Best Practices for Infant and Toddler Care

IEL Resources

• Tip Sheet: Choosing Child Care for Infants & Toddlers
• Tip Sheet: Please Don’t Go! Separation Anxiety and Children
• Tip Sheet: Sharing Books with Your Baby
• Tip Sheet: Sharing Books with Your Toddler
• Tip Sheet: SIDS: Back to Sleep
• Tip Sheet: Tech Time for Infants and Toddlers
• Tip Sheet: Get Ready to Read
• Tip Sheet: No More Diapers: Is Your Child Ready?
• Tip Sheet: Dental Health for Babies
• Q&A: Illinois Early Learning Guidelines: A Guide for Parents
• Blog: Strategies for Developmentally Appropriate “Show and Tell” in Early Childhood Classrooms
• Podcast: Including Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities in Child Care

Web Resources

• Infant and Toddler Child Care Quality
  This publication from the Child Care & Early Education Research Connections 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.
• Keys to High-Quality Child Care for Infants and Toddlers: Core Knowledge and Competencies for Infants and Toddlers
  This fact sheet from the Zero to Three website describes common elements found in the core knowledge and competencies for infants and toddlers of 36 states, including age ranges, core knowledge categories, competency levels, and special considerations for children with special needs and cultural diversity.
• Infant and Toddler Early Learning Guidelines Implementation Toolkit
  Zero to Three provides the following resources, tools, and process suggestions which are intended to assist states and territories in engaging in a strategic planning process to support the implementation of Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers.
• Choosing Quality Child Care
  This resource from Zero to Three 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.
• Natural Partners in Natural Environments: Childcare & Early Intervention
  This booklet, written by the Early Intervention Training Program, describes how child care providers can support families whose children may be eligible for, or are enrolled in, the early intervention program.
• Research on Quality in Infant-Toddler Programs
  This Eric Digest indicates that choice of high-quality care is critical for children’s optimal development.
• Social Emotional Tips for Providers Caring for Infants
  The Center for Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation explains that the quality of infants’ relationships forms the foundation for their social and emotional health.
• DAP with Infants and Toddlers, Ages Birth – 3
  This page on the National Association for the Education of Young Children describes developmentally appropriate practice for infants and toddlers and provides resources for providers.
• Including Relationship-Based Care Practices in Infant-Toddler Care: Implications for Practice and Policy
  This brief from the Network of Infant/Toddler Researchers 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.
• Relationship-Based Care Practices Webinar Series
  This webinar series introduces infant-toddler caregivers to important program practices in group care.