When your child joins the baby group, they will be entirely dependent on our childcare staff at first. Our childcare vision is that we should do everything possible to ensure that your baby gets the specific attention they need at any given time. Our childcare staff’s loving and positive approach is vital here, as is the design of our rooms and our play equipment.
Care when changing diapers
In our baby group, we don’t just change diapers because it’s needed, we use those moments to offer real personal care and attention. That’s because babies love skin-to-skin contact with others. By touching babies with care, we help babies develop a positive awareness of their bodies. We approach diaper changes as an important learning experience; a personal moment between your baby and our childcare staff. We work consciously and intensively with your baby during these everyday activities, creating a safe emotional environment and a meaningful bond. We use these moments to elicit reactions from your child and practice movements in a playful way.
We change the babies’ diapers on a flat changing mat without raised edges, so we can follow every movement a baby makes.
Mijke Visser
Policy educator at Kindergarden
Adjusting to sleeping patterns
We adjust to your baby’s sleeping patterns. It’s good for your baby and this also creates a sense of calm in the group. And, as not all the babies are ‘in the group’ at the same time, our childcare staff can divide their time effectively over the children who are awake. As they become older and have more regular sleeping patterns, a number of children tend to wake up and go to sleep at the same time, which is really beneficial for their interaction. An initial sense of belonging to a group can emerge, enabling the children to develop together.
Sounds and body language
Children in the baby group phase are still unable to talk or indicate what they do or do not want. They communicate via sounds, crying, facial expressions, and movement. That’s why we train our baby group childcare staff to be alert for and to act on these signs, so that we respond well to the needs of each individual child.
