Question 1

Declare your pregnancy (déclaration de grossesse): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

Before the end of your third month of pregnancy (avant la fin du 3e mois). A late declaration delays the cover of your pregnancy care and the CAF payments that depend on it, including the birth grant. No official page states a penalty either way.

Question 2

Register with the Assurance Maladie, and get your number: what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

Send the Cerfa S1106 to your caisse as early as you can. A NIA comes back by post and lasts 9 months; the permanent number takes 9 months to process. On a NIA your care is reimbursed, but you cannot have a carte Vitale or a compte ameli — which is what the online routes in the rest of this plan need.

Question 3

Acknowledge the baby before the birth (reconnaissance anticipée): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

Before the birth, if you are not married. It can be done at any mairie in France. Without it the mother's partner is not automatically the baby's legal parent. Doing it beforehand means the baby has two legal parents from birth rather than after a later declaration.

Question 4

Arrange your maternity leave (congé maternité): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

The prenatal part normally starts 6 weeks before the due date, and at least 8 consecutive weeks must be taken in total. Up to 3 weeks of the prenatal part can be moved to after the birth with medical agreement, but the 8-week minimum — 2 weeks before the birth and 6 after — cannot be given up.

Question 5

Declare the birth at the mairie (déclaration de naissance): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

Within 5 days of the birth, at the mairie of the place of birth. The day of the birth does not count, and the deadline extends to the next working day if it falls on a weekend or public holiday. Miss it and the declaration has to go through the tribunal judiciaire instead of the mairie — slower, and a court process rather than a counter visit. The person who was required to declare also risks 6 months' imprisonment and a 3 750 € fine.

Question 6

Declare the birth to the Assurance Maladie (déclaration de son enfant): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

Between 5 and 8 days after the declaration at the mairie. The online route on compte ameli is unavailable if either parent is not insured under the French system; those families go to their caisse directly. Until it is done the baby is not on your carte Vitale, so their care is not reimbursed automatically.

Question 7

Partner's leave (congé paternité et d'accueil de l'enfant): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

The compulsory part runs from the birth. Service-public puts the 25 calendar days as taken within the 6 months following the birth. Take the balance inside 6 months. The Assurance Maladie and service-public do not phrase the window the same way, so Paperbump states the tighter of the two, and no official page says what happens to days left over.

Question 8

Supplementary birth leave (congé supplémentaire de naissance): what is the deadline?

Accepted Answer

For a child born between 1 January and 30 June 2026: taken between 1 July 2026 and 31 March 2027. For a child born from 1 July 2026: within 9 months of the birth. Maternity, paternity or adoption leave must be taken first, and the employer needs 1 month's notice. It is a right per parent, so one taking it does not use up the other's. Time not taken inside the window is lost, and the 2026 transitional window closes on 31 March 2027 whatever the birth date.

Having a baby in France: the deadlines that matter

Declare your pregnancy (déclaration de grossesse)

Register with the Assurance Maladie, and get your number

Acknowledge the baby before the birth (reconnaissance anticipée)

Arrange your maternity leave (congé maternité)

Declare the birth at the mairie (déclaration de naissance)

Declare the birth to the Assurance Maladie (déclaration de son enfant)

Partner's leave (congé paternité et d'accueil de l'enfant)

Supplementary birth leave (congé supplémentaire de naissance)