to a wellness insurance and any treatment that was helpful, we did.

I know many others will not have this level of insurance coverage in Singapore and I would say many of the expenses we incurred were not required. They were just optional nice to haves that we did because why not?

Hospitals in Singapore

Singapore is stacked with very good and internationally acclaimed hospitals. There are many hospitals to choose from to give birth so it might be overwhelming at first when you decide on the hospital you want. This might be a confusing concept to many that come from countries with sophisticated public healthcare systems.

Public vs private hospitals in Singapore

In Singapore, there is a distinct difference between the public and private hospitals. The private hospitals are for profit hospitals that generally offer a more high end experience with better services. Public hospitals are cheaper and less pamper focused. Singaporeans and PRs get subsidies for delivering at public hospitals so the bills are very low but this is not available to expats. This is not to say the public hospitals are bad whatsoever, but if you want a more comfortable experience, the private hospitals are the way to go.

In fact, many of the wealthy people from surrounding countries in Southeast Asia will fly to Singapore and give birth in these private hospitals.

List of public hospitals in Singapore

Kandang Kerbau Women and Children’s Hospital.National University Hospital.Singapore General Hospital.

List of private hospitals in Singapore

Mount Elizabeth OrchardMount Elizabeth NovenaThomson Medical CentreGleneaglesRaffles HospitalParkway EastMount Alvernia

Cost for delivering a baby in Singapore

The costs for delivering a baby in Singapore wildly varies based on your needs. The main criteria are private vs public hospitals, the type of room you want (shared rooms with multiple beds or your own private bedroom), and the type of delivery (natural vs c-section).

Here are some sample costs for public hospital deliveries in a shared room with a natural birth.

These are prices for private hospital delivery. These prices are for natural birth and include the delivery and a 3 day 2 night stay at the hospital after. A 1 bedded ward is a private room and a 2 bedded ward is where you’ll share a room with another mother. C-section prices, epidurals, and any other interventions will be additional costs.

You’ll also need to add GST to all of these prices which is another 9% starting from 2024. These are just rough estimates and are subject to change at any point. In this blog post, you’ll see exactly how much we paid from beginning to end in exact dollar amounts.

Which hospital and doctor did we choose?

I’m not in any way a Singapore hospital expert but our experience started off at a OBGYN in Mount Elizabeth Orchard (one of the premier private hospitals) before switching to Thomson Medical Center near the end of the pregnancy for the birth.

We originally settled on Mount Elizabeth Orchard after hearing from many people that this was the gold standard. However, after hiring our doula, we changed to Thomson Medical center as we were specifically interested in a natural birth and Thomson seemed to be the best place for that.

Switching to Thomson Medical Center

In Singapore, you can change your hospital for delivery up to the last few weeks. In the end, you’re the one paying for it so any hospital will gladly take your money.

Doctors are almost all affiliated with a hospital and most of their offices are directly at the hospital, even if they are a private practice. There is no such thing like in Europe where you see your gynecologist in their own office outside of a hospital and when you deliver at a hospital, you get a different doctor. In Singapore, your OBGYN throughout your pregnancy is the same one that will deliver your baby.

Take a hospital tour in Singapore

Unsure of where you want to deliver?

Don’t worry, Singapore has you covered. Baby stuff is such a big business in Singapore that hospitals have actual guided tours of their facilities to help you decide. Most of the private hospitals have private tours where they will show you the delivery rooms as well as the rooms where you’ll rest afterward.

It was at these tours that we realized we didn’t like the rooms at Mount Elizabeth Novena which was one of the reasons we ended up switching to Thomson.

Getting help in Singapore for your baby

Singapore is a paradise for those that want help with their lives. The whole society is built around having helpers do day to day tasks for you at a very low price (something we in the west really can’t comprehend). There are many similar services for pregnancy and caring for a newborn baby.

These are just the ones I know about but I’m sure there are many more options out there in Singapore.

Confinement nannies

Confinement nannies are baby caregivers that stay with you for the first month of pregnancy. They live with your full time in your apartment and take care of the baby at night, clean around the house, and prepare your meals. It’s a great way for sleep-deprived parents to recharge but also have someone that knows what they’re doing with infants.

Confinement nannies are very common in Singapore as it is a traditional Chinese practice. The mother is also supposed to not leave the house for the first month (hence the confinement nanny) but that is obviously not a requirement. Confinement nannies cost around $3,000 for one month and this price can change depending on the time of year. You also need to provide her with accommodation and food. We did not get one but know many of our friends (local and expat) that did.

Doulas

Doulas are the equivalent to mid-wives in Singapore. The concept of mid-wives that is common practice in Europe is not a thing in Singapore. Doulas are the closest things you can have to a mid-wife in Singapore. They are not official medical practitioners in Singapore so they cannot actually assist in the birth in any way. They are more of your birth consultants that will guide you through all the various stages of the process.

As we are far from family, a doula was well worth the experience in my opinion in Singapore. We had three pre-birth consultations with her that involved formulating the birth plan and answering all the questions we had about the birth. This was really useful since the doctor appointments in Singapore are very much done as fast as possible. Literally we never saw the OBGYN for more than 10 minutes per visit.

The doula will be there for the birth and really help the mother and father make it through the process. Our doula came another two times after the baby was born to help us with various infant stage things.

All in all, we paid $2,600 for the doula which included all of our meetings with her. We tried claiming this with the health insurance but it is not covered.

Maternity classes

Maternity classes are a common practice in the Singapore expat world. While some hospitals will offer very basic maternity and pregnancy classes, we wanted more. As a man, I really had no idea about most pregnancy related things and attending these classes was helpful to learn about the process but also mentally prepare myself for what was to come.

The maternity classes included sessions on natural birth, c-section and interventions, how to take care of the baby including diaper changing/swaddling/etc. and breastfeeding. It was also a great place to meet other parents to be with similar due dates. There are a handful of companies that offer these maternity classes and we went with Beloved Bumps.

This class for 4 sessions was $700. These classes are not covered by insurance generally.

Night nanny

Welcoming a newborn is a joyous but challenging time for new parents, especially during the night. In Singapore, many parents hire night nannies to manage nighttime care, allowing them to rest and recover. A night nanny, also known as a night nurse or postpartum doula, provides specialized overnight support for newborns.

Night nannies handle feeding and burping, whether the baby is bottle-fed or breastfed. They assist breastfeeding mothers by bringing the baby to them for nursing and then burping and settling the baby back to sleep. Diaper changes are another critical task, ensuring the baby remains clean and comfortable, which promotes better sleep for everyone.

Parents benefit significantly from hiring a night nanny, as it allows them to rest and recover from childbirth, reducing stress and anxiety. With professional care, night nannies help establish healthy sleep patterns for the baby, which is beneficial in the long run. They also provide guidance and emotional support, helping new parents navigate the challenges of early parenthood.

Confinement centers

Don’t feel like having a confinement nanny staying at your apartment 24/7? How about just going to a confinement center with your baby for the first month? Yes, you can stay at a big facility that specializes in taking care of the baby as well as pampering the mother.

Some of these options are extremely luxurious akin to staying at a 5* star hotel with full spa services. Your baby is taken care of, they show you how to do all baby related things, and you have a daily routine of being pampered, massaged, and fed.

The cost of these confinement centers can range wildly from something like $5k a month for a basic facility to over $20k for luxurious ones! I’m also quite sure the father cannot stay at these centers which seems a bit questionable as far as paternal bonds go. I suppose if you’re swimming in that much cash, you might be too busy anyhow to spend much time with the kid!

Pre-pregnancy Costs

Prior to the pregnancy, we went for pre-pregnancy checkups to make sure everything was in order. My partner has PCOS which means she needed medication to stimulate the ovulation. The medication she took was Letrozole which was prescribed straight from the doctor.

We had a total of three pre-pregnancy appointments which included

Initial consultation of pregnancy with letrozole prescriptionFollow up appointment to confirm eggs had successfully been releasedVarious blood testsConfirmation of the pregnancy

Each appointment at the OBGYN at Mount Elizabeth Orchard was a flat $200. For the third confirmation appointment, we were actually traveling in Cape Town when we took a test and found out the news! We found an OBGYN in Cape Town to confirm the news. On a side note, the offices and facilities in Singapore even at the highest price points are really ugly and uninviting. The OBGYN in Cape Town had one of the most beautiful offices I’ve ever seen. The prices were about the same so for the purpose of this post, I will add them in all the same.

Total pre-pregnancy costs

3x visits to OBGYN including ultrasound scans- $600Letrozole prescription – $150

Costs during the pregnancy

Now we move on to being pregnant! We went to the doctor many times during the pregnancy including almost once a week for the first few weeks of the pregnancy. This is absolutely not the norm in most places as you typically do about 3 ultrasounds during the whole pregnancy. We did a total of a dozen ultrasounds!

In the first trimester, we went to the doctor every 2 weeks. During the second trimester, we went once a month. In the last trimester, it was back to every 2 weeks until week 36 where it was every week. Each visit included the doctor’s fee as well as an ultra sound fee to the tune of roughly $250-300 per visit.

Detailed Anatomy Scan at week 13

In addition to the NIPT, one of the tests we were offered was the detailed body scan at week 13 of the pregnancy. This ultrasound scan is a more comprehensive ultrasound than the typical checkups at the doctor. They took what seemed like a hundred different scan of the baby. One of the main things they checked was fluid under the baby’s neck which is generally a sign for genetic disorders.

The total price of this scan is S$670. We also had to go to Mount Elizabeth Novena for this test which is the sister hospital to Mount Elizabeth Orchard.

Detailed scan at week 20

We did the full anatomy scan at week 20. This scan checked all the organs, holes in the heart, uterus blood flow, and much more. This appointment lasted a long time so it’s clear they were checking for a lot of things that are beyond my comprehension. This test was another S$692.

NIPT test

At week 10, you’re able to take the industry standard genetic NIPT test. Even though your baby is just barely a fetus, this test is able to tell you if there are genetic deformities which was an important consideration for us. This test also tells you the gender which means you can already know what type of outfits to buy well before the baby is due!

The cost of the NIPT in Singapore is S$1,500. This was the cost we paid at Mount Elizabeth Orchard but I would suspect this price is pretty standard in Singapore as they send the samples to an outside lab. As this test is entirely optional, you can definitely go to a different country and get it for much cheaper. Around the 10th week time, we were traveling in Sri Lanka and were tempted to get a test done in Colombo because it was about 1/3 of the price!

This test is generally covered by insurances but make sure to understand how much of a limit you have for maternity related expenses!

Gestational Diabetes Test

As someone who has PCOS, my partner was told that diabetes is an inherent risk. Whether this is actually caused by PCOS or because those with PCOS generally are more overweight, it was a test we wanted to do regardless. Thankfully, GD was not an issue.

We did this test around week 27 which is in the recommended time frame. The GD test is a combination of urine and blood drawn and the total cost was S$550.

Feratin (iron) test

We did an iron test at the recommendation of our doula. Iron is something pregnant women need a lot of. I never knew that woman needed more iron than men before doing this whole thing as I just always assumed iron meant red meat which meant more manly stuff (I know, I know). Turns out women need more iron than men by a factor of almost 50%. During pregnancy, the iron needs for a woman doubles to almost 30 mg per day! For reference, 100g of steak only contains 2.5mg which means my partner would have to eat 1 kg of steak to get the necessary iron intake.

She was already taking numerous pre-natal vitamins which included iron supplements. However, these supplements are not absorbed in the same way that iron from meat and is generally not that efficient. More often than not, it causes constipation which was an issue. After taking this test, she was totally iron deficient falling below the ideal range (which was already a huge range).

We did this test at the same time as with the gestational diabetes test. The doctor actually said the test results were all good even though there was a big red font in the test saying she was iron deficient. Our doula was the one that came to the rescue and recommended to get an iron infusion.

There are numerous clinics in Singapore that offer iron infusions and these are always covered by insurance with a prescription. The cost of this iron infusion (for 1,000 mg!) was S$1,000.

Total costs during pregnancy phase

11x visits to the doctor at Mount Elizabeth Orchard and Thomson Medical CentreNIPTDetailed scans x2Gestational diabetes testingFerratin testing

Note the costs here do not include day to day things like multi-vitamins, supplements, and other random small items that everyone ends up incurring during a pregnancy.

Costs for Delivering the Baby

Now that all of the pregnancy is completed, it’s time for the actual birth of the baby! I could write a whole post on this but will keep it short for the purpose of this post so you can see the numbers you need.

How much does delivery cost in Singapore?

Cost of delivering babies in Singapore is very expensive. There’s no way around it. You pay a crazy amount of money, especially as a foreigner. Because it’s Singapore, you have countless different options of the types of rooms you can get depending on how much money you want to spend. It’s all about the cash in Singapore after all.

The main drivers of delivery costs in Singapore are the following:

Vaginal vs caesarian birthRoom type (private bedroom, shared bedroom, luxury suites)Length of stay

The costs come down significantly if you want to share your recovery room with others. If you want your own private room, then you’ll be paying for it. At Thomson, here are the standard rates for the delivery costs broken down by room types.

The costs above are just for the hospital fees (nurses and equipment). and does not include doctors fees (more on that later). Assisted delivery is anything involving vacuum or forceps. As you can see, the costs decrease precipitously with the room types. A 4 bedded (meaning you’re sharing with 3 others) is $2k less than a private room.

The section around Medisave is primarily for Singaporean citizens and not really applicable for expats.

If you want something more luxurious, the suites at Thomson are just that. They have a few suites for those lucky enough to have amazing insurance or for those that are swimming in cash. Singapore is a wildly popular place for the super rich of SE Asia to give birth and it’s become big business.

All the private hospitals in Singapore have fancy birthing rooms for those where money is no object. Thomson is actually on the cheaper end. Mount Elizabeth Novena was 20% more expensive.

Cost of doctors

These prices from Thomson (and every other private hospital in Singapore) do not include the cost of the doctors. These prices are only for the delivery process (nurses and equipment), the stay in the room for 2-3 nights, food, and other random things. Costs for your doctors are completely separate from this price. These include your gynecologist who actually delivers the baby, an anesthesiologist in case you go for the epidural, and a pediatrician which is standard and checks on your baby after birth.

The cost of doctors will be an additional $5k – 10k SGD depending on your situation.

These costs do not include the cost of the doctors which include your gynecologist as well as an anesthesiologist if you go for the epidural. This is another $3.5k – $5k that you will add on top of these costs.

What are the total costs for baby delivery in Singapore?

As you can already guess, the cost of delivery is very expensive in a private hospital in Singapore. Your hospital costs and doctors cost add up very fast.

Here is the quote for Thomson Medical Center with their Balmoral suite.

As you can see, the cost of the hospital is around $12k which is the cost of the Balmoral suite at Thomson. The doctors fees are split out as estimates. These costs can fluctuate wildly as well depending on your birth. If you have lots of complications or an emergency c-section, this cost will of course go up.

Our insurance coverage in Singapore

Thankfully, we had amazing insurance. In Singapore, private insurance among expats varies wildly but we were lucky enough to have one of the best insurance packages among all the people we met. In total, our insurance covered $23k per year for maternity related expenses.

This $23k covers things like the actual birth, ultrasounds, meetings with the OBGYN, NIPT, etc. Because of how expensive the delivery was, we would have blown through the entire budget just for the delivery alone. Thankfully, the plan resets in August every year and our little one was due in September. This meant on August 1st, our entire budget reset and we had a fresh $23k to use for a grand total of $46k. In this case, it was enough to cover us. If our baby was due in July, we would have chosen a smaller room or paid a few thousand dollars out of pocket.

I know many expats in Singapore that had below average insurance coverage from their employers and ended up taking out maternity specific insurance at their own expense. I’m not sure how much these plans go for but it seemed to be a popular option for many expats in Singapore. The insurance coverage from employers is generally not so generous in Singapore.

How to save money giving birth in Singapore?

If you do not have good health coverage, most expats will go to KKH which is the big public hospital of Singapore. While it is not as luxurious as a private hospital like Thomson, Mount Elizabeth, Gleneagles etc, it still provides world class health care which is really all that matters. In fact, if you have twins or triplets, a lot of the times your OBGYN will send you to KKH anyhow because it is the most advanced hospital when it comes to complex pregnancies.

I’m not sure of the costs for foreigners at KKH since that is not where we went but I would estimate it to be around half of the cost of giving birth in a private hospital. Singaporeans can give birth for free at these hospitals if they take a shared room.

Total costs for delivering a baby in Singapore

Now on to the good stuff, how much cash did we pay for the baby? This section will break down all of the costs incurred and categorized based on what bucket they fall under with our insurance. In our case they three main buckets are maternity, outpatient, and others. The others bucket include things like vaccines, physio, TCM, fertility treatments which all have their own yearly amounts.

This will surely be different than how your insurance categorizes things. There’s no way to make a post applicable to everyone so you’ll have to apply your own situation accordingly.

From start to finish, the cost of pregnancy in Singapore cost about $35k.

Almost all of this was covered by the insurance as we had a $23k yearly budget for maternity, and unlimited outpatient. Our out of pocket costs were specifically for the doula and baby classes totaling $3.4k SGD.

All in all, it is an expensive endeavor to have a child in Singapore if you’re an expat. While you can minimize your expenses by simply visiting the doctor less (no one needs a dozen visits to a doctor throughout a pregnancy especially so often during the first trimester), opting for a public hospital for delivery, and

Hopefully this breakdown of expenses will help you plan your own pregnancy and help you budget accordingly. If you have any questions, please leave a comment in the comment section!