Infant care in Singapore is part of a crucial support system for many first-time parents. We are no exception to it. Ellysa has been in infant care since the end of her mum’s maternity leave. She is now eight months old and loving her time in infant care! If you are also a first-time parent considering sending your baby to infant care in Singapore, here is some information you might want to know.
Why send our babies to infant care in Singapore?
Infant care in Singapore offers essential services. There might be other alternatives, but they hardly match up to what babies can benefit from being in infant care. Let’s look at some advantages of sending babies to infant care.
1. Enhanced social skills
Babies who attend infant care develop better social skills. Both my wife and I are not exactly good at socialising. We expected that Ellysa would genetically follow our traits. To our surprise, Ellysa engages very well with not just other babies but also with adults! I do notice this is true for our friends with older children, too. Their children who attended infant care early tend to connect better with adults.
2. Support for dual-income families
Infant care in Singapore can help parents free up their time to focus on their work. In Singapore, many families are dual-income families. That means both parents generally have 9-to-5 jobs. Let’s face the reality – babysitting is a full-time job. You will need to feed the baby every three hours, change the diapers, shower and calm the baby when crying, which can happen anytime during the day and night. It is not likely that you can do all those tasks while keeping with your 9-to-5 job. Hence, for dual-income families, infant care provides strong support so that you can focus on income generation.
3. Meeting developmental milestones
Many developmental milestones are happening from birth to 18 months of age. At birth, babies learn to latch. They then progress to bottle feed. Soon after, babies will start learning to do tummy time, rolling, sitting down, feeding on solid, crawling, walking and then what we have been waiting for – calling ‘da-da’ and ‘ma-ma.’ That’s a lot to learn in 18 months! In addition to that, all these don’t happen automatically. It takes a lot of effort to train them. I remember vividly how the nurse coached Ellysa to latch in the hospital after birth. Back home, we have to consult the nurse at the polyclinic on how to latch correctly. Each of these milestones takes lots of effort to get it right. The good news is that you don’t have to stress over these! The teachers in infant care are capable of helping our babies progress in each of their phases of growth.
Those are some benefits we learned after sending Ellysa to the infant care. The list doesn’t stop there. There are many more benefits babies can gain from going to infant care.
How do we choose infant care in Singapore?
There are generally two types of infant care in Singapore. They are value-for-money infant care and ATAS infant care. It’s like driving a car. You can choose to drive a Toyota or a Mercedes. Both will get you from Point A to Point B. If you are willing to spend more, you will get additional benefits.
We decided to go for Toyota and use the extra savings for other activities. Ellysa has been in infant care for four months. We are happy with the decision we made.
1. Value-for-money ECDA-approved and ATAS infant care school fees
One of the main reasons we choose value-for-money infant care is the school fees. All the value-for-money ECDA-approved infant care in Singapore charges the same rate. The school fee is SGD 1,235 per month. It works out to SGD 1,346.15 after GST. If you are a working mum, you will get a subsidy of SGD 600. The final amount payable after subsidy will be SGD 746.15 per month.
The decision to go for value-for-money or ATAS infant care is entirely yours. Some may like to drive a Toyota, while others prefer a Mercedes. Both are good cars that can get you from Point A to Point B.
2. ECDA Anchor Operator Infant Care in Singapore
If you decide to drive a Toyota like us, you have five schools to choose from. They are E-Bridge Pre-School, PCF Sparkletots Preschool, My First Skool, My World Preschool and Skool4kids. These five preschools are ECDA-approved Anchor Operators. One key feature of the Anchor Operator is that they all offer the same school fees at an affordable rate. In addition to that, they will need to ensure a good quality program for the infants.
We chose E-Bridge Pre-School for Ellysa. There were several reasons why we decided on E-Bridge Pre-School for her infant care in Singapore. Firstly, we trust the quality of ECDA-approved preschools. Secondly, E-Bridge Pre-School is a member of the highly prestigious EtonHouse International Education Group. Thirdly, E-Bridge Pre-School subscribes to the popular Reggio Emilia approach in early childhood education. Today, we are proud to say that we have made the right decision to choose E-Bridge Pre-School for Ellysa!
How do you register for infant care in Singapore?
The vacancies for infant care in Singapore are limited! Therefore, you must register your interest as early as possible. We applied for a vacancy in E-Bridge Pre-School when Ellysa was still in her mum’s tummy, long before she was born. This is one area where kiasuism prevails.
Once you have decided on the preschool of choice for your baby, you may contact the preschool directly. They will be able to guide you accordingly.
We are first-time parents. We are fully aware that it is not easy to be first-time parents. I may not know the details about all the infant care in Singapore. However, should you wish to find out more about E-Bridge Pre-School and to a certain extent EtonHouse, do feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with me. My contact details are available on the website.
Thank you for reading this article about infant care in Singapore and I hope to see you at the next article!
Yanto Wong
