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The role of the practitioner in meeting particular needs of babies is very important. I have chosen to do a group based care. The setting of care I have chosen to do is a Day Nursery.

A Day Nursery will offer a range of needs for babies from 3 months up until age 5 which will be Pre-school age. In a Day Nursery there will be a variety of care needs because they have to care for baby’s right up until the age of five so the care needs will be different depending on the age but I will be focusing on babies and the particular needs practitioners can offer babies. 

One way in which practitioners can meet babies particular care needs is that it is vitally important that as a practitioner you are forming a relationship with the babies and their parents. This is important because you can work to together with the baby’s parents to help their baby develop and making sure they are developing at the right stage for their age. It will also be important to work with parents if a baby has a disability or maybe a learning difficulty that could affect the way they develop, for example in my baby placement one baby is partly blind in one eye so she needs extra help in order for her to develop in the right way, so the babies key worker worked together to find a way of helping the baby develop and to improve and strengthen the babies eye in order for her to be able to use that eye and develop to the best of her ability. It is also important that practitioners are forming good relationships with the babies making sure the babies trust you and they feel comfortable around you, to form this relationship you can comfort the baby when they are hurt of sad, making sure they are giving the babies attention by playing and interacting with them.

Another way practitioners can meet the particular needs of babies is by ensuring that practitioners are observing and recording children's development on a daily basis. Practitioners can do this by observing children to see what they enjoy doing and finding out what their likes and dislikes are. Practitioners will need to be recording this information while they are finding it out in order to make sure they have the information on record. Once practitioners have recorded this information they can this use it to plan to meet babies need's by ensuring they are providing the right activities and toys that the babies enjoy doing and that will contribute to their learning, this is so they will progress and improve their development to the best of their ability. It’s important for practitioners to record information because in order for you to go back to the information at anytime, it will also help with providing next steps for babies in order to further their development and then going back to this information after a certain amount of weeks to see if the baby has managed to carry out their next step.

Another really significant way of meeting babies particular needs is by always ensuring that babies are always be supervised in a childcare setting at all times. It is vital that in a setting they have a ratio system to ensure that there are enough staff to the amount of children in the setting each day. When it comes to babies the ratio has to be one adult to every three babies, so for example of there was twelve babies in on one day then there needs to be four members of staff in the room. If the room is split into two then it maybe a sensible idea would be to put six babies in one room with two members of staff and the other six babies in the other room again with the other two members of staff, this is so that there is more room for the babies to move around and so that it is easier for the staff to supervise the babies. This may also happen because each staff member will have a certain amount key children that they are responsible for, meaning that they have to do observations, change nappies and feed their key children, so is so babies care and learning needs are looked at more closely by one person and they will be responsible for ensuring that their key children are developing and learning as they grow up.  If a key worker was on their own with three babies then they would need to carry out certain tasks in order to make sure that they will always be supervising the babies. The tasks they would need to carry out would be changing baby’s nappies on the floor on a changing mat instead of changing them on a nappy cubical, so is so that the key worker can watch the other babies while they are changing one baby’s nappy. It is important for key workers to make sure they are supervising babies this is so that can try and prevent babies from having accidents and to make sure that the babies are being kept safe.

Another way of meeting babies particular is by providing a variety of different resources and equipment in order to help the babies to develop and to reach their full potential. Key workers should be providing babies with toys and equipment that will stimulate them and keeping them interested. Toys like mobiles and things that are hanging will help to stimulate babies that are 3 months and younger when they are in a cot or under a play gym because they will try and reach their body up in order to try and grab the different toys. Sensory toys and materials are a good way of stimulating babies because they will be interested in how they feel, what they look like and younger babies will put things in the mouth in order to feel the texture of the material. Shape sorting toys will help babies really concentrate because they will be trying their very hardest to get the shapes into the holes and they may spend ages on the one toy until they can get the shapes in the holes. Puzzles are also another good way of stimulating babies because they will be turn each puzzle piece different ways to try and get them in the right place but they won't yet know which piece goes in which slot they will just try and put any piece in any slot to see if that puzzle piece matches, they do sometimes get it right. Building towers will also help to stimulate a baby and to help them concentrate because they will try to make a tower without it falling down, when I’m in my baby placement I will start off a tower for baby so that they can try and put the next brick on top. Babies will love to use walkers when they are in childcare settings, this is because the love to move around, they will like to bang into things and walkers will also encourage babies to walk and to use their legs, babies will also feel a sense of achievement when they are using a walker because they love it when they can get to the other side of the room. In my baby placement some of the babies have been using the walkers and they will spend a lot of time just going up and down the room.

Another way of meeting baby’s needs is by making sure babies have routines. It is important for babies to have a routine for many reasons. Routines will help stimulate babies and it will help them to keep interested because they are doing different tasks and activities throughout the day. It is really important to have routines in a Day nursery because some babies can be there from half seven in the morning to something like half six at night so they need to have routines in order to keep them occupied and to make sure they are having fun as well as developing at the same time. In a babies routine it is important to ensure that they have breakfast, a snack lunch and dinner to make sure they have got enough energy for the day and to ensure they are getting a balanced diet and a variety of nutrients. key workers will need to ensure they change the babies nappies at certain times of the day, it is also important that babies can a lot of time to play and explore their environment, the toys and the different resources. Routines will give babies stability and freedom to do what they want. Routines give babies a chance to be flexible. Routines will help babies to know what to expect in their daily routines for example, the babies in my placement will always know what it is time to eat. Routines will support baby’s development and they will be learning new aspects everyday.

To provide quality care for babies should be delivered with a caring and personal relationship between the baby and a practitioner. In a Day Nursery it is important that they have a key worker system to connect a practitioner with an individual baby, though a key person will have a group of babies to work with to meet their individual needs and to support them with their development to help them reach their full potential. The practitioner will also work with the baby’s parents to work together to make sure that the babies are developing at the right stage of development for their age. A key worker as a number of tasks to carry out in order to meet baby’s particular needs. Key workers should always be keeping daily records of their key baby’s development e.g. by writing a dairy about what the baby has done each day they are in the Day Nursery. In my baby placement the staff members have to write a dairy everyday about what the baby has been doing in their day. They would write whether the child ate all their meals in the day and how much they ate, how long they slept for, how many times they had their nappy changed and what they did, they also wrote down how many ounces they had of their bottle if they had one and then they would generally just write about what the baby did in the day and what they played with. This showed and helped their parents to understand how they are developing what they like to do. Key workers should observe the babies when they do something new and then make sure they feed this back to their parents. Key workers should be "observing your key children and analysing the information gathered through observation" (teaching expertise, 2009). Key workers should be planning a variety of different experiences for the babies which links to the observations you've done of the baby’s interests. If a baby has special needs it's important for practitioners to create individual education plans that will help support them. It is important that practitioners are keeping in contact with other professionals and other colleagues about the baby’s development.

Emily Reeves

Site Number: 643:00

Pin Number: 10/681373

Site Name: North Hertfordshire College

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Unit 18 Assignment- Working with babies from birth to 12 months  

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Malnutrition

There are a variety of different factors that will affect a baby’s health and development in the first year of their life. “Malnutrition is a serious condition that occurs when a person’s diet does not contain enough nutrients to meet the demands of their body” (NHS, Choices- Your Health, 2011). One factor could be is malnutrition when babies are not getting enough food and not the right amount of the correct foods and nutrients in their diet. If a baby has malnutrition it can significantly affect a baby's mental and physical growth and it could affect the baby permanently even if the child was starting to eat much better. All babies should either be breastfeed or they should be having formula especially from birth up to the age of 6 months. This should be the major source of food for a baby at least up until their first birthday. If you breast feed your baby they may become deficient in some nutrients, these could be vitamin D or iron, and this is if the mother is having inadequate amounts of these nutrients. If the baby had Vitamin D deficiencies it can then result in them getting rickets which will then affect the growth of the baby’s bones. If the baby has a low intake or iron then this could result in the baby having slower growth overall which will the consequence in a delay of the babies mental development because their tissues and brain might not be getting enough oxygen from their blood “People with malnutrition lack the nutrients necessary for their bodies to grow and stay healthy” (Teens Health, 1995-2013).

Disabilities and Birth Defects

If you find out that your baby has a disability it can be very difficult for the mother to deal with when the baby has been diagnosed that is why it is important for them to find out more information and get some advice on the disability. If your baby has a disability it will have a strong effect on the development of your baby. Babies that have genetic defects which is when it is passed down from family generations for example down syndrome or cystic fibrosis may then have a delay in their physical development, mental develop and also some social areas. Disabilities can be something you will notice straight away at birth or it may not be so obvious until you notice the delay in your baby’s development or whether the doctor notices it when you take your baby for checkups "Disabilities may be obvious at birth, or may not become apparent until a delay in development is noticed by parents or doctors" (Livestrong.com, 2010).

Prematurity

If you have a premature baby it means that they are born before their due date which will be any time before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If your baby is born premature will commonly grow and encounter their developmental milestones at a slower pace than babies that have a gestational age of over 38 weeks. A premature baby will begin their life smaller as well as being less developed than babies that are born at the right amount of weeks. This will result in premature babies having difficulty with problems for example having immature lungs "Babies who are born prematurely generally grow and meet developmental milestones more slowly than infants with a gestational age of over 38 weeks" (Livestrong.com, 2010).

Social Factors

Some babies may have difficulty with social factors when they are developing. So for a baby to develop in the correct way they should be always be encouraged to have consistent interaction with parents, carers and other children. If their are signs that a baby is being neglected they will find it extremely difficult to succeed which means they will experience developmental delays. Babies development will be affected not only by being physically neglected but such as when you do not feed your baby regularly on a daily basis and babies will also experience social, mental and emotional neglect which will affect their development in many different ways. It is so important that babies are getting a constant loving touch, attention to their own needs and emotional interaction like smiling or talking to them to thrive and develop in the correct way "For a baby to develop properly, she should have regular interaction with parents and caregivers. Babies who are neglected exhibit a failure to thrive and experience developmental delays" (Livestrong.com, 2010). If this is not happening then the baby will feel alone and unloved which will affect their growth and develop extremely.

Diseases    

There are many different diseases that babies could be at risk from contracting which will affect their growth and development "Infections and internal diseases, such as allergies, can cause developmental delays in infants" (Livestrong.com, 2010). If a baby has an infection or an internal disease for example allergies could cause babies to have developmental delays. If your baby has any of these diseases below will also result in them having development problems. These diseases are:

·Urinary tract infections

·Gastroesophogeal reflux disease

·Diarrhea

·Respiratory illnesses

·Parasitic infections

These diseases and illnesses will affect a baby’s development because it will prevent the baby's body from being able to break down the nutrients from the food they are eating.

Supporting healthy brain development

Now that your baby is born it will start to become clear that what a child will experience in the first years of their life, this will then extremely influences how the babies brain will develop and how the baby will react with the world around them through their life. Parents will play an important role in a baby’s life in providing them with the nurturing and the stimulation they need.

Eyes

For the reason that your vision will play such a vital role of many different factors of the baby's life, the consequences of a baby having vision problems can be quite devastating for the baby's parents to deal with. "While many of the following factors are not necessarily relevant to children early on, these are factors that should be limited throughout life" (Kids Health Care, 2008). Various eye problems will be symptoms of conditions that are found in other parts of the body. This may then result in a dietary deficiency, different environmental factors or a combination of them both. For example a common symptom of hay fever is when you baby had itchy and teary eyes and the seriousness of the hay fever will vary depending on what your babies diet is like and the quality of it.  

Parenting styles

Parenting styles will have a big affect on baby’s health and development this is because the way you bring up your child will determine the outcome on how your child will development and the health of your child. For example there are three types of parenting styles which are called:

• ·Authoritarian- a authoritarian parent would be a parent that would be quite demanding, strict and expect a lot from their children, they will have no tolerance for questions or for breaking rules.
• Authorative- If a parent is Authorative they will be the middle of the road and negotiate and talk to children to develop rules.  
• ·Permissive- If a parent is permissive they will be more relaxed and they will have no set rules or guidelines and they don't always have all control over their children.

So if a parent was an authoritarian they would be stricter with their babies development, it would mean that the babies may be made to do certain things and they would be strict on what they want for their baby. This may then affect the babies time if they are put into a day nursery. It could mean that the parent might be strict on how much food the baby eats and what they eat e.g. healthy food and no sugar, having certain nappies, having certain amount of ounces if they have a bottle or how long their baby sleeps for. This could be good for  a child's health and development because it is showing that the parents want the best for their baby and they want to them to have the best health and develop at the right rate for their age, but it could also not be good for the babies health and development because babies need a balanced diet so they should be having some foods with sugar in but just not too much of it and also babies need enough sleep to grow, develop and be healthy so they should be allowed to sleep until they wake up. Authoritarian parents would defiantly have rules and a strict routine for their baby making sure that everything is done right and in the correct way not forgetting to do anything. I think a baby that has a authoritarian parent that they may struggle to make friends and have proper relationships with other children and adults because they are being told to much by their parents on what they are allowed to do and not to do which will be difficult for a baby especially when they are learning to talk. But by having this parenting style I do think it will help a baby to more confident which is always a positive attribute when babies are developing.

If a parent was an Authorative they wouldn’t be as strict but they still wouldn't let their child/baby get away with anything and they would still care about their baby’s health and development. Parents would give babies more of a choice in things that they do and they wouldn't be so strict on what they would be allowed to do in the setting if their parents chose to put them into a setting at any early age. Authorative parents wouldn’t be so strict on what their baby will eat not like an Authoritarian parent would; they properly wouldn’t mind them having sugar as long as they don't have too much. They would just have normal nappies, they would still be the same with the amount of milk they had, but I think they would want their baby to have as much sleep as they need and they wouldn’t want them to have a set time but just for them to wake up when they have had enough sleep. I think this way of parenting is good because it gives babies more freedom to do what they find and sometimes I find that they develop better that way because they are exploring and learning new things from what they want to do which means they would be able to learn from mistakes rather than just doing everything right. I also think this is properly this best style of parenting because babies will be getting a bit of both for example having more freedom but on the other hand still have some rules and making sure they are developing right and they are always healthy. I think they would still have rules for the babies and they would have a routine so that their babies day would be structured and so they would understand how they day would work.

If a parent was permissive they wouldn’t be strict at all and they wouldn’t be bothered by what their baby would do. They would not be strict how their child would behavior or act. They may not be bothered where their child was with their development and they may not pay a lot of attention to health of their baby for example they may put their baby in the same nappy because they can't afford more nappies or because they can't be bothered to change them or they may give their babies food that is bad for them and not trying to give them a balanced diet. They would have no rules or routine for their baby and they may always shout at their baby if they do something wrong which is the wrong way of showing how babies to behave which then could affect the babies behavior when they grow up and start to talk. I think this style of parenting would be extremely worrying for a baby’s health and development because they wouldn’t be getting the right attention they need to make sure they are developing and staying healthy. In extreme cases with this parenting style babies maybe being neglected by their parents which could result in them not developing properly at and being more at risk from having health problems when they are older. I don't think this style of parenting is very at all for baby’s health and development and I think that it will affect their health and development hugely and could make their baby very unhappy.

Emily Reeves

Site Number: 643:00

Pin Number: 10/681373

Site Name: North Hertfordshire College