Choosing Infant Care

Look for child care providers who:

• Show warmth and support to infants throughout the day, making eye contact and talking to them about what’s going on.
• Stay alert to babies’ cues, hold infants or move them to a new place or position, offering variety in what they are able to see or do.
• Pay close attention and talk to children during routines such as changing diapers, feeding and changing clothes.
• Talk, sing and read to babies, enabling infants to become familiar with language.
• Allow babies to eat and sleep when they are most comfortable doing so, and consider infants’ individual preferences for food and styles of eating.
• Follow standards for health and safety, including proper hand washing to limit the spread of infectious disease.
• Can see and hear infants at all times.
• Welcome parents to drop by the home or center.

Avoid caregivers who:

• Handle children in an impersonal or hurried manner, without letting babies know they are listening.
• Leave babies in one position for too long or move them around abruptly for the provider’s own convenience.
• Carry out daily routines without warmth, not making a habit of playing with or talking to babies.
• Allow babies to spend long periods of time in cribs, playpens or seats without adult attention. Instead of responding to babies’ cues and sounds, ignore or talk over them.
• Hold babies to rigid schedules of sleeping and eating.
• Do not have clearly thought-out or written-down procedures for diapering (including hand washing), cleaning cribs and play areas, and preparing and storing food.
• Leave infants unattended at naptime.
• Make parents feel as if they are in the way and only inform them about the conflicts or problems of the day.

Guidelines from NAEYC www.naeyc.org