En el presente artículo indago respecto a cuáles son las principales representaciones del cuidado infantil como problema de políticas públicas presentes en documentos oficiales y en la retórica de funcionarios del Estado ecuatoriano actualmente. Utilizo el enfoque deliberativo para el análisis de políticas públicas y argumento que estas representaciones se caracterizan por la ambivalencia entre visiones que consideran a las mujeres como principales responsables del cuidado y las que colocan al Estado y al mercado también como protagonistas. A ello se unen elementos que pueden favorecer cambios en las representaciones tradicionales como la inclusión, en el discurso, de la corresponsabilidad y, en la práctica, de la profesionalización del cuidado. Este artículo evidencia que el cuidado infantil es una categoría compleja y en disputa política, cuyas formas de representación tienen la capacidad de producir determinadas subjetividades marcadas por aspectos como el género y la clase.In the present article, I ask about the principal representations of infant caregiving as a problem of public policy present in official documents and in the current rhetoric of Ecuadorian state functionaries. I use a deliberative focus for the analysis of public policies and argue that these representations are characterized by the ambivalence between visions that consider women as principally responsible for caregiving and that position the state and the market as protagonists as well. Elements are joined that could favor changes in traditional representations, as the inclusion in discourse of co-responsibility and in practice of the professionalization of caregiving. This article makes evident that infant caregiving is a complex category and in political dispute, whose forms of representation have the capacity of producing specific subjectivities that are marked by aspects such as gender and class.In the present article, I ask about the principal representations of infant caregiving as a problem of public policy present in official documents and in the current rhetoric of Ecuadorian state functionaries. I use a deliberative focus for the analysis of public policies and argue that these representations are characterized by the ambivalence between visions that consider women as principally responsible for caregiving and that position the state and the market as protagonists as well. Elements are joined that could favor changes in traditional representations, as the inclusion in discourse of co-responsibility and in practice of the professionalization of caregiving. This article makes evident that infant caregiving is a complex category and in political dispute, whose forms of representation have the capacity of producing specific subjectivities that are marked by aspects such as gender and class.