“The baby doesn’t understand”: reflections on pedagogical discourse in day care

Abstract

This study aims to interweave accounts of experiences with infants in daycare centers, the pedagogical discourse of Early Childhood Education professionals, and contemporary research on infant knowledge. Based on the recurrent claim that infants "do not understand"—a common view among daycare professionals, Pedagogy students, and their social circles—this research seeks to examine to what extent such a conception reveals gaps in teacher training and weaknesses in current pedagogical discourse. Consequently, it investigates how the denial of an infant’s knowledge affects educational practices and the way adult-infant relationships are formed in the daily routine of daycare centers. The research is grounded in the analysis of experiences within Early Childhood Education institutions, linked to a dialogue with recent studies highlighting the infant as a subject of language. This is framed by a perspective that recognizes the importance of listening, welcoming, and interaction in psychic and social development. The work is structured around aspects of daily daycare life—such as feeding, sleeping, hygiene, and play—understood as powerful spaces for communication and the recognition of subjectivity. Throughout the article, observations from one author’s field diary are interwoven, highlighting encounters and misalignments in the teacher-infant relationship. These situations are analyzed without judgment, through the lens of multimodal language, to understand how the daycare environment can foster the recognition of an infant's uniqueness or, conversely, reproduce normative practices that silence their expressions.