I was lucky to be able to secure a place at the infant care at my house downstairs. Initially the plan was to send him to the IFC at my workplace (already paid a deposit when I gave birth to Baby Heng – Kan Chiong as IFC places are so in demand). However, when Baby Heng was about 2 months old, E-Bridge (my house downstairs) called and told me there’s a vacancy and demanded that I reply in 2 days time. Hence I quickly arranged for a tour at the centre.
Things to consider:
- Hygiene (examples: Cleanliness, How they prepare the food, handle and store breastmilk
- Distance from home to IFC
- Is there separate entrance for Infant and Childcare kids
- Is there separate playing room for Infant and Childcare
- What is the Teacher – Infant Ratio (ECDA guideline is 1:5)
- Do they feed medication?
- What is the SOP when your child falls sick? Injure themselves?
- How do they update on your baby daily routine?
I compared between two IFC and decided to go with the IFC below my block. I almost decided to go ahead with infant care at my workplace (ratio is 1:3 as compared to 1:4 at E-Bridge) but the distance (30 mins drive from home) swayed me over to E-Bridge.
Post note: I’m glad I choose my house downstairs. It’s really convenient when it’s raining or when I fall sick. My son is quite the tyrant so I felt bad towards the teacher haha. I was initially concerned over the ratio , but it turned out to be ok. Of course sometimes really got to close one eyes. Advice I can give: label everything you can !
I have a total of 3 wetbags. 1 wetbag for towel and cloths. 1 wetbag for extra clothings and bibs. 1 wetbag for his bedsheet and pillow cover. On top of bags , towels , bottles , toiletries , cream and oils , medicine, don’t forget:
- Bottle caps (not just the bottle!) – I received another baby cap and realised it’s not my baby cap because the teat size is different
- Pacifier – I did not label and received another baby pacifier. Imagine my disgust .. but well ..
For feeding. I provided them 3-4 bottles of breastmilk. As the infant care is just downstairs , I kept it in a Ziplock bag.
The school will also ask you to get a mattress cover for the cot. I was advised to get a bigger size mattress cover so that when baby heng transit to the ground mattress , I wouldn’t need to purchase again. Hope all this tips are useful !!