Free birth plan template: one printable page, or a generator that fills it in for you
A birth plan is a one-page conversation starter for your care team: what matters to you, what helps you, how you want decisions made. Here is a free one-page template you can print right now with no email address, a guide to filling it in, and a free generator that asks you the questions and writes the page, plus a separate plan for whoever is supporting you.
Download the one-page template
US Letter, prints in black and white, tick boxes and short lines. Sections: who we are, the room, labor and comfort, decisions and communication, birth, if a cesarean happens, our baby.
Download the birth plan template (PDF) Or let the free generator write itNo email, no account. The generator also needs no account and keeps your answers on your own device.
Need a birth plan in Spanish? The same one-page template, as a Spanish PDF (plan de parto), with its guide in Spanish.
Template or generator?
The template is right if you want something today, you know what you want, and you like paper. The generator is right if you want to be asked, one question at a time, and to get more than one document out of your answers: a preferences page, a shorter quick reference for the nurses, the list of questions you still have for your provider, a list of things you have not decided yet, a postpartum plan, and a private plan for your partner or support person. Both are free, and you can print the template, then use the generator to catch what you forgot.
What goes on a birth plan
Who we are
Your name and what to call you, your partner or support person and what to call them, due date, provider, birth place, anyone else who may be in the room, and anything the team should know up front: a past birth, a loss, a medical history they will not see in time, what you are nervous about. One honest line here does more than a page of preferences.
The room
Lights, noise, your own music, whether the door stays closed, moving freely, wearing your own clothes, using the shower or tub if there is one, students or no students, photos or no photos. These are often easy to ask for; check your hospital's or birth center's policies on the rest.
Labor and comfort
Your current thinking on pain relief, phrased as what you want offered and what you will ask for yourself ("please do not offer pain medication; I will ask" is a common and respected line). Monitoring preferences, if your situation allows a choice. A saline lock rather than a running IV, eating and drinking, each subject to the birth place's policy. And a line that is more for your partner than the staff: what helps you when it gets hard.
Decisions and communication
How you want options explained and how much time you want before deciding when it is not urgent. Who asks the questions. Who speaks for you if you cannot. Your thinking today on induction or augmentation if it comes up. It is the section that matters most when the plan changes, which it often does.
Birth
Pushing positions, coached or with your own urges, mirror or no mirror, who announces the sex, who cuts the cord, delayed cord clamping, skin to skin right away, quiet first minutes. Then a short "if a cesarean happens" block: your partner with you, your partner with the baby, a lowered or clear drape, skin to skin in the operating room if possible, your music, narration.
Our baby
Feeding plans and whether you want lactation help, rooming in, exams in your room where possible, your partner going wherever the baby goes. Newborn medications and screening (vitamin K, eye ointment, hepatitis B vaccine, the newborn screen) are decisions to make with the baby's doctor, so the template gives you a line for what you have decided or want to discuss, not a box to tick. Circumcision, cord blood and anything else go on the last line.
Five rules for a plan that gets read
- One page. Nurses change shifts and read it standing up. The template is one page on purpose.
- Tick boxes and short lines, not paragraphs. Say what you want, not why.
- Preferences, not demands. "I would like" and "if my situation allows" are not weakness; they are what makes staff want to help.
- Bring three copies. One for the chart, one for the nurse, one for your partner. Review it with your provider at 34 to 36 weeks so nothing on it is a surprise.
- Hold it loosely. A plan is what you hoped for going in. The story of what happened is a different document, and you will write that one later.
The other half: a plan for your partner
Your plan says what you want. The person who will be holding it at two in the morning needs their own page: what helps you, what to avoid, the questions to ask when something is proposed, who to call, and what they own in the first days at home. The partner birth plan has a free one-page printable and the generator's partner path builds it from their own answers. It gives the support person a page of their own.
Birth plan templates for specific situations
The one-page template covers every setting. If you want a page that goes deeper on your own situation: the hospital birth plan, the induction birth plan, the cesarean birth plan, the VBAC birth plan and the home birth and birth center plan. The birth plan examples page shows three filled-in plans, and the birth plan checklist lists every decision in the order it comes up.
The free generator asks the questions and writes the page
One set of guided questions on your phone turns into your birth preferences, a quick reference for the care team, your provider questions, the things you still want to decide, and a postpartum plan. Your partner or support person gets their own path and their own documents, and chooses which answers to share. No account; answers stay on your device.
Open the free planner How it worksQuestions people ask
Is the birth plan template free?
Yes. It downloads from this page as a PDF with no email, account or payment. The generator that writes the page from your answers is also free and needs no account.
How long should a birth plan be?
One page. Staff read it standing up during a shift change. Tick boxes and short lines, with the detail saved for the conversation with your provider at 34 to 36 weeks.
When should I write my birth plan?
Start around 28 to 32 weeks so there is time to take questions to your care team, and have a copy in the bag by 36 weeks. If you are reading this later than that, a one-page template still takes half an hour.
Do I give my birth plan to my doctor or midwife?
Yes, at a late prenatal visit, so they can tell you what the birth place can and cannot do and nothing is a surprise on the day. Bring copies for the chart and the nurse as well.
Is a birth plan the same as birth preferences?
Many hospitals now say "birth preferences" to make the point that it is not a contract and that plans change. Same document, better name; the template uses both words.
Does my partner need their own birth plan?
They need a page that says what they do: what helps you, what to avoid, what to ask, who to call, what they own in the first days. There is a free one-page printable for that and the generator has a partner path.