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Useful Baby in Paris Information

What you will find on this page

 

Renting a car and a car seat

Baby'tems

Finding a changing table

Point WC facilities

Printemps facilities

Galeries Lafayette facilities

le Bon Marché facilities

C&A Customer service area

Babysitting and child care

MESSAGE - Paris childcare and help

Emergency numbers

Traveling by train

Addresses

Travel article from LA Times

   

Changer les couches on Champs-Élysées

 

The words sound poetic but in reality, they mean that you are changing the baby's diapers on the Champs- Élysées.

 

Sometimes it seems that women of the world are on a constant quest for a certain spot. Well, we have to help babies that need changing learn about this important endeavor.

 

If it is cold outside and a Paris park bench won't do, the task has been made easier and convenient whether you are at Printemps, Galeries Lafayette or at the PointWC.


Renting baby equipment in Paris
Contact Camille at Baby'tems . You will find a complete catalog of all that Camille offers on her website. Read about her service at her website and find out current information on Camille's blog.

Packing the gear

Traveling with a baby can also be filled with other "what if" scenarios. Questions such as renting a stroller,

finding a baby sitter that will come to your hotel, emergency numbers, reading about

Paris baby tips, etc. These questions might enter your mind with your new traveling companion.

 

Well, pack up the diaper bag and bring the family to Paris, the answers await you herein.

 

PointWC

I found PointWC , which is located near the avenue and metro Franklin Roosevelt and the Boulevard Champs-Élysées in a shopping mall.

 

It is a lively, designer-styled public bathroom like you have never experienced.

 

When you change the baby here, your cost to enter the toilets: one euro (Carrousel du Louvre and Printemps), or 1.50 at 26 Champs Elysées, also allows you to borrow a padded changing mat.

PointWC has a special stall that is not only equipped with a toilet and sink, but has a changing table and a kiddie toilet.

 

And it is more comfortable and clean than your café, department store or museum bathroom; it is more of an attraction because it is unusually different.

 

Each stall/cabines is unique. The "Kids" stall by Laufen comes equipped with a sink, changing table, big person's toilet and a little person's toilet, plus the changing amenities, if necessary. Eric Salles, the owner, knows what it is like; he has children of his own for experience!

 

If you forgot the diaper, the dispenser has one for 1 euro.

 

Finding the changing table

 

While in the children's department of Printemps one day, I stepped off the elevator, looked to the left and spotted mothers and babies in a cheerful, little room full of baby furniture.

 

Even Galeries Lafayette has a nursery that is located on the 4th floor of their children's department.

 

When I thought I had found them all, my visit to le Bon Marché turned up a simple spot on the lower level.

 

Printemps

 

When you exit the elevator on the "-1" level (sous-sol/basement level) in the "Maison" building you will see the "l'Espace Bébé" to your left.

 

Happening upon this nursery is what originally set me on this trail to find other places that might provide a shopping-with-a-baby dream come true.

 

Would you like to borrow a stroller while shopping at Printemps? Contact the help desk (l'Espace Printemps Service) on the same level.

 

The room in Printemps(in cooperation with the French magazine Parents) provides a sink, microwave oven, bottle warmer, high chairs, chair to breast feed and a changing table.

 

For a free baby kit, go to to the information counter, "l' Espace Printemps Service" (between the Polo Ralph Lauren and Timberland stands) in the children's department.

 

This service center is a counter with chairs in front of it. If you reach the lingerie section, you have gone too far.

 

Inside this kit, you will find a liter of milk, water, a baby bib and spoon, and something for "mom or dad" to read.

 

Galeries Lafayette has a baby care station that provides bottle warmers, diapers, changing table, a cooler with drinks, etc.

 

Their nursery overlooks the street, (as opposed to be within a building without windows). It has subtle lighting and soft drinks available, but offers no kit.

La nurserie de Blédina is located on the 4th floor of the main store near the baby care department behind the Jacadi section.

 

Blédina, the French baby food specialist, sponsors the Galeries Lafayette nursery..

 

For more information you can contact Galeries Lafayette at the telephone number: 01 42 82 33 09.

 

le Bon Marché

 

I have found a changing table at Bon Marché on the lower level (-1). But that is about all it is.

 

Le Bon Marché provides a toilet area with three stalls strictly for mothers to be and mothers with children.

 

They have a changing table that has a padded changing mat, paper to put on the mat, step stools for the little ones, a water fountain and a padded chair. This is a "bare bones" facility.

 

From the main entrance take the escalator in the middle of the store. At the lower level turn left and once past stationery, and look for the sign "les 3 hiboux" on the right. Follow the path down the stairs  into the children's department.

 

If you need a ramp, it is to the left in the corner and is called "Chemin des pousettes". The nursery is in the Burberry corner just past Bonpoint. (By the way, I just found out that Bonpoint has an outlet store located at 82 rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement.)

 

C&A

 

The clothing store, C&A on Boulevard Haussmann 49 is a possibility for a desperate moment, especially if you need to breast feed and are not sure of public reaction. Lucille comes through the train station Gare Saint Lazare often and suggests C&A as a "good place to change the baby and did the necessary in their Customer Services area. Not that comfortable but when one is a desperate mum ! Good spot to breast feed mainly ."

 

Additional information

 

Babysitting and childcare

In case you want to have some more information, I thought providing names of local babysitting companies might be helpful and also a place to rent baby items.

 

A friend at the British Embassy provided some contacts if you are looking for a babysitter.

Allo Assistance Baby Chou: 01 43 13 33 23 . Quality Approved by the prefecture de Police.
Home Service: 01 34 12 21 05. I have provided their English website page for babysitting at hotels.


The following are more for those who live in the Paris region:

Au paradis des Petits: 01 43 65 58 58. Provides a baby sitter in an hour for Paris and in 2 hours for near sububrbs.

 

SOS Urgences Maman. 01 45 22 38 71. They can provide an emergency babysitting service Monday -Friday, 7.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. (This might be more helpful if you live in France)

 

A childcare directory and classifieds are available on the The Paris-Anglo website. You may also find contact information for au pairs, nannies, and several doctors.

 

The weekly magazine l'officiel des spectacles lists several sources for babysitting/ "gardes d'enfants" and the current fees:

 

Baby sitting services 01 46 21 33 16  - Seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

 

Etudiants de l'Institute catholique (Students from the Catholic Institute)  21 rue d'Assas 01 44 39 60 24

 

Fondation Claude-Pompidou 42 rue du Louvre, 01 40 13 75 00 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) Babysitting for handicapped children.

 

MESSAGE Mother support group

 

...MESSAGE provides a wide range of help and information services. We can help members with choosing a doctor or a place to have their baby in Paris and preparing for birth and breast or bottle-feeding. There is a confidential support line that provides help with many parenting concerns, as well as information on education options.

 

MESSAGE also publishes the ABCs of Parenting in Paris - a practical guide for English-speaking parents living in Paris with children. This guide covers more than 100 topics on family life in the capital, ranging from childcare and education to using medical and emergency services. Scroll down the page for a link to the Acrobat (.pdf) document. The second MESSAGE Cookbook, a collection of recipes from members as well as practical culinary advice, was published in 2003.... -- From the Message website

 

Emergency numbers

 

On the SOS website you will find the names of pediatric hospitals with phone numbers and addresses.

 

You will also find free emergency numbers for the the 15 for emergency doctor (SAMU - Le Service d'Aide Médicale Urgente de Paris), doctor on call (SOS médécins), 17 for police, 18 for the fire department (pompiers), etc.
 

Traveling by train

 

The TGV (high speed train) provides a "Family" space.


Contact them for all questions. Near the "Family" area is a nursery equipped with a changing table and bottle warmer.
If you have food that requires heating, contact the personnel in the dining car to use their microwave.

 

Addresses

 

PointWC - Champs-Elysées
26 Champs-Elysées (at the beginning of the Champs-Elysées)

Metro: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 75008
Telephone : 01 42 56 35 25

Open : 7 days a week between 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Contact: Eric Salles

 

Printemps

Haussmann store
64, boulevard Haussmann 75009
Open: Monday to Saturday from 9:35 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Open late: Thursdays to 10 p.m.

Telephone : 01 42 82 57 87

 

Galeries Lafayette

Haussmann store
40, blvd Haussmann 75009
Open: Monday through Saturday : 09:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Late night opening every Thursday until 9 p.m.
Closed on Sunday

Telephone : 01 42 82 34 56

 

le Bon Marché

24, rue de Sèvres 75007

Open Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 7.p.m.

Thursday: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday: 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Telephone 01 44 39 80 00


Hilary MacGregor  An American toddler in Paris

While search the web, I came across an article in the Los Angeles Times about traveling with a baby in Paris that you might find interesting.


A reader asked:

We are renting a car in Paris at the airport. Where can I buy a baby seat for a 12-month old?

If you rent from Avis at Charles de Gaulle/Roissy, order a child seat when you make your reservations. You can use it for the duration of the rental for about 20 to 25 euros.

 

Trying to find a used baby seat to buy in Paris for you trip might be possible through a local magazine FUSAC - France USA Contacts found at numerous English language book stores and restaurants.


changing table at PointWC

 

 

"Kids" cabin at PointWC

 

 

Products for sale in "Kids" cabin

 

Printemps nursery

 

Galeries Lafayette nursery