Infant Care Tips
Infant care for parents and daycare workers is exciting but can also be a bit daunting. Our staff at Wee-Folk Child Care Center is required to take training courses before working in a classroom with children. Here are some of the infant care essentials that we teach our daycare workers before they start working in a classroom:
Feeding – It is crucial for infants to get proper nutrition daily because they grow so rapidly during this stage of development. Some of our infants will be sent to our center with breastmilk, others with formula, and some with breastmilk and formula. Our daycare center passionately believes in feeding our infants on demand. We will set a feeding schedule for our infants, but if an infant is hungry before or after that, we feed them. Infant care is tricky in that some babies will create a feeding schedule themselves.
Sleep – Our infant care program works with the parents to figure out what their infant is used to when they sleep at home, so we can try to mimic it at our daycare center. Some infants like to be rocked to sleep while others like to be put in their crib and left alone to fall asleep themselves. All infants should be placed on their backs in a crib with no blankets, stuffed animals, or pillows because they increase the risk of suffocation.
Diapering and hygiene – Learning how to properly change an infant’s diaper is an important part of infant care training. Daycare workers and parents should know to change an infant’s diaper frequently to keep them dry and prevent diaper rashes. All our daycare workers are taught to wash their hands before and after changing diapers to keep everyone safe and healthy.
Safety measures – Our infant care rooms require all daycare workers to wear shoe covers or take their shoes off while in the infant room. This reduces the number of germs on the floor in the infant rooms where our infants crawl around and explore all day. Our infants are always supervised during tummy time to prevent accidents such as suffocation from occurring.
Bonding and stimulation – Infants should not be left on their backs all day in a crib or swing, they need interaction and stimulation with other humans. Our daycare center makes sure all our infants get tummy time, cuddle time, and talked to throughout the day. Infant care is more than just keeping the infants alive, it is about creating a safe, stimulating environment for them to learn and grow.
