# Choosing a hospital and what to ask

**How do we choose a hospital for the birth, and what should we ask?**

Which hospital you plan to give birth in, and what to compare: how close it is, how advanced its newborn intensive-care unit is, its cesarean rate, and its policies on visitors, doulas and rooming-in.

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: Nearest hospital; Hospital with the highest level of newborn intensive care; Hospital with a low cesarean rate and the policies you want; Hospital with an attached birth center. Evidence: evidence leans one way. Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational. Best settled: during pregnancy.

- Area: Pregnancy, birth and arrival
- Evidence: Evidence leans one way
- Best settled: During pregnancy
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/pregnancy-birth-and-arrival--choosing-a-hospital-and-what-to-ask

## Choosing a hospital and what to ask: what are the options?

1. **Nearest hospital**: You choose the closest hospital for convenience and a short trip in labor.
2. **Hospital with the highest level of newborn intensive care**: You choose a hospital that can care for very early or very sick newborns on site.
3. **Hospital with a low cesarean rate and the policies you want**: You compare hospitals on how often they do cesareans and on policies that matter to you.
4. **Hospital with an attached birth center**: You choose a hospital that also has a midwife-led birth center.

## Choosing a hospital and what to ask: what does the evidence say?

**Evidence leans one way.** Research or guidance points in a direction, but it's thin, small or correlational.

The AAP grades newborn units from Level I (healthy newborns) to Level IV (the most complex surgical care) and says Level III units handle babies born under 32 weeks or under 1,500 g, so a hospital's level matters most if you might deliver early. Cesarean rates vary widely by hospital: the Leapfrog Group found only 39.1% of 1,122 hospitals met its target of 23.9% or lower for first-time, full-term, head-down single births, with rates ranging from under 26% to over 40% within one metropolitan area. Questions worth asking include cesarean rate, newborn unit level, visitor and rooming-in policies, and whether midwives or doulas are welcome

Sources:

- [AAP standards for levels of neonatal care](https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/151/6/e2023061957/191305/Standards-for-Levels-of-Neonatal-Care-II-III-and)
- [Leapfrog Group](https://www.leapfroggroup.org/news-events/first-ever-national-release-cesarean-section-rates-hospital-finds-more-60-percent)

## What else is worth knowing?

Hospitals differ in more than location. They vary in how advanced their newborn unit is, how often births end in cesarean, and in policies on visitors, doulas, movement in labor and keeping the baby in your room. A tour and a few direct questions will tell you a lot.

## Questions to ask each other

- What matters most to us in a hospital: closeness, the newborn unit, or how they handle birth?
- Which questions should we ask on a tour about cesarean rates, visitors and support people?
- What would we want if the baby came early?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=pregnancy-birth-and-arrival&topic=pregnancy-birth-and-arrival--choosing-a-hospital-and-what-to-ask