It takes time for the science of infant development to filter down to child care programs. We now understand that babies come into care with their own agenda for learning, their own hard-wired thirst for knowledge, and using all of their senses. Their discoveries are not siloed into separate domains like language, emotional, and intellectual, but instead infants’ experiences inform multiple parts of their development. Babies’ brains are designed to learn from their caregivers, and so their apparent ‘helplessness’ functions as a way to strengthen bonds with their caregivers. It’s important to balance what we know about how babies learn with infant and toddler caregiving practices in child care programs. Lally notes:

Alison Gopnik, a leading researcher on infant cognition, showed that babies learn differently than school age children, and must be treated differently than older children. Other research indicates that babies do not thrive in environments designed specifically for older children, and actually “become less interested in learning, expect less of themselves, and are more stressed and less cooperative.” (Lally citing Gopnik 2009a). Though older children can learn through adult-directed learning targets, babies learn best through opportunities to explore “anything new, unexpected, or informative.” This explains why replications of school-age environments and experiences do not work for babies. In light of this understanding, infant teachers now pay attention and adjust their interactions with babies to accommodate babies’ interests into their learning experiences. For example, a teacher might notice a baby’s fascination with looking at her own hands and fingers and engage with the baby using elements of story, her fingers, or a prop such as a bright red ball and talk back and forth in an exchange using warm tones and clear, simple words, thereby attending to the child’s physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs. This type of interaction takes into account babies’ active role in learning and treats them as active participants in learning rather than passive audiences.

Child care programs that understand how babies develop also appreciate that “relationships and experiences with trusted caregivers are the base for all learning.” This secure relationship is understood to be foundational for a child’s positive trajectory, including helping a child feel secure about learning, their self image, and relationships with others. Such centers include hazard-free learning areas that are appealing and cozy, and caregivers who understand infant development, and offer opportunities for children to explore without interruption.

Program Best Practices to Support Infant Learning and Development

• Secure Attachments – A single caregiver is primarily responsible for an infant’s care. All staff know who assumes primary care for a particular child, and all staff can help support that care. Secondary caregivers are well-informed about a child’s needs, and teaming with teachers helps support the goal of primary care, while still allowing for flexibility.
• Small Groups – Much research has emphasized the benefits of low ratios for infants’ positive trajectory including the development of secure attachments and the ability to more easily move about freely to explore objects and themes of interest.
• Continuity of Care – Teachers can develop strong relationships with infants and toddlers when the same teachers are afforded the opportunity to continue their care to infants throughout a child’s first 36 months.
• Individualized Care – The program meets the child’s needs and is flexible to needs that may arise. This attention to a child’s personalized needs helps the child develop a positive sense of self as they understand that their needs matter too.
• Cultural Connections – Children whose home cultures vary widely from the majority culture of the center are cared for by teachers who integrate the child’s family customs, materials, and practices into the care setting through a variety of ways: outreach to families, professional development, and an openness to learning.
• Children with Disabilities are Included in Care – All children, including those with special needs, are accommodated into care using the same practices described above.

Forming Attachments

As well as forming attachments to parents, infants can and do form attachments with caregivers. Lack of secure attachments in care can have negative effects, such as increased stress and decreased learning. (Dalli, 1999; Honig, 1998; Raikes, 1993, 1996). Belsky, Spritz, & Crnic (1994) and Honig, (2002) believe that the security a child feels in their early attachments is related to their positive self image and later relationships.

• Teachers follow a child’s lead in feeding, sleeping, and forming, developing and strengthening relationships with the infant.
• Teachers form relationships with infants, and also families of infants.

Sense of Self

How teachers behave, what they do, how they talk about their own feelings, how they conduct themselves around other teachers, all these interactions influence the infants teachers care for. These small interactions affect how children behave and the way children learn to relate to others. (Bornstein, & Bornstein, 1995).

• Infant teachers receive professional development around their own role in helping children develop a sense of self.
• Teachers pay attention not only to what they do as they’re caring for an infant, but also how they’re caring for an infant. When speaking, is their tone exasperated? Do they express frustration in a healthy way? Do they show infants that their own fear of spiders is also warranted for the infant in care? Do interactions with the child reflect genuine interest?

Including Families

Families are children’s first teacher and the way families influence a child’s care are integrated into child care practices. Child care practices that fail to do this risk causing a child to feel torn or confused between their family practices and program practices. At worst, the child rejects their family’s practices. Integrating a family’s care practices in child care helps children feel supported in their family identity and secure in their care inside and outside their family.

• Teachers interact with families to learn more about a family’s practices, and integrate a family’s care practices into child care practices.
• Teachers reinforce practices in care that help infants maintain strong connections to their family. For example, they ask families about how they feed their child, how they comfort their child, and sleep routines. This attention to what families do supports a child’s sense of belonging.

Different Practices Along the Birth – 36 Month Timeline

During the first 36 months, children are interested in security, exploration, and self. These topics are more prominent at different times throughout a child’s first three years. See Greenspan’s Stages of Emotional Development below.

• As they observe infants transitioning through growth stages, teachers plan accordingly for children’s developmental trajectory, incorporating flexibility into their planning. For example, depending on the age of the child, challenging behavior like biting will be handled differently depending on the child’s development.
• Teachers are flexible and accommodating during a child’s transitional developmental stages.

Responsive Practices

Individualized care meets each unique child’s needs and interests, and encourages further curiosity, exploration, and growth. Responsive practices are accommodating, receptive, thoughtful, and flexible. When using responsive practices, teachers:

• Respect an infant’s interests and respond to those interests rather than imposing own agenda.
• Keenly observe infants in care, find ways to connect to a child’s exploration and play, and expertly read an infant’s cues.
• Slow down and let the infant’s rhythm guide learning so as not to miss opportunities to let discovery unfold at child’s own pace; teachers do not ‘over help,’ but instead help a little as needed
• Use mirroring and encourage the use of hypotheses to model learning
• Before taking action, considers and is flexible about many aspects of the whole child including; where the child is now in the moment (current mood), who they are (temperament), and where they have been (their history).

Emergent Curriculum

An emergent curriculum accepts that most all children come into the world with their own learning goals and that following a child’s lead keeps them on a continuum of learning throughout their lives. Teachers have an opportunity to encourage infants to continue to be self-directed learners and explorers. Researchers Raikes & Pope Edwards (2009) emphasize how important it is for infants’ development to let them direct their own learning choices and agenda. Teachers can support this by:

• Instead of focusing on lessons and plans, focus on planning experiences that encourage learning. Teachers find ways to encourage and support children’s natural curiosity.
• Teachers carefully observe the children in care and document observations to maintain a record of a child’s interests and guide planning. Teachers acknowledge that this process is ongoing and adaptive.
• Plans include alternative strategies and approaches so a teacher may adjust based on a child’s interest and focus.
• Planning is understood to serve three goals: to help teachers get to know each child better, to learn more about the child’s interests, and to strengthen their connection with the child.

The Curriculum Planning Process, which is used in an ongoing fashion, looks like this:

Observe -> Document -> Assess -> Reflect & Plan -> Implement -> repeat

The teacher uses this framework to collect data, test hypotheses, and flexibly implement any needed adaptations or updates. This process is flexible enough that it can be used to implement any adaptations or corrections in any planning timeframe: whether in the moment, daily, or weekly. It does not have to follow this cyclical pattern illustrated above, but can be interactive among all steps.

Action Still Needed

What we know to be best practices for optimal infant development are not yet implemented at the majority of child care centers in the United States. The reasons for this are complex and include the high cost of providing quality care and high staff turnover rates. Bolstered by information about brain development, including the extraordinary brain development of children age two and younger (Lally, 2012), we can champion what we know to be best practices for this important group of people as more people begin to appreciate the long-term benefits of quality early child care. These practices will help infants and toddlers build strong relationships. Neuroscience informs us that early experiences affect brain architecture (Spence, Shapiro, and Zaidel, 1996), and the benefits of such practices in infant care settings will extend into children’s life trajectory and may counteract adverse experiences.

Author information about J. Ronald Lally:

RONALD LALLY, EdD, is co-director of the Center for Child and Family Studies, WestEd, and the Program for Infant Toddler Care (PITC), as well as one of the founders of ZERO TO THREE. His research deals with social-emotional development in infancy and the impact of early intervention on adult functioning. He is the executive producer more than 20 Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) infant–toddler training DVDs. These DVDs and accompanying print materials are the most widely distributed infant–toddler care training materials in the country. He and his staff have been responsible for the development of infant–toddler and preschool guidelines and standards for the states of California and Ohio.

Related Resources cited in original article by J. Ronald Lally:

The Program for Infant/Toddler Care www.pitc.org/ The Web site of The Program for Infant Toddler Care offers information, resources, and training opportunities for infant/toddler caregivers and links to PITC publications distributed by the California Department of Education. Key publications containing information about quality infant–toddler care are: Concepts for Care: 20 Essays on Infant/Toddler Development and Learning Edited by J. Ronald Lally, Peter L. Mangione & Deborah Greenwald (Editors). San Francisco: WestEd. California Infant Toddler Learning & Development Foundations & DVDs (2009). Sacramento, CA: CDE Press. California Infant Toddler Learning & Development Program Guidelines & DVDs (2009). Sacramento, CA: CDE Press.

Sources cited in original article by J. Ronald Lally: