Best Practices for Infant and Toddler Care

This resource explains that all children—especially infants and toddlers—need a child care setting where they can thrive with caregivers who understand how to promote their healthy growth and development.

This page describes Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) for infants and toddlers and provides resources for providers.

This brief describes relationship-based care practices and the research support for a focus on relationships in infant and toddler care. It emphasizes two specific relationship-based care supports – primary caregiving and continuity of care.

This publication identifies factors that tend to predict higher quality care within arrangement types—family child care, center care, and relative care—and describes the range of quality found in each type.

This booklet describes how child care providers can support families whose children may be eligible for, or are enrolled in, the early intervention program.

This podcast, by Dr. Alison Gopnik, vividly describes a number of compelling recent research studies that illustrate how very young children’s brains develop and how parents can use that information to nurture their children’s healthy development.

This webinar series introduces infant-toddler caregivers to important program practices in group care.

This indicates that choice of high-quality care is critical for children’s optimal development.

This explains that the quality of infants’ relationships forms the foundation for their social and emotional health.

This resource notes specific elements of a high-quality environment for infants and explains how caregivers plan learning experiences for infants.