The term infant and toddler programming refers to approaches to care and education for infants and toddlers, typically within center-based child care programs. It has gained increasing interest over the last 30 years in the field of early childhood education as the use of child care for infants and toddlers has increased significantly, targeted programs such as Early Head Start and Educare have been created and implemented, and brain and developmental research highlighting the importance of experiences and relationships in the first 3 years of life has been disseminated.

Determining the best way to design child care programs for infants and toddlers requires taking into account the unique developmental aspects and needs of this age group. These needs include developing a secure attachment to a primary ...