Texas Daycare Safe Sleep Requirements: Cribs, Tummy Time, and SB 225

Sleeping Equipment Standards Under Chapter 747

Texas minimum standards for registered and licensed child-care homes are precise about what infants sleep on and what can be near them. If you care for children under 12 months, every piece of sleeping equipment in your home must meet these requirements.

Infants must sleep on a firm, flat mattress in a CPSC-compliant crib, portable crib, or play yard. The mattress must fit snugly with no gaps where a child could become trapped. No blankets, pillows, bumper pads, stuffed animals, or toys in the sleep area — the crib contains only the fitted sheet and the infant.

Cribs must be spaced at least 3 feet apart to allow caregiver access from all sides and to prevent children from reaching between cribs. If you're using portable cribs or play yards, the same spacing requirement applies.

For children older than 12 months, sleeping arrangements relax somewhat. Cots or mats can replace cribs, but each child still needs an individual sleeping surface and bedding maintained according to current Chapter 747 standards. Bedding can't be shared between children without laundering.

The SB 225 Tummy Time Supervision Standards

Senate Bill 225 (Ellie's Law), which took effect September 1, 2021, required the HHSC executive commissioner to establish specific visual and auditory supervision standards for infants placed on their stomachs while awake. These standards are now fully integrated into enforcement operations for all listed, registered, and licensed child-care homes.

The practical requirement: when an infant is placed prone (on their stomach) for supervised tummy time during waking hours, follow HHSC's visual-and-auditory supervision standards. Remain able to monitor and intervene as those standards require; a monitor does not replace required supervision.

Tummy time is recognized as important for infant motor development, and the state doesn't prohibit it. What SB 225 changed is the enforcement framework — include the applicable supervision standard in your written procedures and follow it during care.

What Inspectors Actually Check

During unannounced monitoring visits, licensing analysts evaluate safe sleep compliance through both observation and file review:

Physical observation: Are infants sleeping in compliant equipment? Is the sleep area free of prohibited items? Are cribs spaced correctly? If an infant is on their stomach during waking hours, is the caregiver following HHSC's visual-and-auditory supervision standards?

Written policy review: Does your Plan of Operation (Form 2948) include a written safe sleep policy? Does it address back-to-sleep positioning for infants, prohibited items in cribs, tummy time supervision protocols, and procedures for communicating sleep policies to parents?

Staff awareness: Can caregivers articulate the safe sleep rules? This comes up during informal conversation during monitoring visits. If you have assistants, they need to know the protocols too.

A safe-sleep deficiency can lead to enforcement, so correct any issue promptly.

Building Your Safe Sleep Policy

Your written safe sleep policy should cover four elements:

1. Sleep positioning — infants are always placed on their backs to sleep, never on their stomachs or sides.
2. Sleep environment — firm, flat mattress, fitted sheet only, no soft objects or loose bedding.
3. Tummy time protocol — supervised prone time during waking hours only, following HHSC's visual-and-auditory supervision standards.
4. Parent communication — how you inform parents about your safe sleep practices and what you expect from them regarding sleep instructions for their child.

The Texas Home Daycare Licensing Guide includes a complete home safety audit worksheet that covers safe sleep along with every other physical environment requirement inspectors evaluate during pre-licensing and monitoring visits.

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