Professional Design of an Infant and Toddler Care Quality Standards Manual for South West Nigeria

Infant and toddler care in South West Nigeria occurs across formal crèches, family day care, and domestic arrangements, most without access to care quality standards, and developing a practical quality manual fills a critical gap in the first years of life service guidance. This study designed an infant and toddler care quality standards manual applicable to formal and informal care settings in Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo States, South West Nigeria. A professional design methodology was applied, drawing on care practice assessments at 25 crèche and family day care settings, structured consultations with 20 infant-toddler care specialists, paediatricians, and early childhood policy experts, and benchmarking against WHO and UNICEF infant and toddler care guidelines and comparable manuals from South Africa and Kenya. Assessment confirmed that nationally applicable care standards for under-threes were absent, that health and development monitoring was largely absent in assessed settings, and that caregiver training in infant and toddler developmental needs was rare. The manual covers responsive caregiving, feeding, sleep, play, language stimulation, health and safety, transitions between care and home, and caregiver self-care. Expert review by 12 specialists confirmed the manual's developmental validity. Recommendations include Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs adopting the manual as a crèche regulatory document, integration into NPI child health supervisor training, and piloting the manual in government-sponsored crèche facilities.

Keywords: infant toddler care, quality standards, South West Nigeria, crèche regulation, responsive caregiving