The search and mapping of productions was carried out using the following procedures: definition of descriptors; definition of digital databases for the survey of academic productions; establishment of criteria for the selection of the corpus of this investigation. The scientific productions were selected by reading the abstracts and organized in spreadsheets. From these spreadsheets it was possible to explore several aspects of the corpus that helped to characterize the trajectory of academic production. During the research process, categories of analysis were created such as: amount of publications; geographical distribution of production and research institutions; modes of research production; theoretical framework (main authors and theories) and thematic areas. At the end of the investigation, it was possible to realize that due to the engagement of the researchers with the various aspects related to daycare and, due to the scope of the discussions, academic-scientific knowledge gained space in the field of educational studies. Furthermore, it was possible to identify that the struggles and debates about daycare boosted the achievements regarding the quality of care. It can be concluded that the research mainly addresses issues related to the quality of care, professional training, the right to and defense of education for children aged 0 to 3. However, some topics have been little researched. These are: issues relating specifically to babies, the transition from the family to nursery school and from nursery school to pre-school, ethnic, racial and gender relations, social movements in favor of nursery school and the curriculum.