UMCC Infant Booklet

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Undermountain Child Care !

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INFANT PROGRAM The infant program operates at a 3:1, infant: teacher ratio.

Infant Schedule: This is a very basic schedule; each individual infant sets the real schedule. We follow parent suggestions and infantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Diapering is done throughout the day.

7:30

Welcome and Greeting

8:30

Songs / Stories / Free Play

9:30

Diapering / Hand Washing/ Bottle

10:00 Nap (for the younger children) / Stories 11:15 Diapers / Hand Washing 11:30 Lunch / Bottle 12:00 Nap 2:30

Diapers / Hand Washing / Bottle

3:00

Manipulatives / Movement / Stories

3:30

Playground Time / Walk

5:00 Close For The Day

ask, the more comfortable they feel with the program and the teaching team. Questions and communication help teachers and parents work together to provide the best for each child. We encourage parents to speak with teachers frequently about changes in their infant’s development they have observed at home and about any changes they have made in their child’s care routine.

Office Phone # (413) 229-1850 Infant Phone # (413) 229-1853

ESTABLISH A DAILY FEEDING AND NAPPING ROUTINE Infants who have a consistent feeding and napping routine make the transition into the child setting more easily and are often more content. We encourage parents to help their infants develop a daily routine. While no one should care for babies “by the clock” or adhere to a “hard and fast schedule,’ experts, experienced mothers, and UMCC teachers agree- infants do best with a routine or pattern of sleeping and eating. Consistent feeding routines spaced several hours apart (vs. frequent snacking of only an ounce or two) allow infants to develop both full appetite/hunger and, likewise, the feeding then provides a sense of being fully satisfied – allowing very content wakeful periods for important development and interaction with caregivers. Using the widely accepted rule of thumb that formula-fed babies feed roughly every three to four hours and breast-milk-fed babies feed every two to three hours, parents can help settle their infants into a feeding and napping routine. By four to six weeks of age, infants have usually settled into a daily rhythm of eating and napping. By the start of child care at eight weeks of age, infants will usually eat upon waking in the morning and be alert and play for one and a half to two hours before getting fussy and needing to nap. This routine will repeat throughout the day.

SLEEP ASSOCIATIONS: SLEEPING IN A CRIB At UMCC, all infants sleep in cribs. Sleeping in the quiet, darkened nap room in cribs, infants get the important rest needed for healthy development and content, alert wakeful periods. To ensure a smooth transition to the child care environment, we encourage parents to put their infants to sleep only in a crib before starting child care, so that s/he will feel

comfortable and familiar sleeping in a crib at UMCC. While the occasional catnap in a car seat or baby swing is perfectly acceptable, it is important that an infant associates sleeping with a crib. Infants who don’t sleep consistently in a crib at home often have a difficult transition into the child care environment. They are often very tired and unhappy, as they don’t sleep well at the child care center because they aren’t used to sleeping in a crib. The reduced amount of sleep can be detrimental to an infant’s healthy development.

SLEEP ASSOCIATIONS: SLEEPING ON THEIR OWN UMCC has a CD player creating peaceful sleeping music in the nap room. For babies to sleep well during naps and at night – to get the important rest needed for healthy development and content, alert wakeful periods – infants need to learn to fall asleep alone in their cribs under conditions that they can reestablish for themselves while cycling through sleep. Usually by eight to ten weeks of age, infants are ready to begin putting themselves to sleep in their crib (instead of being rocked or fed to sleep). We encourage parents to begin helping your infants learn to fall asleep in their own crib, as teachers at UMCC we will be working to help your infants learn this valuable “first skill” at the Center. Experts and experienced parents agree – infants who put themselves to sleep in their cribs – sleep better, often for longer periods, and are more content. Teachers will rock infants briefly to transition them to naps to help them settle themselves to sleep while lying in their cribs.

TRANSITIONING BREAST MILK TO A BOTTLE If a baby is to be fed breast milk in a bottle while enrolled at UMCC, we ask that recently expressed breast milk be brought to the Center daily in bottles. We encourage breast feeding mothers to introduce a bottle of breast milk at least one feeding each day to their infant before starting child care – usually considered appropriate by the fifth week. The earlier bottles are introduced, the easier the transition. Even if an infant readily accepts a bottle, we encourage parents to keep a minimum of one bottle feeding (of breast milk or formula) daily until an infant begins child care. A common mistake made by breast feeding mothers is not introducing and starting a bottle feeding (whether breast milk or transition to formula) until just prior to starting in child care – and then an infant is learning to handle both the new feeding method and the new child care environment at the same time. To ensure smooth transition into child care, we encourage parents to introduce bottles early and on a consistent basis.

COMMUNICATION: LET’S TALK UMCC teachers need to be able to reach parents (or an alternate) every minute of every day their child is in attendance. It is important that teachers be able to reach parents to ask questions about care, routines, behaviors and feedings. If your typical work routine changes and you can not be reached as usual – please inform the teachers whom to contact. Parents may need to call the Center to inform teachers of changes in location or to leave information on a daily basis with the teachers as to meeting or coaching/ class schedule changes and locations. We encourage parents to talk to teachers (e-mail works, too) about any questions or concerns. Your questions serve to help us better explain the program and to better understand your expectations and your child’s home experience. So, please ask. We find more questions parents