Position of the American Dietetic Association: Benchmarks for Nutrition in Child Care By: Miranda Bender and Kaitlin Schreader

Introduction Child care centers need to work with a food and nutrition practitioner to help with nutritional requirement values. The American Dietetic Association is concerned about the absence of nutrition in child care centers. Children ages between 2 and 5 are most likely to be in a child care center, and stick to the habits learned during this age range. The American Dietetics Association recommends that child care centers should reach the recommended nutritional values for children each day. Through working with someone with a nutrition background, they want to promote live a healthy life style.

Nutritional Quality of Foods and Beverages Served The ADA recommends “foods and beverages served should be nutritionally adequate and consistent with the dietary guidelines for Americans”. A healthy diet should include whole grains, vegetables, low fat dairy products and fruits should be offered everyday to children. There should be limitations on foods and beverages high in sodium, energy, and sugar. Child care centers need to limit the juice intake to 4-6 oz. because it is offered frequently at home. Taking in too much sugar from juice can lead to obesity later in a child’s life.

Menus, Meal Patterns, and Portion Sizes A healthy diet uses portion sizes and meal patterns as tools to set healthy eating habits. Programs should include a menu that offers a variety of foods in a healthy way. Children should eat every two to three hours to ensure the children reach daily nutritional content. Child and adult care food program (CACFP) participation can help with providing information and benefits for going healthy. CACFP offers money back for healthy food served for children who are in need.

Lunch is in the Bag The Dietary Guidelines for Americans has completed an experiment called Lunch is in the Bag. It was a nutritional experiment geared towards what is in the average preschoolers snacks and lunches ate in the child care program. This can also help us see where the Dietary Guidelines for Americans could help us in becoming a little more strict to change dietary habits. Even though there are minimal amounts of fruits and vegetables in kid’s lunches, the lunches made from home are most influential when parents make them. With children taking more processed foods in their lunches obesity is a high risk. Swiester, Sara, Margaret Briley, Cindy Roberts-Gray, Deanna Hoelschler, Ronald Harrist, Deanna Staskel, & Fawas Almansour. (2011). Psychological outcomes of lunch is in the bag, a parent program for packing healthful lunches for preschool children. Journal of nutrition, education and behavior. 43 (6)

Food Preparation and Services Food should be made and given to the children in a safe and germ free environment. Eating utensils, chairs and tables should be the proper size according to age of the child. Providers should encourage healthy eating and participate in healthy eating to be looked at as a model for children. Nutrition labels should be examined for foods containing common allergies, so anaphylaxis is less likely to happen in the hands of a child care provider. Some of the most common allergies to pay attention to is milk and peanut products.

Physical and Social Eating Environment It has been proven that children try to mimic adult behaviors, therefore adults should try to eat healthy in front of the children. A child can know they are hungry because of the feeling full sensation at age five. Serving foods family style can help a child learn when they are full. Negative reflections at the dinner table can reflect a child’s eating habits. Pressuring a child to eat something they don’t want to, can lead to picky eating in the future.

Nutrition Training Employees should understand the basic principals of childhood nutrition and be able to help get children to have healthy eating habits. Employees should have offered training to teach them healthy eating habits in their life. Cooks should know how to plan and prepare meals in a safe way. Child care providers should help to teach children the basic knowledge of nutrition.

Nutrition Consultation Consultations can help to assist with menu planning. Tools and assessments such as my pyramid or my plate, are available to these practitioners so they can help providers teach children how to eat nutritiously. Eight states require that child care providers work with food and nutrition practitioners. 39 states require menu posting as apart of their regulations.

Physical Activity and Active Play Weight related behaviors start in childhood and become a problem over time. Physical activity promotes a healthy weight and cardiovascular fitness. Children should get 60 minutes of physical activity everyday. Providers should give children their opportunity to get 60 minutes of physical activity. Children are more active when their outdoors.

Working with Families Child care centers should have guidelines or policies to show what foods are not allowed. A study showed that lunches from home lack nutrition that kids need every day. These lunches lacked fruits, vegetables, and dairy products. Information for healthy lunches should go home to families so the things above won’t happen anymore. Child care provider’s should have the healthy food to replace the unhealthy snacks brought from home.

Promoting Healthy Eating through Intervention The most common way to achieve the benchmarks in this position paper is through interventions. One intervention is Hip-Hop to Health junior, that is successful in controlling weight gain, and a decrease in saturated fat intake. I am Moving, I am learning promotes healthy eating, enhances families involvement in fitness, and increase physical activity levels. Nutrition and Physical Activity Self assessment is another intervention program, and its goals are to improve practices with healthy eating to maintain a healthy weight.

Promoting Healthy Eating through Policy and Regulation Child care is regulated at the state level and each state has a different set of standards. Food and nutrition practitioners can provide expertise to make a change in their state. With the help of the CACFP, states can make the regulations more beneficial. Enhancing these regulations are justified. Researchers examined all aspects of nutrition regulations in child care. The study found different outcomes for each state, meaning all 50 states had a variety of regulations.

Your Roles as a Dietician in a Child Care Environment Consultation in programs. Have a strong knowledge of up to date guidelines. Encourage families to be more involved in child care programs. Get involved in interesting research. Develop a high quality policy for nutrition.