CHC30712 Early Childhood Care Assignment: Sleep, Health, and Safety

This assignment addresses key aspects of early childhood care, providing insightful responses to several questions. The student explores how caregivers should gather information from parents regarding a toddler's sleep habits, including sleep duration, routine, and environmental factors like noise and light. The assignment also details the student's experience in implementing routines in a childcare setting, emphasizing the importance of fixed schedules for eating, sleeping, and hygiene. Furthermore, the document outlines the necessary provisions for breastfeeding mothers in a childcare center, including a private, comfortable space and access to a refrigerator for milk storage. It highlights the significance of maintaining a child's immunization status and provides guidelines for observing and responding to signs of illness and injury, as well as communicating with families. Finally, the assignment offers strategies for discussing sun safety with children aged 0-5 years, including the use of sunscreen, protective clothing, and staying in the shade during peak UV radiation hours. The document is well-researched and referenced, drawing on studies and guidelines related to early childhood development and care.

Running head: EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
EATLY CHILDHOOD CARE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
Response to Question 1
The caregiver must enquire the parents about the amount of sleep their child is receiving
every day, since a toddler’s sleep requirements range from 12 to 14 hours within a period of 24
hours. The parents must provide information about the maintenance of sleep routine, since
irregular sleep timings will result in poor rest and sleep. Toddlers need a peaceful environment to
sleep and hence the caregiver must ask the parent about the presence of noise or bright lights in
the environment. Drink and food ingestion immediately prior to sleep will affect the sleeping
pattern of the child: hence the care giver must obtain information from the parents about the
child’s dietary habits. 1
Response to Question 2
I have been involved in accommodating the routines of babies and toddlers in the
previous child care center I was employed in. Maintenance of routine helps in reducing stress in
the child along with regulation of behaviors and attitudes. This was performed by following
fixed eating schedules of the children during the morning, afternoon, early evening and late
evening hours, as well as following a fixed sleeping schedule in the morning and late afternoon
hours, in order to meet the dietary and resting needs of the children. The staff also performed
cleaning and nappy replacements of the children at two hour intervals in order to accommodate
their toileting requirements. 2
1 McDowall, Philippa S., Barbara C. Galland, Angela J. Campbell, and Dawn E. Elder. "Parent knowledge of
children's sleep: A systematic review." Sleep medicine reviews 31 (2017): 39-47.
2 Kim, Hyun-Ju, and Gyeong-Pil Ko. "An analysis of research trends related with adjustment of infants and toddlers
to child care center." Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society 16, no. 1 (2015): 223-234.

2EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
Response to Question 3
The childcare center must provide a separate room for breastfeeding mothers to ensure
privacy and comfort, along with the voluntary option to breastfeed in presence of others if
desired. The room must be hygienic, containing access to clean water, electricity as well as a
chair for sitting comfortably. For mother who want to store their expressed breast milk, a
refrigerator must be present in the childcare center. The workers of the center must assist the
breastfeeding mother, carefully handle expressed breast milk and provide flexible intervals for
mothers to feed in between regular child care activities. 3
Response to Question 4
The timely maintenance of a child’s immunization status is of utmost importance since it
improves the immunity of the child and build resistance against harmful diseases in the future. It
also helps in the development of a physiologically strong population due to its prevention of
transmission of communicable diseases. 4
Response to Question 5
The staff must observe hygiene habits of the children and ensure that the children engage
in hand-washing before and after food consumption and outdoor play to prevent gastrointestinal
problems. Toys and playrooms must be sanitized regularly. The staff must observe outdoor and
indoor play activities of the children by checking for presence of injuries by sharp objects, falls,
unwanted swallowing and unclean water and food consumption. The illnesses and injuries must
3 Neelon, SE Benjamin, D. T. Duncan, T. Burgoine, M. Mayhew, and A. Platt. "Promoting breastfeeding in child
care through state regulation." Maternal and child health journal 19, no. 4 (2015): 745-754.
4 Sharma, S., C. Kohli, N. Sharma, and D. Mehra. "Incomplete Immunization Coverage in Delhi: Reasons and
Solutions." Primary Health Care 6, no. 240 (2016): 2167-1079.

3EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
be managed immediately through the availability of first aid. The information must be relayed
immediately to the parents to gain any additional medical information of the child. Likewise for
serious issues, the center may refer to the nearest hospital or community healthcare center. 5
Response to Question 6
For 0 to 5 year old children, the center workers must educate the parents on the
importance of sun safety and instruct the usage of sunscreen and protective clothing of their
children. The children must be instructed to stay in shade from 9am to 4pm since that is the
ultraviolet radiation is the highest. Instructing children to wear well-fitted, cotton, long sleeved
clothing will aid in sun safety. Further, educating children through age appropriate pictorial and
visual tools will enhance their knowledge further on sun safety. 6
5 Frenkel, Hannah, Pooja Tandon, Howard Frumkin, and Ann Vander Stoep. "Illnesses and Injuries at Nature
Preschools." Environment and Behavior (2017): 0013916518773469.
6 Tsai, Jennifer, Thomas W. Valente, Kimberly A. Miller, Kayla De La Haye, Trevor A. Pickering, and Myles G.
Cockburn. "Friendship networks and sun safety behavior among children." Network Science 4, no. 3 (2016): 314-
335.

4EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
References
Frenkel, Hannah, Pooja Tandon, Howard Frumkin, and Ann Vander Stoep. "Illnesses and
Injuries at Nature Preschools." Environment and Behavior (2017): 0013916518773469.
Kim, Hyun-Ju, and Gyeong-Pil Ko. "An analysis of research trends related with adjustment of
infants and toddlers to child care center." Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation
Society 16, no. 1 (2015): 223-234.
McDowall, Philippa S., Barbara C. Galland, Angela J. Campbell, and Dawn E. Elder. "Parent
knowledge of children's sleep: A systematic review." Sleep medicine reviews 31 (2017): 39-47.
Neelon, SE Benjamin, D. T. Duncan, T. Burgoine, M. Mayhew, and A. Platt. "Promoting
breastfeeding in child care through state regulation." Maternal and child health journal 19, no. 4
(2015): 745-754.
Sharma, S., C. Kohli, N. Sharma, and D. Mehra. "Incomplete Immunization Coverage in Delhi:
Reasons and Solutions." Primary Health Care 6, no. 240 (2016): 2167-1079.
Tsai, Jennifer, Thomas W. Valente, Kimberly A. Miller, Kayla De La Haye, Trevor A.
Pickering, and Myles G. Cockburn. "Friendship networks and sun safety behavior among
children." Network Science 4, no. 3 (2016): 314-335.