Kiersten Pilar Miller – Bellies Abroad

June 27, 2022 |

Maternity Health Consultant

Kiersten Pilar Miller is the founder of The Milk Bar and Bellies Abroad based in Rome. The Milk Bar, created in 2009, was a store and meeting place dedicated to pregnancy, breastfeeding and motherhood. Today the Milk Bar has evolved into a portal for families called Bellies Abroad, offering online and in person consultations with culturally sensitive health care and legal professionals who speak a common language and adhere to the WHO Guidelines.

Bellies Abroad’s aim is to arm women with the confidence, information, and support to have the birth and motherhood experiences they are looking for instead of what is easiest for medical professionals. They understand the challenges of becoming a family away from your own. It is a platform for parents, and parents to be, living outside of their home countries as well as for local families. In addition, Bellies Abroad has a fact-based resource section and community that is active both on and offline.

Kiersten is a born and raised New Yorker and a Rome resident as of 2004. Living in Rome, she soon realised how few resources there were for mothers. Despite all of the obstacles of Italian bureaucracy she has managed to create a safe space online and in-person for mothers and mothers-to-be.

What we like about them

Prioritize healthy and positive pregnancy, post natal, and parenting experiences

Provide numerous resources that vary in topics

They offer both in-person and online consultations

Kiersten has a huge amount of experience navigating Italian bureaucracy

In their own words

I decided I was going to start a new chapter by trying to make Rome a more hospitable place for new mothers. I wanted other women to be able to profit from all that I had learned since the birth of Millie. I wished for women to be able to make their own informed decisions instead of having others’ foisted upon them, and I wanted to empower them to take back the active verb of giving birth.” Kiersten