UFC 4-740-14
1 August 2002
the activity room and privacy from the circulation pathways. Consider providing a
privacy curtain.
The Navy does not allow privacy curtains.
5-12.4
Infant Considerations. Infants engage in crawling, walking, floor play,
table play, and wheel toy play. Provide a safe, soft, stimulating environment in which
babies can crawl, explore, and interact with their caregivers. The infant room needs to
be warm and nurturing in character. Because each infant may have a unique schedule,
a variety of activities can take place in the infant room at any given time, ranging from
playing, diaper changing, eating, sleeping, cuddling, and nursing. This variety of
activities requires that quiet areas be separate from more active areas.
5-12.4.1
Most infants have not begun toilet training, so frequent diaper changes are
needed. When caregivers are with an infant at the diaper-changing table, they also
need to supervise other infants and maintain visibility to other infants. Maintain visible
connection between caregiver and infant to the maximum extent feasible at all times.
For young infants, eating is a nurturing time, with the infant either nursed by the mother
or held by a caregiver or parent during bottle feedings. Caregivers may start to feed
infants soft foods at around 5-6 months. At around 9 months, infants, seated in low high
chairs, begin to feed themselves and drink from cups. Offer in the activity room a series
of intriguing attractions for crawling and standing infants, particularly at eye level of 300
mm to 450 mm (12 in. to 18 in.) above the floor. Design and scale furnishings and
equipment in the infant room to support the infant's activities, while assisting the
caregivers. Design to allow caregivers to see and hear all the infants at any given time,
and quickly reach any one of them if the need arises.
5-12.4.2
Consider the following elements when designing the infant child activity
room:
5-12.4.2.1 Provide a gross motor area (away from the main circulation flow) that is
soft and easily cleaned, with a provision of continuous soft mat.
5-12.4.2.2
Allow cribs to be directly observable by caregivers.
5-12.4.2.3
Provide easy access for infants to toys from open shelving.
5-12.4.2.4 Provide space for infants to eat in a social environment (as opposed to an
isolated, lined-up high chair arrangement). Avoid the use of high chairs. It is essential
to verify dimensions and indicate the location (using dotted lines) of all major
equipment, particularly cribs and feeding components on the architectural plans. This
will ensure the proper fit and clearances are achieved in the final result.
5-12.4.2.5 Crawl spaces provide a safe environment that a baby can explore.
Provide these with low, soft barriers, or movable objects.
5-12.4.2.6 Provide low grab bars at 455 mm (18 in.) above floor level to aid infants in
pulling up to a standing position. These bars also may aid an infant's sense of security
while developing walking skills. Provide a minimum total length of 1525 mm (60 in.) in
5-6
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