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At Tots and Time Out and Bright Beginnings we believe that all children need contact with familiar, consistent carers to ensure they can grow and develop socially and emotionally. At times children need to be cuddled, encouraged, held and offered physical reassurance. 

Intimate care routines are essential throughout the day to meet children’s basic needs. This may include nappy changing, supporting children with toileting, changing clothes, and giving first aid treatment and specialist medical support, where required. 

In order to maintain the child’s privacy, we will carry out the majority of these actions on a one-to-one basis, wherever possible, by the child’s key person with the exception of first aid treatment which must be carried out by a qualified first aider.  

We wish to ensure the safety and welfare of children during intimate care routines and safeguard them against any potential harm as well as ensuring the staff member involved is fully supported and able to perform their duties safely and confidently. We aim to support all parties through the following actions: 

• Promoting consistent and caring relationships through the key person system in the nursery and ensuring all parents understand how this works

• Ensuring all staff undertaking intimate care routines have suitable enhanced DBS checks

• Training all staff in the appropriate methods for intimate care routines and arranging specialist training where required, i.e. first aid training, specialist medical support

• Ensuring children are afforded privacy during intimate care routines whilst balancing this with the need to safeguard children and staff. 

• Conducting thorough inductions for all new staff to ensure they are fully aware of all nursery procedures relating to intimate care routines

• Following up procedures through supervision meetings and appraisals to identify any areas for development or further training

• Working closely with parents on all aspects of the child’s care and education as laid out in the Parent and Carers as Partners Policy. This is essential for intimate care routines which require specialist training or support. If a child requires specific support the nursery will arrange a meeting with the parent to discover all the relevant information relating to this to enable the staff to care for the child fully and meet their individual needs

• Ensuring all staff have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding/child protection and how to protect children from harm. This will include identifying signs and symptoms of abuse and how to raise these concerns as set out in the safeguarding/child protection policy

• Operating a whistleblowing policy to help staff raise any concerns about their peers or managers; and helping staff develop confidence in raising worries as they arise in order to safeguard the children in the nursery

• Conducting working practice observations on all aspects of nursery operations to ensure that procedures are working in practice and all children are supported fully by the staff. This includes intimate care routines

• Conducting regular risk assessments on all aspects of the nursery operation including intimate care and reviewing the safeguards in place. The nursery has assessed all the risks relating to intimate care routines and has placed appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the safety of all involved.

• We discourage inappropriate behaviour such as over tickling, over boisterous play or inappropriate questions such as asking children to tell them they love them and we encourage staff to report any such observed practice

• Staff are respectful to one another, the children and families and do not use inappropriate language or behaviour, including during lunch breaks. We also expect our employees to maintain professionalism outside of the workplace

• The nursery manager will carry out random checks throughout the day to ensure safe and high quality practice is always maintained.

 

Nappy changing 

Wherever possible, each child’s key person will change nappies according to the child’s individual needs and requirements.  Our procedures meet best practice identified by the Health Protection Agency (2011) in ‘Best practice advice for nurseries and childcare settings’.

We will enable a two-way exchange between parents and key persons so that information is shared about nappy changing and toilet training in a way that suits the parents and meets the child’s needs. Parents will be engaged in the process of potty training and supported to continue potty training with their child at home.

We will use appropriate designated facilities for nappy changing which meet the following criteria:

• Facilities are separate to food preparation and serving areas and children’s play areas

• Changing mats have a sealed plastic covering and are frequently checked for cracks or tears. If cracks or tears are found, the mat is discarded. 

• Clean nappies are stored in a clean dry place; soiled nappies are placed in a ‘nappy sack’ or plastic bag before being placed in the bin. Bins are dedicated Nappy Bins and are regularly emptied and placed in an appropriate waste collection area. 

• Each child should have their own creams and lotions for any non-prescription cream for skin conditions e.g. Sudocrem. These are supplied by the parent/guardian and must be clearly labelled with the child’s name. Prior written permission is obtained from the parent. When applying creams for rashes, a gloved hand is used. 

 

Staff changing nappies will:

• Use a new disposable apron and pair of gloves for each nappy change and always wash hands before and after using gloves

• Clean disinfect and dry mats thoroughly after each nappy change.

• Ensure they have all the equipment they need and access to fresh water before each nappy change.

 

Complaints or concerns

If a parent or member of staff has concerns or questions about safe care and practice procedures or behaviour they consider as inappropriate, including between staff members, they are urged to see the manager at the earliest opportunity or follow our nursery complaints and whistleblowing procedures. Our management team will challenge inappropriate behaviour in line with the supervision/ disciplinary or whistleblowing procedures. If the concern relates to the manager and/or nursery owner then parents should contact Ofsted 0300 123 1231 or the local authority children’s social care team 01323 747373 

This policy was adopted on

Signed on behalf of the nursery

Date for review

January 2019

 

July  2021