Respond to and thrive on warm, sensitive physical contact and care.
Feeding:
Opens mouth for bottle when corner of mouth is touched.
Sucking strong and rhythmic with coordinated swallow.
Closes mouth around bottle teat to achieve seal.
Feeds at regular intervals throughout the day.
Puts hands on bottle when feeding.
Sleeping:
Has predictable sleeping pattern.
Sleeps for periods of two hours or more.
Sleeps more at night than during the day.
Has regular sleeps during the day.
Young babies' hunger patterns and how they regulate the speed and intensity with which they suck.
How they show they are relaxed when they feel safe and cared for.
How babies open their mouths for a bottle and close their mouths around the teat.
How babies suck and coordinate sucking and swallowing.
How regular a baby's feeding pattern is throughout the day.
How babies put their hands on their bottle when feeding.
How babies establish a regular pattern of sleeping throughout the day.
Talk to parents about the feeding patterns of young babies.
Talk to young babies as you stroke their cheeks, or pat their backs, reminding them that you are there and they are safe.
Discuss the cultural needs and expectations for skin and hair care with parents prior to entry to the setting, ensuring that the needs of all children are met appropriately and that parents' wishes are respected.
Feeding:
While holding a baby, introduce the teat of the bottle across the baby's cheek. This helps them to prepare for something coming towards their mouth. Young babies automatically turn to the side that has been stimulated. Let the teat rest gently on the baby's lips so that they can smell and taste the first drop of milk. Pause until the baby opens their mouth.
Let babies know you are about to feed them by using consistent actions. Pause and wait to see if babies begin to anticipate the bottle by opening their mouths before the teat touches their lips.
Later, say something like "milk time" and let them see you shaking the bottle when you're getting ready.
When using a bottle, guide both of a baby's hands to hold the bottle when drinking. Gradually reduce the amount of support you give until they can support it independently. This also encourages their hands to work together. Bottles are easier to handle when not too full.
When you begin spoon-feeding, use a plastic spoon with an easy grip. As babies begin to be able to grasp objects, let them hold a spoon and play with it, even when not feeding.
Before you start, make sure you and the baby are comfortable and that you have everything you need to hand, for example, bib, cloths and kitchen paper. It's easier for babies to swallow in a sitting position, so sit with them on your knee if they have stable head control, or in a baby chair with enough support.
Let babies have enough time to take the food off the spoon with their lips and palate so that they're in control of the speed of feeding until they become confident about feeding from a spoon.
At first, babies push food out of their mouths, but with experience, they learn to swallow in a more co-ordinated way. They often splutter, spit or gag on food, but keep offering it in a calm and encouraging way. Try to leave a drop on their lips so that they have a taste of the food being offered.
Make sure that all caregivers in your setting who feed children use the same approach.
Washing:
Make washing routines as calm and cosy as possible. It's a time when you can awaken babies' sense of smell as well as awareness of their bodies. Use pleasant smelling baby bath products, and gently massage their skin using oils or lotions.
Changing nappies:
Lie babies on a familiar surface such as a changing mat, soft towel or rug to change their nappies. This will help to build up a sense of security and routine.
Make the routine pleasant and fun. Keep babies warm and comfortable. Change clothes and nappies in an unhurried way while gently talking to them about what you're doing.
Follow the same sequence every time you remove or put on clothes to help babies anticipate what's going to happen next. Keep routines pleasant and unhurried so that babies enjoy these times with you.
Sleeping:
Newborn babies' body clocks do not distinguish between day and night and are initially dependent on feeding routines. Longer periods of sleep come more easily as the result of familiar routines that stimulate babies during the day and are more calming at night.
Try to tire babies during the day by being active and stimulating when they're awake, so that they begin to establish regular sleeping patterns at night.
Use a calm and consistent routine to settle babies down for a nap during the day.
Practise movement skills through games with beanbags, cones, balls and hoops.
Plan feeding times that take account of the individual and cultural feeding needs of young babies, remembering that some babies may be used to being fed while sitting on the lap of a familiar adult.
Introduce baby massage sessions that make young babies feel nurtured and promote a sense of well-being.
8-20 Months
Need rest and sleep, as well as food.
Focus on what they want as they begin to crawl, pull to stand, creep, shuffle, walk or climb.
Feeding:
Grasps finger foods and brings them to mouth.
Opens mouth for spoon.
Accepts range of tastes.
Accepts range of consistency (runny, thick, paste) and range of texture (smooth purée, chopped food, small soft lumps).
Starts to show own food preferences.
Tries to grasp spoon when being fed.
Holds own bottle or sipper cup.
Drinks from feeder cup with help and later drinks from feeder cup independently.
Attempts to use spoon: can guide towards mouth but food often falls off; moves on, with time, to try to use spoon to feed self.
Bites finger foods.
Eats lumps (for example, in yoghurt or semi-puréed food).
Chews lumpy food.
Sleeping:
Only having one nap during the day.
Washing:
Enjoys splashing water when being washed.
Tolerates face and hair washing with appropriate soap and shampoo.
Tolerates gum stimulation and teeth cleaning routines as teeth emerge and later, cooperates with teeth brushing.
Plays with a range of bath toys.
Begins to participate in bathing, offers or lifts body part ready for washing and later uses sponge on arms and legs.
Cooperates with drying hands.
Toileting:
Actively cooperates with nappy changing (lies still, helps hold legs up).
Starts to communicate urination, bowel movement.
How babies' behaviour changes as they get tired and require sleep.
The ways in which babies indicate that they need help.
Feeding:
How babies begin to open their mouths to take food from a spoon.
The range of food (consider textures and tastes) that a baby accepts.
How babies begin to grasp finger foods and bring them to their mouths.
How babies learn to use a spoon and sipper cup to feed themselves.
Sleeping:
How often babies need a nap during the day and how this changes over time.
Washing:
How babies cooperate and participate when being washed.
Toileting:
How babies cooperate when their nappy is being changed.
Help children to enjoy their food and appreciate healthier choices by combining favourites with new tastes and textures.
Make space for young children to be able to pull themselves up, shuffle or walk, ensuring that they are safe at all times, while not restricting their explorations.
Be aware that babies have little sense of danger when their interests are focused on getting something they want.
Feeding:
Introduce small amounts of food with a new taste or texture and only increase the amount of food as a child becomes familiar with it.
Try introducing finger foods by putting flavoured foods such as cream cheese or jam on to babies' fingers. At this stage, everything is taken to the mouth for exploration, so if it tastes good, they'll soon get the message and try other things. Finger foods which dissolve without much chewing can be introduced once solids are established.
Let babies watch you as you prepare food so that they begin to associate smells, sounds and sights with the food you give them.
Let babies play with safe kitchen equipment such as pans and spoons.
When introducing new textures, start with foods you know a child likes. Leave some soft lumps in the food when you mash or purée it or add a few crumbs of food that will absorb the familiar flavour, such as soft grains of rice.
Name the meals that you have at different points in the day, for example 'lunch' or 'tea' just before you start them.
Once babies can use a high chair, include them in setting mealtimes. You may need to feed them first, but you can give them some finger foods on their tray so that they're involved in eating at the same time as everyone else. Let them hold a spare spoon while everyone else is eating.
Encourage as much independence using a bottle as possible. You may, however, need to check the angle to prevent too much air being taken in.
Washing:
Encourage cooperation in washing hands and faces at various points of the day, such as washing hands before meals and washing faces after eating.
Give children a cloth to hold and encourage them to use it while you talk about what you're doing.
Changing nappies:
When changing nappies, tell children when they've passed water or had a bowel motion so that by the time you're toilet training they'll know what you're asking them to do. Use simple words that everyone in your setting is comfortable with.
Provide a comfortable, accessible place where babies can rest or sleep when they want to.
Plan alternative activities for babies who do not need sleep at the same time as others do.
Provide safe surroundings in which young children have freedom to move as they want, while being kept safe by watchful adults.
16-26 Months
Show some awareness of bladder and bowel urges.
Develop their own likes and dislikes in food, drink and activity.
Practise and develop what they can do.
Feeding:
Can locate mouth with an empty spoon.
Scoops food into spoon independently.
Accepts food from a fork.
Holds cup with both hands and drinks without much spilling.
Able to participate in mealtime routines, sits in high chair at table, joins in interaction.
Drinks from a straw.
Takes spoon from plate to mouth with some spilling.
Inserts spoon in mouth without turning it upside down.
Accepts new textures and tastes such as larger pieces of food and increasing range.
Starts to be less messy with food.
Washing:
Tolerates use of toothpaste and brush.
Cooperates with washing hands, rubs hands and body with soap and puts under water to rinse.
Beginning to brush own hair.
Toileting:
Clearly communicates wet or soiled nappy or pants.
Shows awareness of what a potty or toilet is used for.
Young children's interest in bodily functions and when they communicate their needs.
The choices young children make, for example, asking for the same story again and again.
Patterns of play, such as repeatedly climbing on to and off a step.
Feeding:
How children begin to participate in mealtime routines with other children and adults.
How children learn to scoop food up with a spoon for themselves and learn to use a fork.
How children hold a cup and learn to drink without spilling.
How the range of food textures and tastes enjoyed by a child increases and how they learn to eat larger pieces of food.
Washing:
The way children learn to wash their hands.
Toileting:
How children tell you their nappy or pants need changing.
How children begin to show that they understand what a potty or toilet is used for.
Support parents' routines with young children's toileting by having flexible routines and by encouraging children's efforts at independence.
Discuss cultural expectations for toileting, since in some cultures young boys may be used to sitting rather than standing at the toilet.
Value children's choices and encourage them to try something new and healthy.
Feeding:
Encourage children to participate in eating routines in your setting by sitting them at a small table at snack time or telling them it's tea time and moving them towards a high chair.
When children begin to use a spoon to scoop food, choose a bowl with a deep vertical side to give an edge to push food against. In the early stages it can be helpful to sit behind a child and guide their hand to scoop food. Do the first few scoops yourself if a child is very hungry to avoid frustration, then encourage them to use the spoon while they're still quite hungry. A favourite food will encourage children to use a spoon.
This is a messy time and it's important that children are not discouraged from trying by anxiety over mess. A plastic mat on the floor is a good idea!
Introduce a spouted cup with one handle.
Give some finger foods in open-topped packets for children to pick out for themselves.
Introduce open-topped cups and allow children time to play with them empty at mealtimes for some days before you use them. Start by using very small quantities of a drink children like. Sit them on your knee at the start of a meal when they're hungry and thirsty. Show children how to tip the cup to deliver liquid.
Demonstrate how chunks of food can be speared with a fork and encourage children to try this for themselves.
Put some favourite food inside a small carton or tub with a lid and show how to get at it.
Ask children what they are going to eat and see if they can identify any food being prepared by smell or taste.
Always tell children the name of the things they're eating.
Help children tip a jug to pour out liquid. Practise this during play, pouring out sand or dry rice before moving on to water. Ladle spoonfuls of material into a container and then tip it out again.
Washing:
Encourage children to wash their hands before and after meals and after messy play, using a hand basin.
Show children how to rub hands with soap to get them clean and then how to rinse and dry them afterwards. It will be some time before they master this skill.
Demonstrate how to brush hair and encourage children to brush yours as well.
Encourage children to use the cold tap when using a hand basin. Talk about 'hot' and 'cold' and place the children's hands under the warm and cold taps while the water is running, to show the difference.
Allow children to explore the plughole so that they understand that water flows out of the basin down the hole.
Toileting:
Tell children what they've done when changing nappies to get them used to the language, using consistent words that you are comfortable with.
Encourage children to hold and play with clean wipes while you're cleaning them and explain what they're for.
Take your child with you to the door of the bathroom and tell them what you're doing so they realise everyone does this.
Encourage children to explore a potty that you keep in the setting and talk to them about what it's for.
In preparation for toilet training, get into the habit of taking children to the bathroom to change their nappy to give the message that this is the appropriate place for such activities.
Ask children if they need changing (even when it's clear that they do) to encourage them to communicate their toileting needs.
Encourage children to get involved in the disposing of nappies, by asking them to put them in the bin.
Introduce the idea of good hygiene by explaining that you always wash hands after changing nappies or using the toilet.
Use storybooks and toys to prepare children for toilet training. All their teddies and dollies need to go to the toilet too!
Offer choices for children in terms of potties, trainer seats or steps.
Establish routines that enable children to look after themselves, for example, putting their clothes and aprons on hooks or washing themselves.
Create time to discuss options so that young children have choices between healthy options, such as whether they will drink water, juice or milk.
22-36 Months
Communicate their needs for things such as food, drinks and when they are uncomfortable.
Show emerging autonomy in self-care.
Feeding:
Asks, or searches for food when hungry.
Feeds self competently with spoon.
Drinks well without spilling.
Replaces cup on table without difficulty.
Keeps most food in bowl or on plate.
Toileting:
Indicates need for toilet by behaviour (such as dancing movements or holding self).
Tolerates sitting on potty or toilet.
The signs, gestures or words young children use to convey what their needs are at any time.
Feeding:
How children tell you that they are hungry.
Toileting:
How children tell you they need the potty or toilet.
When children learn to sit on a potty or toilet.
Involve young children in the preparation of food.
Encourage repetition in movements and sensory experiences.
Give children the chance to talk about what they like to eat, while reinforcing messages about healthier choices, and to learn about each other's preferences.
Remember that children who have limited opportunity to play outdoors may lack a sense of danger.
Feeding:
Involve children in a wider range of food preparation tasks, for example, show them how to use a knife for spreading and cutting sandwiches.
Give lots of practise of cutting with a safe blade using dough and foods such as bananas, medium or soft cheese and cooked carrots.
Place some favourite foods in jars with simple screw tops and show how they can be opened. Develop this into a guessing game - shake the jar and ask what it sounds like. This will help to develop vital listening and manipulative skills.
Store children's eating equipment in an accessible place and encourage them to find their own cutlery and bowls and to put them on the table.
Set the table together with place mats, forks, knives, spoons, plates and cups.
Play 'guess the food' games by describing the food you're about to eat.
Encourage children to carry an open-topped cup with a small amount of liquid in it for a few steps. Do the same with a piece of fruit or sandwich in a bowl or plate. Extend this as skills improve.
Washing:
In addition to practising hand-washing, encourage the children to dry their hands with a towel and put it back in the appropriate place so that it can be found when next needed.
Toileting:
Encourage children to explore the toilet thoroughly and explain how it is used. Sit them on the closed lid to help them get used to its height. Provide a small step to help with getting on and to maintain good posture while sitting.
Make sure children feel secure when sitting on a toilet or potty by using a suitable child seat. Make sure they also have a stable base under their feet.
Show how the flush works and explain what happens when using public toilets or other people's bathrooms. Warn children that toilets in other places may sound different from the ones they use regularly so they won't be alarmed by different noises.
Ensure children's safety, while not unduly inhibiting their risk-taking.
Display a colourful daily menu showing healthy meals and snacks and discuss choices with the children, reminding them, for example, that they tried something previously and might like to try it again.
Be aware of eating habits at home and of the different ways people eat their food. For example, some families use hands to eat and some cultures strongly discourage the use of the left hand for eating.
30-50 Months
Show awareness of own needs with regard to eating, sleeping and hygiene.
Often need adult support to meet those needs.
Show awareness of a range of healthy practices with regard to eating, sleeping and hygiene.
Observe the effects of activity on their bodies.
Feeding:
Eats individual pieces of food from tub or box with lid.
Able to blow, for example, candles or when cooling food.
Pours drink from jug with some spillage.
Eats with a fork and a spoon.
Beginning to use a knife for spreading.
Washing:
Helps wash self and own hair.
Helps dry self after washing.
Uses taps on hand basin.
Washes and dries own hands.
Turns taps on and off.
Brushes own teeth with help.
Blows nose when tissue is held up.
Toileting:
Asks for toilet using voice, gesture or action, for example, leads adult to toilet and asks verbally or makes a sign.
Mostly dry during the day with occasional accidents.
Usually able to control bowel with occasional accidents.
Pulls down own pants when using the toilet.
Flushes toilet with support.
Waits to be wiped after using toilet or potty.
Children's recognition of their own needs, such as when they tell you their lace is undone and need help to fasten it.
The ways children demonstrate understanding of healthy practices such as by saying they need a tissue, or putting a cup in the sink ready to be washed.
Children's understanding that they need a rest or a drink after a burst of activity.
Feeding:
Children's growing confidence using a range of different eating utensils.
How children pour liquid from a jug into cups.
Washing:
How children learn to wash and dry their own hands and face, including turning on the taps at a wash basin for themselves.
When children learn to blow their noses if a tissue is held up.
Toileting:
The different ways children ask for the toilet using voice, gestures or actions.
The pattern of children's learning as they become mostly dry during the day and later, reliably dry and clean.
How children behave in the toilet. Can they flush the toilet for themselves and do they wait to be wiped?
Talk to children about why you encourage them to rest when they are tired or why they need to wear wellingtons when it is muddy outdoors.
Create opportunities for moving towards independence, for example, have hand-washing facilities safely within reach, and support children in making healthy choices about the food they eat.
Encourage children to notice the changes in their bodies after exercise, such as their heart beating faster.
Provide a cosy place with a cushion and a soft light where a child can rest quietly if they need to.
Plan so that children can be active in a range of ways, including while using a wheelchair.
Be aware that physical activity is important in maintaining good health and in guarding against children becoming overweight or obese in later life.
40-60+ Months
Show some understanding that good practices with regard to exercise, eating, sleeping and hygiene can contribute to good health.
Recognise the importance of keeping healthy, and those things which contribute to this.
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active.
Feeding:
Helps with food preparation.
Has food preferences and wishes and expresses them.
Understands need for variety in food.
Eats a healthy range of foodstuffs.
Understands need for hygiene in food preparation, serving and eating.
Washing:
Begins to take responsibility for self-care in washing, teeth cleaning.
Uses personal hygiene materials competently.
Knows when to wash hands and face.
Shows negative reactions to lack of cleanliness in food, personal items and so on.
Toileting:
Reliably dry and clean during the day.
Usually initiates use of toilet when needed, and seeks help as required.
Knows routine of wiping self and handwashing and usually carries this out.
Note:
Early Support material relating to dressing appears in Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Self-care
How children indicate that they are hungry or need to wash their hands before starting to cook.
Children's familiarity with hygienic practices, such as throwing used tissues in a bin.
Children's understanding of what they need to do to maintain health, for example, a child telling others they are going to the dentist: "I need to have a check-up to keep my teeth strong".
Children talking about and feeling their heart beating after running, without prompting from an adult.
Promote health awareness by talking to children about exercise, its effect on their bodies and the positive contribution it can make to their health.
Help children to understand the thinking behind the good practices they are encouraged to adopt.
Be aware of specific health difficulties among the children in the group, such as allergies.
Be sensitive to varying family expectations and life patterns when encouraging thinking about health.
Find ways to involve children so that they are all able to be active in ways that interest them and match their health and ability.
Discuss with children why they get hot and encourage them to think about the effects of the environment, such as whether opening a window helps everybody to be cooler.
Ensure that children who get out of breath will have time to recover.
Place water containers where children can find them easily and get a drink when they need one.
Plan opportunities, particularly after exercise, for children to talk about how their bodies feel.
Acknowledgements
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