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Interviews

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Malaysia by NTV7

As one of the industry leaders in professional infant & toddler care, we were recently interviewed by NTV7.

It was an honourable and pleasant experience sharing about the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Malaysia. The interview will be on air under the segment ‘KERJAYA DIDIKTV KPM’ on coming Saturday 22 Apr at 7 pm.
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Interviews

How to Handle Crying Babies and Toddlers by TV9

TV9 Special Report

It was a nice sharing with the media how we handle crying babies and toddlers. We hope our sharing will benefit new parents out there.
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Interviews

Revolutionizing Infant Care: Cutie Cottage

Infant Care
Tian Tian Yew first encountered infant care centres when she had her first son. As a working mother, she found it tough to obtain quality care for her infant son. Herself having had to shoulder this challenging task of juggling parenthood, employment, and her personal life, Ms Yew set out to right this wrong.

Now, the founder of the Cutie Cottage Childcare Centres and a fervent advocate for breastfeeding, Ms Yew has created a space where parents can trust trained professionals to look after their children while they are at work. Her passion and drive to specialize in this niche of early childhood education intrigued us. We sat down with her for a little chat and got answers to our burning questions.
What sets Cutie Cottage apart from other childcare facilities? Why have you chosen to specifically work with infants?
In Malaysia, it is rare to find childcare centres that accept babies. Cutie Cottage focuses on taking care of babies ageing from 2 months onwards, up to 4 years. About 40–50% of our children are 18 months and below. We have registered nurses and early childhood educators working as a team, and the centre provides internal infant care training.
Messy is good!
Messy is good!
What are the challenges you personally faced as a full-time working mother?
Again, one major problem is finding the right ‘partner’ who can care for and nurture your little one. In Malaysia, there is a lack of good and affordable infant care services. When I had my first son, I could not find a babysitter who promoted breastfeeding. I visited centres that were overcrowded with children (ranging from babies to 12 year olds), and employed childcare providers and foreign maids who were not properly trained.

About 6 years ago, I visited a centre that hired foreign maids to take care of young children, one maid took care of 6 babies under the age of 1 year, another maid took care of 10 babies of 12–18 months old, a different maid took care of 15 toddlers of 18–24 months old. The child to caregiver ratio was very high and it was a violation. The centre’s administration hired only foreign maids as care-givers.

Another centre I visited had a maid who was supposed to cook for 40 to 50 after-school children, clean the centre, and take care of 3 babies in a small room next to the kitchen — all at the same time! The maid was so busy, so the babies were kept in the baby cot most of the time. The centres also handled breast milk wrongly, had a lack of transparency, and had a host of many more issues.

[The general] perception is that this age-group only requires basic care and that anyone without qualifications or knowledge can do it.

You mentioned that you visited ‘centres that lack of transparency’. Could you elaborate on this?
Some centres do not welcome parents to enter the premise during operating hours. There is one centre that asks parents to stay outside (i.e. sit at the bench located at the carpark) and the teacher would bring the child out. However, there was a mom who saw the teacher pour away her daughter’s milk and later report that she had finished her milk. Of course, this mom knew she was lying and confronted her.

I have known a centre in which only the person-in-charge(PIC) would do the reporting/daily update; parents do not get to meet the care-givers. The PIC lied about feeding time, lied about the amount of milk taken… and she lied to cover up multiple incidents. I got to know this by talking to some of the care-givers who work there.

In Cutie Cottage, we do advice parents not to interfere when children are having activities, but we welcome parents to breastfeed at our centre. We allow parents to enter the premise as long as they do not disrupt the children. Our CCTV is online for parents to access. This is the transparency I am referring to.
Finding the right ‘partner’ who can care for and nurture your little one.
How have those challenges influenced your vision for Cutie Cottage?
I launched Cutie Cottage hoping to provide childcare services that specialized in infant care. The centre focuses on professionalism and transparency to provide parents with a peace of mind.

Our focus on professionalism includes:

  1. employment of qualified staff who are supported by training
  2. provision of balanced meals and fresh food
  3. curriculum planning to encourage childhood development
  4. assessment/observation of childhood development
Health Food
Vegetables in the children’s meals are chosen in accordance to the Rainbow Chart
We display transparency by:
  1. allowing mothers to breastfeed at the centre
  2. enabling online CCTV monitoring that can be accessed by parents
  3. providing daily report by nurses
Interestingly, Cutie Cottage focuses on promoting breastfeeding. What prompted this?
As a medical professional, I can say that breastfeeding and the promotion of breastfeeding is crucial. We know that breastfeeding brings multiple benefits to mother and child, alike. Breast milk is highly nutritious; it is high in DHA, contains immunoglobulins, and is easily digested and absorbed by babies. Research shows that babies who are fully breastfed have a lowered risk of incurring pneumonia and otitis media.
We’ve heard Cutie Cottage organizes interactive programs for the children from time to time! Can you tell us more about these programs?
We use the Early Year Foundation Stage, England (EYFS) as our program guideline. The weekly activities consist of manipulative activities (activities like threading and scooping promote fine motor skills), language and literacy, communication, arts and crafts, and early numeracy and science courses. We encourage our children to play and we conduct an organized play day once a week. Every Friday, we organize a variety of play activities including heuristic play, messy play, sensory play, and many others.
Play Time
Play time in Cutie Cottage!
We consider it an achievement when our children are clearly thriving, happy, and able to recall what they have learnt when they go home.
What are the difficulties you face when caring for children this young?
Young babies frequently falling sick is the toughest challenge in any childcare in the world.
What are the crucial developmental markers that a caregiver should look out for in infants and toddlers?
Physical: Hearing, Vision, Mobility (for example, a toddler should be able to walk at 18 months; if not, there is possibility of bone/hip deformity)
Speech Development: Not making any sounds by 12 months, and not saying words by 2 years.
The 3-year-olds make caterpillar cards!
In your opinion, what is the most important characteristic that an early childhood caregiver/ educator should have?
The right attitude is most crucial. A caregiver must have the right perception, willingness to learn, and willingness to accept feedback.

In Malaysia, many early childhood teachers or care-givers usually perceive the younger ones (babies-24 months) as not so important. Their perception is that this age-group only requires basic care and that anyone without qualifications or knowledge can do it. One of my main goals is to change this perception. To me, the infant caregivers are very important. I have designed training modules to create awareness. For instance, we have a module on ‘Sleep and Soothing’ — in which we talk about sleep training (the Cry-it-Out method vs No Cry method, we talk about Sudden Infant Death, we have 9 steps checklist to follow when a baby cries etc).

We have other modules on feeding, hygiene, common childhood illness, and others. We also talk about items not to apply on babies such as talcum powder, Vicks Vapour Rub, Yee Yu oil, and baby oil. These items are not safe for babies and many parents are not aware of this.
What improvements do you hope to see in the future of the infant-care industry?
I hope that childcare providers will receive greater recognition and higher salaries which justify their contributions to this industry.

I also hope that more infant-care centres will be located near offices, and subsequently promote breastfeeding.
Tian Tian Yew, has embarked on this mission with the intention of providing competent, reliable, and health-conscious infant and toddler care — particularly for working mothers. Cutie Cottage® is an infant and toddler care facility based in Malaysia. To date, there are 3 branches of Cutie Cottage® Childcare Centre. Connect with Cutie Cottage® on Facebook, and their website.
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Interviews

2019 MommyBaby Magazine

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Interviews

2019 Feminine Online

如何选择适合的托育中心?

feminin
Feminine-02
现代社会基本上都是双薪家庭,因此大部分年轻家庭都会麻烦长辈帮忙照料宝宝,若是家中没有长辈的年轻家庭,可能会请保姆或是将孩子送到托育中心,让专业照料者帮忙照护孩子。
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Cutie Cottage创办人兼执行长Yew Tian Tian
其实在挑选托托育中心的时候,爸爸妈妈必须注意几项重点,才不会让孩子陷入危险或是造成自己育儿路上的种种不便,同时更加安心地打拼事业。今期,小编特别邀请了Cutie Cottage创办人兼执行长Yew Tian Tian来告诉你挑选适合托育中心的Tips!

Tip 1: 方便接送的托育地点

在马来西亚的交通文化,一般家长上下班,大多自行开车而少数为乘搭交通工具。对于职业父母,Tian Tian的建议是–不妨选择靠近工作地点的托育中心。如此一来,不但大大方便父母衔接上下班的时间与接送孩子的行程;不仅如此,万一孩子生病或发生任何紧急状况,父母也能即时赶到中心接孩子,甚至安排妥当的医疗事项。

Tip 2: 灵活探访时间、贴心母婴设置

这里的灵活性,指的除了是父母的时间,同时也指中心的设施。Tian Tian表示,父母不妨在挑选托育中心时,考量托育中心是否有足够灵活的探访时间,好让父母可以中心查看、了解孩子在中心内的情况。

托育中心一般照顾小宝宝至学龄前的孩童,因此若是托育中心贴心地设有哺乳室自然是最佳,那么妈妈可以随时到中心喂哺孩子(应幼儿年龄和情况而定),可以大大安抚了小朋友初到新环境的分离焦虑心态、也有助于增进亲子关系。

Tip 3: 中心的照护透明度

近来,社会新闻上接二连三发生托育中心虐儿事件,或是老师及保姆的卫生及安全意识不达标而造就事故,导致父母在挑选托育中心时总是胆膻心惊。因此,在挑选地点时一定要找一所拥有高透明度的托育中心。

所谓的透明度,指的就是父母可以通过完善的CCTV观察孩子的情况,时时了解孩子在托育中心里的状况。不仅如此,托育中心的保安制度也必须符合规格、是否稳妥,如何有效间隔外人进入中心,彻底确保中心内小朋友的安全。

Tip 4: 选用教育哲学

一间优质的托育中心,并不只是照顾孩子那么简单,就我国风气而言,家长对于孩子的学前教育也非常重视。Tian Tian表示,Cutie Cottage采用了英国的Early Year Foundation Stage教育哲学,注重孩子学前的7大价值观及学习法,主要是为了让这群在中心度过大部分时间的孩子,在获得完善照料的同时,同时也能协助忙碌的爸爸妈妈给孩子建立良好品行。

Tip 5: 员工是否拥有正规资格

对于托育中心,父母应该事先了解该中心内的员工及老师是否有受认证资格,包括护理学文凭及学前教育文凭,拥有专业知识再配合照护经历,在照顾、教育孩子之时更显专业,也能让小朋友快乐成长!
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Interviews

2018 SHC Pulse

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Interviews

2018 Parenthood

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2018 Pa&Ma Magazine

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2018 NTV7 It’s Alif

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Interviews

2014 MommyBaby Magazine