Nursery Policies and Guidelines

Health policy

The following health guidelines are widely held as standard procedure for daycare facilities, and are intended to aid parents and nursery workers in determining whether or not a child can be accepted in the nursery for care.

Temperature - A temperature of 100 degrees or below with NO OTHER SYMPTOMS is acceptable. A temperature above 100 degrees with or without symptoms is not acceptable.

Drainage - Yellow or green drainage indicates the possibility of viral or bacterial infection and is not acceptable.

Bacterial Infections (i.e., ear infections) - The child must have been on antibiotics for a minimum of 24 hours prior to being presented to the nursery.

Gastrointestinal (i.e., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea) - The child must be symptom free for 24 hours prior to being presented to the nursery

Parental guidelines

Only parents/guardians may pick up children from the nursery. Children will not be released to siblings.
Instruction forms are available in the nursery for parents to record specific instructions for workers regarding their children. If no instructions are provided, workers will provide care for the children's needs as outlined in our nursery policy.
Admission to the nursery is limited to parents and workers. The area is small and cannot accommodate guests/grandparents. Please ask them to wait outside the door.
If the father is picking up an infant, please be sensitive to the privacy of nursing mothers in the infant area. If the nursing mother sign is in the window, please request a nursery worker to confirm whether you are permitted to enter the infant room.
Please pick up children as soon as possible at the conclusion of service as workers may have commitments and need to leave immediately.
Nursery worker feeding is limited to bottle feeding of infants and providing snacks and water to toddlers. Workers are not prepared to spoon feed cereal/foods; however, the parent may use the high chair or other nursery equipment for feeding their child elsewhere in the basement.

Volunteer instructions

When the monthly schedule is issued, please notify the Nursery Director immediately if you have a conflict. If you are unable to work your shift in the nursery, please attempt to trade your shift with another worker and notify the Nursery Director of the change. If this is not possible, please notify the Nursery Director.
As a safety and insurance cautionary measure, there must be two workers in the nursery at all times and the primary attendant must be an adult. Infant caretakers must be 16 years old and toddler caretakers must be a minimum of 13 years of age. Children of parent caretakers under this minimum age may help in special circumstances. (Check with Nursery Director.)
Please arrive 10 to 15 minutes early to receive children and instructions from parents. If you are relieving a choir/orchestra member who needs to get to their "warm up" time, please consider slipping out of Sunday School a few minutes early for a smooth transition.
Absolutely no one is allowed in the nursery except workers and parents.
Only parents/guardians are allowed to pick up children. Do no release children from the nursery to siblings.
Forms are available in the toddler room for use by parents to list instructions for their child. Be sure to review instructions applicable to the children under your care.
If you arrive in the nursery and there are no children requiring your care, please remain in the nursery until it is determined that you are not needed, keeping in mind that latecomers may arrive or a disruptive child might be brought to the nursery after service has started.
Nursery workers are to remain in place until feasible to leave the area (as the number of children decreases). A worker must remain until all children are removed from the nursery. The nursery needs to be in order before you depart the area. Leave as little as possible on the floor to prepare the area for the cleaners.
Infant workers are to place crib sheets and blankets in the white laundry basket on the shelf outside the nursery. These will be picked up Sunday evenings, laundered and placed in the drawers on Sunday mornings.
When a child becomes ill while in the nursery, please remove the child from the nursery and inform the parents.
Please use disinfecting wipes on the changing table and the toilet after each use. Ensure that the toilet lid is down during nursery hours. Please check the lid when you arrive for your shift.
Toys that are chewed on, drooled on, sneezed on, etc., require washing before you leave your shift. Be aware of toys that cannot be submerged in water and wipe them with hot soapy water. Doing this throughout the shift will ease the load at the end of the shift. Please report damaged toys to the Nursery Director.
Sunday morning service workers should check diapers prior to child pickup by parent(s) or as requested on parent's instruction form. Sunday morning second shift workers are requested to check diapers near the end of the worship service to ensure no "overflows" on the trip home.
Feeding in the nursery is limited to bottle feeding infants and providing snacks and water to toddlers. Nursery workers are not expected to spoon feed food/cereal to children. Parents may move the high chair or other equipment to another area outside the nursery and feed their child if they wish.
Leftover snacks are to be stored in plastic bags or secured in original container to keep them fresh and to deter insects.
Report the need for supplies to the Nursery Director.
The infant side of the nursery is the only designated nursing mothers' area in the church. Please be sensitive to privacy. However, if you need to change a diaper or use the sink, you may do so.
Nursery workers on the toddler side will be responsible to report nursery attendance to the ushers.

NOTE: Please request parents to complete a registration sheet for newcomers to nursery and give them a copy of the Parental Nursery Guidelines. Both forms are in the black binder in the toddler room. File completed form alphabetically in black binder.