Baptise in church? Started holding tot's head (8)
I believe the answer is:
christen
'baptise' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'church? started holding tot's head' is the wordplay.
'church?' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'started' becomes 'risen' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'head' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'tots' is 't'.
'risen' enclosing 't' is 'risten'.
'ch'+'risten'='CHRISTEN'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for christen that I've seen before include "Give a name to (baby)" , "Baptize" , "Baptise and name" , "attach handle to" , "Name in church" .)