Читать книгу The A to Z of Early Years - June O'Sullivan - Страница 11

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B is for Babies

Working life is such today that many people have to seek work in towns or cities away from their existing family networks. Our economy has increasingly becoming a two-person economy. The impact of both those shifts was often felt when a child was born. New parents found themselves far away from family networks and willing grandparents, but still needing childcare to enable them to continue to work. In other words, they needed a strong accessible and high-quality childcare infrastructure.

For the most part the maternity systems are designed to allow a parent to stay at home for up to approximately twelve months with some level of pay. According to the annual Office for National Statistics figures, 75% of mothers return to work (Office for National Statistics, 2019a). That means we are welcoming babies into nurseries aged anywhere between six and twelve months, although more recently we have been increasingly requested to settle babies into nursery aged four months. This is more common among women who work for international companies in senior positions where there is a limited maternity allowance and also a greater risk of losing their position. This is another strand of work that perhaps needs a feminist perspective.

When a parent arrives at a childcare setting with a small baby, their first impressions are based on how we support them. Parents, mostly mothers, are anxious about trusting their babies into the care of a stranger. They are weighed down by the practical issues such as breast feeding, infant feeding and introducing solids, and sleep or the lack of it. How we respond builds the foundation of a successful relationship within which a baby will thrive. Many parents are wracked with guilt having read the conflicting research as to whether nurseries are good for their children. The jury is still out on this as the research is chequered. They worry as to whether to find a childminder, a nanny, or simply abandon all intentions of a career and stay at home. For those such as single parents, main providers, or those who must work to balance the family income, the choice is much more based on the availability, locality and cost of a place. Baby places are not subsidised and can therefore cost anything between £250 and £350 a week.

In childcare, understanding of a baby's development must be solid, right from the very point of conception. If you were to follow government policies you would think all children were born in a school uniform, so little do babies get mentioned. Yet children's development over the first two years is astounding. Combine that with our continual learning from neuroscience and we actually need staff working with babies to be the very best.

Approximately 277,000 children attend nurseries and about 21% of them are babies. These babies can spend up to ten hours, five days a week, 51 weeks a year in a nursery or childcare setting, so we need to get it right for babies. Therefore, staff working with babies need to be very knowledgeable and experienced with buckets of emotional intelligence. The needs of a four-month-old child are very different across the range of developmental needs, interests and skills as compared to a 20-month-old. Staff in baby rooms really need a specialist qualification and from research we know that generally parents support this. We must raise the status of baby staff and make them experts in their field. Sadly, in far too many settings, the less qualified and experienced are based there. You also find that agency and relief staff are put in the baby room. This is not a good idea if we are to support parents, as the general understanding of a baby's development among new parents is still very much misunderstood and sought and shared through lived experienced, old wives’ tales perpetuated through social media and irresponsible TV programmes such as ‘Train Your Baby Like A Dog'.

The most important factor in the baby experience is a positive and warm attachment. The introduction of the key person has done a lot to embed this importance. While some babies choose to have a much warmer relationship with another staff member to their key person (babies are fussy too), a process that ensures consistent observation, communication and is designed to build harmonious and trusting relationships has many benefits for the wellbeing of both baby and parents.

Loving children in your care is critical. The professionalisation of love has created some interesting debate. The word was dropped some years ago in the rush to professionalisation, replacing it with the rather anodyne ‘care’ word. I believe that you need to have a loving and reciprocal relationship with the children because they most certainly love you. This can be a challenge and cause an emotional conflict for parents, especially if they perceive their child to be happier with their key person because they want to stay at nursery when the parent comes to collect them. Parents need to be supported to see the benefits of a triangular relationship, and not be fearful or guilty that their child seems to love someone more than them. Sometimes parents ask that we don't kiss the baby, but this is to the detriment of a baby who needs the comfort of a loving adult. Parents need to see this warm relationship as a result of their confident parenting, and the willingness to build up a strong bond with the key person for the benefit of their child:

As we do more research we must not be afraid to investigate such nebulous concepts as love, friendship and play. They are the glue that keep us together, enable us to overcome adverse childhood experiences and be better … members of better communities. (Middleton, 2017)

Babies are curious explorers and learn through play and by using all their senses. Their ability to communicate is not to be underestimated. They will thrive in a well-organised environment with the support of engaged and sensitive guiding adults. A kind setting has a long-term impact on the child's ability to learn to become empathetic as they grow.

Talking and singing with babies is very important. Babies love nursery rhymes, lullabies and traditional songs. It's vital to involve parents in this too. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable decline in staff and parents knowing traditional nursery rhymes. We need to do something about this because singing matters to babies. Some would even say it was a child's first language lesson. Singing songs involves children listening to pitch (babies prefer low pitch), words and tone. As adults we need to look into our babies’ eyes when we sing to them. This is the triadic interaction when we establish a mutual gaze before talking to the baby, follow their gaze and then check they are following us before we talk, sing, point to something, or identify an object you want to share with them. Despite the importance of singing many staff are anxious about doing so, saying they ‘can't sing’ or are ‘tone deaf'! Babies don't care, they just love to be sung to.

Parents expect a setting to be clean and safe. It's one of their high priority concerns. This does not mean they should be sterile spaces, with children sitting in highchairs or strapped in to keep them safe and tidy! Movement is the first language for a baby so let them wriggle and touch. Give them tummy time and encourage them to strengthen their flat hands.

Parents also value a sensible routine that they can understand and follow. So do babies. Their distress and confusion in response to noise and discord are palpable. Babies need to be in a place of calm and order. Background noise should be kept to a minimum. Changing time is not a domestic chore but a time of personal engagement: a combined care and language opportunity.

The importance of sleep is key. Not just for overall welfare but because babies also practise sounds, words, grammar and narrative in their sleep. Let's put away the myth that children need sleep so that their brains can replenish their energy stores: the brain is very active during sleep and this can cause children to wake easily. We need to create a place where they are comfortable and get into a settled rhythm. Therefore, we need to ignore those who object to children being patted and calmed to sleep. It's important, so keep doing it and talk to them before they go to sleep, so those sounds permeate their sleep.

Call to Action

Working with babies is the most important role in society. Our task is to make people understand this and ensure that staff working with babies are of the highest calibre and lauded across the land.

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Читать книгу The A to Z of Early Years - June O'Sullivan - Страница 11

B is for Babies

Call to Action

Follow on Twitter

Further Reading