Church nurseries make first impressions about God’s house.  While babies will not remember what they did in the nursery, they will develop attitudes about coming to church.  Nurseries also affect how parents feel about a church.  Both of these first impressions can last a long time.

Listen to parents.  Make understanding their concerns your first step to creating a baby-friendly nursery.  Here are comments from three moms who express common parental concerns.

Mickey: I’ll admit that I’m nervous about leaving my baby in our church nursery.  Chandler is only 3 months old, and I haven’t left him with anyone but his dad.  Chandler won’t complete his infant shots until he’s 6 months old, so he may be more susceptible right now to infections from other babies.

LeeAnn: I thought I was ready to leave my daughter Emily in any church nursery until I visited a church in a town where we had just moved.  The nursery workers expected me to pass Emily through the nursery door and leave.  They didn’t ask for any information about her or give me any information about their nursery.  Under that circumstance, I wasn’t ready to trust my baby with strangers, even if they were Christians.

Twila: I work full-time, so I’m away from Kallika five days a week.  On weekends I want to keep her with me as much as possible.  If I thought she would learn about Jesus in the nursery, I would be more willing to take her there.  Otherwise, I would rather care for her myself in the sanctuary. 

Most parental concerns can be summed up in four questions.

Who will care for my baby?

How safe and clean is the nursery?

What should I know about this nursery?

How will this nursery help my baby?

The church that can confidently answer these questions will have made their nursery baby-friendly. 

Good nursery policies can help create routines that make good impressions on babies and parents.  The size of the church affects the kind of policies needed.  Smaller churches may require fewer more informal policies.  In larger churches nursery policies need to be written, posted, and monitored.  For policies to work, they must be consistently followed.  Here are a few tips for creating policies that parents and teachers will follow. 

1)      Ask the pastor and board to endorse policies.

2)      Give printed copies of new policies to all parents and teachers.  Encourage them to ask questions and make suggestions.

3)      Post a copy of policies in the nursery for easy reference and as a reminder. 

4)      Create a letter or packet that introduces visitors to the safe, enjoyable nursery you have designed for their children.

5)      Each time you add a policy, explain how it will benefit the babies.  For example, you decide to limit who can come into the nursery.  Explain that limiting access keeps floors cleaner for the babies.

6)      Periodically confirm that policies are still being followed.

Contact a local pediatrician for health guidelines.  Then decide what policies your nursery needs in order to protect babies’ health.  In the policy, describe symptoms which will temporarily exclude a baby from the nursery.  These could include cloudy mucous, a rectal fever of 101 or higher, diarrhea, vomiting, or a seeping rash.  Be sure parents understand the health policy protects every baby from infections.  Other health guidelines might involve keeping the room clean by changing crib sheets, washing toys, and disinfecting furnishings.  Post health guidelines for teachers to follow.  All caregivers should also frequently clean their hands.  Dirty hands are the most common way to pass infections.  The policy should ask teachers to wash their hands when they arrive, after wiping children’s noses, after changing diapers, and before feeding babies. 

Babies need personal attention.  Try to recruit one teacher for every three infants.  Trying to care for more than three babies will cause both the teachers and the babies to feel stressed and unhappy at church. 

In order to get enough help in the nursery, consider asking parents to be teachers on a rotating schedule.  Parental involvement not only insures enough workers but also allows parents to see for themselves how well the nursery ministers to their little ones. 

Plan to train all nursery teachers.  In new teacher orientation outline when to arrive, how to welcome babies, how often to check diapers, and where to find care information about each child.  You may also want to describe check-in policies.

Babies can learn the basics of the faith in the church nursery.  They can learn to love and trust God’s people.  Ask teachers to follow these kinds of practices.

1)      Use soft voices and gentle touches as they give timely TLC.

2)      Interpret and respond to babies’ body language.

3)      Play or sing praise songs in the nursery.

4)      Recite finger plays.  Teach some new ones to nursery workers.

5)      Position pictures of Jesus throughout the nursery.

6)      Take babies to look at pictures of Jesus every week.

7)      Repeat simple phrases like “Jesus loves you!”

8)      Look at picture books with babies.  Babies enjoy being held and turning pages.  During the first year of life, babies begin to learn about love and trust.  Your church nursery can help little ones learn to love and trust God’s people in God’s house.

Recall: How do nursery policies improve nursery ministry?