Sleepless Nights With a Baby in France
Get through the night shifts with your partner and ask the PMI nurse for sleep advice.
In France, free PMI centres (Protection maternelle et infantile) offer check-ups and advice from a puéricultrice, a nurse specialised in babies, and every child has a carnet de santé, the health booklet you bring to each visit. French parents talk about whether the baby « fait ses nuits » (sleeps through the night), and health advice is to put babies to sleep on their back in a gigoteuse, a baby sleeping bag, rather than under a duvet. A doudou is the cuddly toy almost every French child sleeps with.
- 1
Il fait toujours pas ses nuits.
He still doesn't sleep through the night.
- 2
Il se réveille toutes les deux heures.
He wakes up every two hours.
- 3
C'est à toi de te lever.
It's your turn to get up. (to your partner)
- 4
Je suis crevé.
I'm shattered.
Tip: A woman would add one letter at the end.
- 5
Il fait ses dents.
He's teething.
- 6
Tu peux faire chauffer un biberon ?
Can you warm up a bottle?
- 7
Il vient de téter.
He's just been breastfed.
- 8
Elle est où, sa tétine ?
Where's his dummy?
- 9
Il dort pas sans son doudou.
He won't sleep without his cuddly toy.
- 10
Je crois qu'il a des coliques.
I think he has colic.
- 11
Couche-le sur le dos.
Put him down on his back.
- 12
On utilise une gigoteuse, pas de couette.
We use a baby sleeping bag, not a duvet.
- 13
C'est normal, à son âge ?
Is that normal at his age?
- 14
Vous avez un rituel du coucher ?
Do you have a bedtime routine?
- 15
Le bain, une histoire, et au lit.
A bath, a story, then bed.
- 16
Vous pouvez attendre quelques minutes avant d'y aller.
You can wait a few minutes before going in.
- 17
La nuit, on se relaie.
We take turns at night.
- 18
Faites la sieste quand le bébé dort.
Take a nap when the baby sleeps.
- 19
Je vais appeler la PMI.
I'm going to call the PMI.
Tip: The free mother-and-baby health service.
- 20
On n'a pas fermé l'œil de la nuit.
We didn't sleep a wink all night.