Real Care Babies: Basic Infant Care Program

VCE Unit 1 & 2 Health and Human Development

Yarrawonga College P-12 is fortunate to have the Real Care Babies: Basic Infant Care Program. The College has made a substantial investment into this program and we have three new infant simulators that use computerised technology, all weighing in at about 3 kilograms!

The program is integral to Unit 2, Area of Study 1: Healthy and Respectful Relationships, Parenting and Prenatal and early childhood Development.

Students experience many of the responsibilities required of the caregiver of a new infant. They are required to care for a Real Care Baby, a computerised infant simulator that is supervised by each student at all times. Babies cry and need to be fed, burped, rocked and have its nappy changed. It is the student’s responsibility to tend to the baby’s needs.

A small computer inside the baby is programmed to follow actual schedules of 15 different newborns. Each day the baby is on a different schedule. Babies need students to care for it at inconvenient times, including when they might be sleeping.

Students learn many skills

How to keep the baby happy; an understanding of the full-time commitment to child-care; persistence (getting through care simulation without quitting); the care and condition of the baby and its belongings and how others in the community respond to mother/father and child.

Incidences of neglect, head support failure, shaking, rough handling, wrong positions, no nappy and other functions are recorded by the baby’s computer. Some of these behaviours will produce intense crying and students should learn to avoid this. This intense crying can be stopped by rocking the baby.

Student wear a waterproof, hospital type wristband with a unique ID that must be worn whenever students are caring for the baby. Without the ID the baby will not accept care.

If you would like to know more about this program please contact Karen Rennie || Year 9 – 12 Health & PE Teacher /Welfare Officer on 5744 1751.