Baby food discount for lowest earners

LOW-income families are to be offered vouchers for discount baby food under a new initiative being tested out in three parts of France. The project is being supported by food manufacturer Danone, the Chèque-Déjeuner lunch voucher scheme and the Caisse d'Allocations Familiales in Nancy, Nantes and the 13th arrondissement of Paris.

Read more: http://www.connexionfrance.com/danone-baby-food-discount-vouchers-low-income-families-pilot-scheme-trial-11766-view-article.html

French health cover and Pregnancy explained

For auto entrepreneurs....

Great video on Valerie's site here....

http://www.startbusinessinfrance.com/video/french-health-care-cover-explained-video

Merry Christmas 2009

Well Eloise is now 15 months old. Mamma, Dadda and pointing at everything (dogs mostly in the street) are the popular things of the moment) and she's pretty good at holding her own with her 5 year old sister, Alicia.

Eloise preferring to play with dolls whilst Alicia is a Lego kind of girl... so surprising how different kids can be.

Creche is going well - and we've suddenly lost the need for the morning nap when we go there 2 mornings a week, instead having a good nap straight after lunch (or during lunch, or in the car on the way home...) depending on how hard we've been playing that morning.

Both Eloise and Alicia have received vouchers for their swine flu injection here in France. As they've both had sniffles for the last month, we just haven't been able to go and get them done yet.

She's growing up way too fast now!

Creche

Well we've just completed our first week of adaptation at the halte garderie (part time creche that means).  She did 15 mins on Monday, 30 mins Tuesday until today when they asked me to call after an hour to see if she was OK and them she stayed for nearly 2 hours in all today.

It costs 0.05pc of your salary - Euro0.95/hour for us (based on 2007 tax return... complicated huh?) and she can go for 8 hours a week... ie 2 mornings or 2 afternoons booked in advance plus another 8 hours if I call up on the off chance someone else has cancelled.

I have to take a bag with 2 nappies, a change of clothes, a piece of fruit / cup of fruit juice for the morning or something dairy for the afternoon.. no cakes / biscuits allowed... and her teddy or whatever.

They have a room full of cot bunkbeds, a room for nappy changes and hand washing and a room for playing with things like wet pasta (yes really..) as well as an outdoor area.

Children can go to this creche from 6 weeks old until they start maternelle school.

First Birthday

A year has passed already - like lightening in fact.

Eloise is now a little more than 9 kilos, has 6 teeth and runs (not walks) - she loves her bike (her feet don't touch the floor or the peddles) and will be starting at the halte garderie (occasional creche) very soon.

We've just had another injection at the doctors (measles etc) - we've had very little in the way of illnesses, only a small gastro for which no medicine was prescribed - just no milk / eat carrots, quince and rice and wash your hands lots really...    and we've just stopped breast feeding completely.
And we've just fitted locks on the kitchen cupboard doors... hmmm.

Helena Frith Powell on babies in UK and France...

How long after giving birth should a woman wait to make love?

It’s an issue all parents face - but rarely talk about. Now, one mother dares to ask that important question…

After giving birth, a woman thinks of many things; chocolate, baby names, how soon she can go home, how soon she can sit down without the help of an inflatable rubber ring, and which breastfeeding bras are the most practical. Read more...

www.Enciente.com

If you can read a bit of French - this is a very full site on everything to do with being pregnant in France... Click here to go to www.encient.com