Top Infant Care Services in Singapore

What are Infant Care Services?

Every child infant deserves the best care in his/her early years. Infant care services are offered in care centres to support an infant’s intelligence, creativeness, social, sensory and emotional skills during the crucial growing stages.

This can be achieved in a safe environment that is designed with the highest level of quality care by skilled caregivers. 

Why Do We Need Infant Care Services?

Living in a modern world, mothers are becoming more work-oriented and feel the need to get back to their work as soon as possible after giving birth. This is why working mothers need professional infant care services for their babies. From the age of infancy, children are experiential learners. That is why an age-appropriate curriculum that stimulates the senses while promoting cognitive, linguistic, motor, and social-emotional development is the best for providing your infant with diverse opportunities to learn.

In fact, there are so many professional infant care services in Singapore. To help mothers choose the best infant care centre in Singapore that best fits their child’s needs, here are the comprehensive lists of the top 20 best infant care in Singapore:

Learning Curriculum at Infant Care Centres

From the age of infancy, kids are experiential learners who adapt skills at a fast pace. That is why an age-appropriate learning curriculum that promotes certain skills relating to their cognitive, linguistic, communication, and social-emotional behaviour is the best for providing infants with diverse opportunities to learn well.

This learning curriculum, in addition to the nurturing day-to-day care process such as feeding, changing diapers, putting a child to sleep, playing, reading and communicating is significant in ensuring optimal growth for the infant’s brain.

According to Early Childhood Development (ECDA), infant care centres may employ either a State Registered Nurse (SRN) or a trained Infant Care Educarer, who must be trained in infant and childcare, as well as first aid with a minimum of two years’ experience in a childcare or preschool working environment. It is important to enquire if any additional training at the infant care centre has been carried out, in addition to how long the educarer or registered nurse has worked there. This shows how experienced he/she is in the field of work. 

Besides their experiences and qualifications, the educarer or registered nurse should adopt a caring and friendly behaviour towards the infants. It is significant to observe how they interact and communicate with the infants. For instance, is it in a friendly and patient manner? Do they have a gentle and soft touch? How do they console a crying baby? You certainly want your child to feel safe and comfortable in their hands at all times when you’re not around.

Look out for these basic requirements:

Regular updates

For mothers who have to return to work after their maternity leave ends, it can be stressful to entrust your child to a infant care centre when it feels like your baby was just born yesterday. That is why, to get a peace of mind, it is essential to find a professional infant care centre that you can feel confident for your child to attend. 

The infant care centre should offer daily updates on your child’s learning progress, and track their behaviours, such as when your child achieves relevant developmental skills. This helps you know that your child is growing and developing healthily.

Learning Curriculum

Every infant care centre has their own unique learning programme to help children grow to the best of their abilities. It is important to check if they are matching with the Singapore Early Years Development Framework (EYDF). In addition, some centres have unique programmes to match infants to multiple areas of learning.

Age-appropriate equipment

These learning equipment provided at the centre should help in the growth of your child. It should help them to get the most out of their daily activities. The centre should provide supportive features that help infants to learn how to stand and walk better. Appropriate gym equipment can aid children who are mastering their physical skills.

Diet

Food is an essential factor for child growth and development. It is extremely important to understand how the infant care centre prepares it. Look out for factors such as the presence of an in-house nutritionist in the centre, or meal planning schedule throughout the day. These meals should be developed in accordance with the Health Promotion Board’s (HPB) guidelines. Some infant care centres even provide meals made with superfoods to ensure your child consumes the correct amount of nutrition that boost physical and cognitive development.

How you feel about the centre

Most importantly, you should feel comfortable enough to leave your precious one with the educarers in the infant care centre. Mothers can always ask their friends for referrals. It helps to increase the possibility of trusted insights as they have direct experiences with the centre. Some parents may be concerned that their child will not receive enough attention. ECDA’s minimum ratio requirement for infant care centres is one educarer to five infants. Thus, each child will receive equal amount of attention in the centre.

First-time parents may have separation anxiety when it is time to leave their baby in the care of a stranger. This is why it is important to select a centre where they feel comfortable with the educarers. This will give them a peace of mind. If it helps, it’s even better to request the educarers to offer regular updates on their child to further alleviate their worries.

Infant Care Fees

Infant care fees in Singapore vary across different centres. A child’s education is one of the most worthwhile investments to make.

It is essential to choose an infant care centre that meets both mothers and their child’s personal needs – including financial needs.

Fortunately, infant care fees in Singapore can be reduced using Government Infant Care Subsidies, which are available to local children attending licensed childcare centres.

The Basic Subsidy is up to $600. And the Additional Subsidy is available to Singaporean children whose mother/single father works 56 hours or more per month, with a gross monthly household income of $7,500, or Per Capita Income of $1,875 and below.

What Age Is Suitable for Infant Care Services?

Babies in Singapore can receive professional infant care services from 2 months to 18 months of age.

In choosing the appropriate child care arrangement, the age and personality of children are important factors for consideration. As a general rule of thumb, children below three years of age benefit most from one-to-one interaction with educated adults. When the children are older and ready for peer interaction, group care such as professional infant care centres can offer socialising opportunities that are limited in today’s families.

Editor’s Note:

Disclaimer: While every precaution has been made to ensure the accuracy and fairness of this listing, we acknowledge that they may be inaccuracies. Therefore, we urge you to contact the service provider above for the correct information and/or contact us with the correct information. If you have a medical condition, it is always better to consult with a certified health care professional directly instead of relying on any material in this website or any other literature.

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