Register a birth

You must register your baby’s birth within 42 days of the child's date of birth. 

If your baby was born in Ealing borough, please make an appointment with our register office by completing the online form.

Book an appointment to register a birth

Who can register the birth

If the baby's:

  • parents are married or in a civil partnership, either the mother or father can register
  • parents are not married or are not in a civil partnership, and the mother wants to include the father's details in the register, they must attend together
  • father cannot attend the appointment, the mother needs to complete the GOV.UK parentage form (the register office can explain how to do this)
  • mother chooses to register the birth on her own, if she is not married or not in a civil partnership to the child's father. The father's details will not be included on the birth certificate
  • parents are both female, either parent can register the birth if the partners were in a civil partnership at the time of fertility treatment and both agreed to treatment
  • parents are both female and were not in a civil partnership but have a legal parenthood agreement, both parents need to attend the registration

Full details about registering a birth, including who can register the birth, is available on GOV.UK

If English is not your first language and you need help, you can ask a friend or relative to come with you as an interpreter.

Information you need

When registering the birth, you should know:

  • place and date of the birth
  • first name, surname and sex of the baby
  • parents’ names, surnames and address
  • places and dates of parents’ birth
  • date of parents’ marriage or civil partnership
  • parents’ jobs
  • mother’s maiden surname

You may not need to give all this information, depending on who is registering the birth.

Documents you will need to bring with you

What you will need to bring with you:

  • passport, driving licence or birth certificate
  • proof of address
  • where both parents are married or in a civil partnership to one another, the marriage or civil partnership certificate
  • the red book issued to you at the hospital

If English is not your first language, feel free to ask a friend or relative to attend with you, but you must register the birth yourself. You will need to provide the following details at the appointment:

Births outside of Ealing borough

If your baby was born outside the borough but you live in Ealing, you can still book an appointment with us.

We will send the details to the relevant office in the borough where the birth took place, and they will issue birth certificate(s) by post to your home address.

If your baby was born abroad, you must register the child in the country where the birth took place. 

Visit GOV.UK for more information about registering births abroad.

What happens next

If you want to buy a full birth certificate at the time of registration, it will cost £12.50 for each copy.

If you want to buy extra copies of the full birth certificate after the registration, it will cost £12.50 for each copy.

See our fees and charges for birth certificates

Apply for a birth certificate