North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 75 - Department of Human Services
Article 75-03 - Community Services
Chapter 75-03-09 - Group Child Care Early Childhood Services
Section 75-03-09-24 - Specialized types of care and minimum requirements
Universal Citation: ND Admin Code ยง 75-03-09-24
Current through Supplement No. 394, October, 2024
1. Infant care.
a. Environment and interactions.
(1) A group child care serving children from
birth to twelve months shall provide an environment which protects the children
from physical harm.
(2) The
provider shall ensure that each infant receives positive stimulation and verbal
interaction with a staff member responsible for caring for or teaching
children, or emergency designee, such as being held, rocked, talked with, or
sung to.
(3) The staff members
responsible for caring for or teaching children, or emergency designee, shall
respond promptly to comfort an infant's or toddler's physical and emotional
distress.
(a) Especially when indicated by
crying or due to conditions such as hunger, fatigue, wet or soiled diapers,
fear, teething, or illness; and
(b)
Through positive actions such as feeding, diapering, holding, touching,
smiling, talking, singing, or eye contact.
(4) The provider shall ensure that infants
have frequent and extended opportunities during each day for freedom of
movement, including creeping or crawling in a safe, clean, open, and
uncluttered area.
(5) Staff members
responsible for caring for or teaching children shall take children outdoors or
to other areas within the group child care for a part of each day to provide
some change of physical surroundings and to interact with other
children.
(6) The provider shall
ensure that infants are not shaken or jostled.
(7) The provider shall ensure that low chairs
and tables, high chairs with trays, or other age-appropriate seating systems
are provided for mealtime for infants no longer being held for feeding. High
chairs, if used, must have a wide base and a safety strap.
(8) The provider shall ensure that
thermometers, pacifiers, teething toys, and similar objects are cleaned and
sanitized between uses. Pacifiers may not be shared.
b. Feeding.
(1) The provider shall ensure that infants
are provided developmentally appropriate nutritious foods. Only breast milk or
iron-fortified infant formula may be fed to infants less than six months of
age, unless otherwise instructed by the infant's parent or medical provider in
writing.
(2) The provider shall
ensure that infants are fed only the specific brand of iron-fortified infant
formula requested by the parent. Staff members shall use brand-specific mixing
instructions unless alternative mixing instructions are directed by a child's
medical provider in writing.
(3)
The provider shall ensure that mixed formula that has been unrefrigerated more
than one hour is discarded.
(4) The
provider shall ensure that frozen breast milk is thawed under cool running tap
water or in the refrigerator in amounts needed. Unused, thawed breast milk must
be discarded or given to the parent within twenty-four hours.
(5) The provider shall ensure that an infant
is not fed by propping a bottle.
(6) The provider shall ensure that cereal and
other nonliquids or suspensions are only fed to an infant through a bottle on
the written orders of the child's medical provider.
(7) The provider shall ensure that a staff
member responsible for caring for or teaching children is within sight and
hearing range of an infant during the infant's feeding or eating
process.
c. Diapering.
(1) The provider shall ensure that there is a
designated cleanable diapering area, located separately from food preparation
and serving areas in the group child care if children requiring diapering are
in care.
(2) The provider shall
ensure that diapers are changed promptly when needed and in a sanitary
manner.
(3) Diapers must be changed
on a nonporous surface area which must be cleaned and disinfected after each
diapering.
(4) The provider shall
ensure that soiled or wet diapers are stored in a sanitary, covered container
separate from other garbage and waste until removed from the group child
care.
d. Sleeping.
(1) The provider shall ensure that infants
are placed on their back initially when sleeping to lower the risk of sudden
infant death syndrome, unless the infant's parent has provided a note from the
infant's medical provider specifying otherwise. The infant's face must remain
uncovered when sleeping.
(2) The
provider shall ensure that infants sleep in a crib with a firm mattress or in a
portable crib with the manufacturer's pad that meets consumer product safety
commission standards.
(3) The
provider shall ensure that if an infant falls asleep while not in a crib or
portable crib, the infant must be moved immediately to a crib or portable crib,
unless the infant's parent has provided a note from the infant's medical
provider specifying otherwise.
(4)
Water beds, adult beds, sofas, pillows, soft mattresses, and other soft
surfaces are prohibited as infant sleeping surfaces.
(5) The provider shall ensure that all items
are removed from and that no toys or objects are hung over or attached to the
crib or portable crib when an infant is sleeping or preparing to sleep. With
written parental permission, the provider may place one individual infant
blanket or sleep sack, a pacifier, and a security item that does not pose a
risk of suffocation to the infant in the crib or portable crib while an infant
is sleeping or preparing to sleep.
(6) A staff member shall check on sleeping
infants regularly and have a monitor in the room with the sleeping infants,
unless a staff member is in the room with the infants while the infants are
sleeping.
2. Night care.
a. Any group child care offering
night care shall provide program modifications for the needs of children and
their parents during the night.
b.
In consultation with parents, special attention must be given by the staff
member responsible for caring for or teaching children to provide a transition
into this type of care, appropriate to the child's needs.
c. The provider shall encourage parents to
leave their children in care or pick them up before and after their normal
sleeping period when practical, to ensure minimal disturbance of the child
during sleep, with consideration given to the parents' work schedule.
d. The provider shall ensure that children
under the age of six are supervised directly when bathing.
e. The provider shall ensure that comfortable
beds, cots, or cribs, complete with a mattress or pad, are available.
f. The provider shall require each child in
night care to have night clothing and a toothbrush marked for
identification.
g. For a group
child care not operating out of an occupied private residence, staff members
responsible for caring for or teaching children must be awake and within
hearing range during sleeping hours to provide for the needs of children and to
respond to an emergency.
3. Drop-in group child care.
a. If a group child care serves drop-in
children, schoolchildren, or before-school and afterschool children, the group
child care must be sufficiently staffed to effectively handle admission records
and explain the policies and procedures of the group child care and to maintain
the proper staff member to child ratio.
b. The provider shall ensure that the program
reflects the individual needs of the children who are provided drop-in
care.
c. The provider shall ensure
that records secured comply with all enrollment requirements contained in
section 75-03-09-22.
d. The provider shall ensure that admittance
procedures provide for a period of individual attention for the child to
acquaint the child with the group child care, its equipment, and the staff
members.
e. A group child care may
not receive drop-in care or part-time children who, when added to the children
in regular attendance, cause the group child care to exceed the total number of
children for which the group child care is licensed.
4. A provider shall ensure that a group child care serving only drop-in care children complies with this chapter but is exempt from the following provisions:
a.
Subsections 4 and 5 of section
75-03-09-20, subsections 6 and 7
of section
75-03-09-21, subdivision f of
subsections 2 and 3 of section
75-03-09-22, and subsection 1 of
section 75-03-09-25.
b. A group child care serving only drop-in
care children is exempt from the outdoor space requirements.
General Authority: NDCC 50-11.1-08
Law Implemented: NDCC 50-11.1-01, 50-11.1-04, 50-11.1-08
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. North Dakota may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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