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Fourth Trimester Program

Your local, English-speaking support system in the first months postpartum. Right when you need it, right where you are, with experts and fellow newborn parents right there with you.

Finding the right support after you have a baby is a daunting task. Your giant parent group is dispensing baby advice 100 times a day, you're frantically Googling "Why is this happening..." during 2am feeds, and social media is constantly telling you what you should be feeling as a new parent. If you want an actual expert's opinion, you may be paying €100/hour for a consult — and you have to spend time and energy to find them in the first place. Speaking from experience: It can be overwhelming and exhausting.

APP's Fourth Trimester Program is designed to cut through the noise to what really matters postpartum: creating a healthy and happy environment for all members of your new family. We bring guidance from Amsterdam's premier postpartum professionals together with parent mentors and peers. Whereas other resources may be purely informational, and others purely anecdotal, the Fourth Trimester Program blends both — because parenting "best practices" come from both science and community 🤝

APP is a non-profit organization, built by and for the community. By sharing access to expertise, we make postpartum support through the Fourth Trimester Program accessible and afforable for all families.

What you get:

  • Expert workshops + "ask me anything" sessions on topics that track with your baby's growth — and yours, as a new parent
  • Tailored resources that guide you through your baby's development, crafted by local postpartum professionals
  • A new (manageable!) network of fellow newborn parents around your baby's age

Designed by:

We're also deeply supported by the Amsterdam postpartum expert community. Our partnerships with doulas, midwives, kraamzorgs, psychotherapists, sleep and lactation consultants, and more help keep our content up to date and also ground us here in the community — so that the people we serve have a true foundation of postpartum support.

Expert-led sessions

Before every session, you'll get a pdf guide covering common cases. When you get there, you can also ask a postpartum professional your specific questions on the topic, or about baby care in general. All of the content was created by experts and reviewed against the most current, evidence-based research available.

Newborn Feeding Strategies

A whole-family approach to feeding your newborn

You've got the basics of breastfeeding and/or bottle-feeding down. Now you're wondering: "How can we possibly keep doing this for the next 6 months?" Learn about our inclusive, four-pillar approach to newborn feeding that grows with you and your baby — so that mom, dad/partner, and baby all get what they need in this special yet intense time.

Expert content by:

Postpartum Transformation

How new parents’ bodies and minds change

It's time we got rid of "return to your pre-birth self" — birth and postpartum change both parents' bodies and minds forever. We'll learn precisely why "get back to the way things were before the baby" isn't possible, and ways to handle the melting pot of changes to your new self, using psychotherapy techniques.

Expert content by:

Postpartum Relationships

Navigating romance and cultures with a new baby

Learning to parent with the person you love is more difficult than many couples anticipate. From intimacy changes to discovering that childhood cultures lead to different parenting practices, there's a lot to figure out between you two as you're evolving your (shared) identities as parents. We identify common challenges and practice psychotherapy-informed exercises that help new parents navigate them together.

Expert content by:

What Makes a Village

Building community in new parenthood

We've all heard the phrase "It takes a village;" but for expats becoming parents abroad, the village doesn't come without effort. But where to start? We go over why support is so important — so many health benefits — and what help is already be out there in the local Dutch system. We end with a group exercise on identifying gaps in support and leave having a clearer picture of where to go for help.

Expert content by:

Return to a New Reality

Going back to work and life after the newborn phase

Let's talk about what happens when the newborn bubble pops. We cover the transition back to work and life post-newborn: joys, challenges, and techniques to manage mental load and reduce parental/professional burnout — so you can feel confident and capable growing as a parent alongside your growing baby.

Expert content by:

Our reviewers

FAQ

  • What's different about the Fourth Trimester Program?

    Parents — especially expat parents — have complex support needs:

    • Right timing: You have questions you never anticipated that need answering now, and you can't remember what you learned before the birth.
    • Right sources: You need insights from accredited experts, not some random blog you found through Google/ChatGPT/WhatsApp.
    • Right people: You're less likely to build a stable support system with folks in Oost if you live in West, or if their baby is 8 months older than yours.
    • Right language: You're not familiar with the Dutch language/system, and you don't need the mental overhead to figure it out right now.
    • Right price: Having a baby is expensive, and the last thing you need is to weigh affordability with getting the support you need.

    We haven't found a single program in the Netherlands that does all this. The Fourth Trimester Program is meant to be your guide, so that you don't have to think about how to build your own support. You just have to show up ☺️

  • Why are your sessions cheaper than others?

    APP operates as a non-profit. We strive to be a community resource above all. Sessions are offered at cost and are powered by volunteer work, to be as accessible and affordable as possible. You're paying for the expert's time and APP operating costs: that's it. Each session has the option to "pay the organizer," too — so we can not only sustain, but grow.

  • This sounds a lot like Mother's Groups in the UK...

    Yes, exactly! It's inspired by Canada's postpartum support system and PEPS in Seattle. Our goal has never been to create a unique, revolutionary postpartum program; it's to import the successful models that exist in other countries to Amsterdam, to cover the gap in English-language postpartum support here.

  • Why is APP tackling this?

    It's something close to our hearts and first-hand experience. Having become parents in Amsterdam ourselves, we couldn't transition into new parenthood with confidence with the existing English-language resources available. After asking ourselves "Why is this so hard?", we started asking, "What can we do about it?"

  • I'm a postpartum professional — how can I help?

    Thanks for your enthusiasm! We'd love to be in touch. There are three main ways to help:

    • Help us build cohorts: APP believes that the most successful cohorts will have something in common: same midwife/doula, same neighborhood, etc. If you serve pregnant people, we'd love to talk to you about how we can offer sessions or a full program to your clients giving birth around the same time.
    • Help us build content: We regularly seek reviews from experts to ensure our content aligns with current research.
    • Help us deliver content: Every session needs a host! If you're an expert in a session topic and want to host, please reach out.

    You can reach us at amsterdamparentproject@gmail.com.