My husband and I went out on a date night the other
night! Alas not having family in the same state, or even a list of
childcare back-ups (we don’t get out much!), we needed to locate a
babysitter ASAP. As I imagine being the case with all new parents, our
requirement was not only a good babysitter, but also someone who had
solid experience with the peculiar breed that is babies!
This got me to thinking about how cool it is that
AuPairCare has addressed this particular parenting concern and I believe
are the only au pair agency to do so. The Infant Specialized Care
Program dictates than at an au pair must have at least 200 documented
hours working with children under two years of age, also these au pairs
have expressed an interest in caring for infants. Infant Specialized
designated au pairs complete a week long training designed by childcare
specialists at AuPairCare’s Training Academy in New York. The classroom
is set up as a nursery and each au pair is given a baby (doll
obviously!) to care for during the week. Au pairs are given training
in the following areas of baby care in the “American Way” (especially
cool, I think, is the training in infant massage, baby sign language and
the American heart Association certification in Infant First Aid and
CPR):
- General household safety and hygiene
- Communicating with parents about infant care (including the use of a Daily Diary)
- Infant care basics (feeding, bathing, changing, transportation)
- What to do in an emergency
- Creating and monitoring baby's daily routine
- Infant stages of development
- Games and activities to stimulate infant mental development
- Caring for multiples
- American parenting techniques
- Coping techniques to handle stress as an infant caregiver
- Baby massage and infant soothing techniques
- Infant sign language
- Certification in Infant First Aid and CPR
For more information on AuPairCare’s unique Infant Specialized Care Program, please visit and also check out the following YouTube Video: AuPairCare's Infant Specialized Program
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