Abstract
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (Academy) recommends feeding practices for
child-care providers to establish nutrition habits in early childhood to prevent obesity.
With >12 million US children in child care, little is known about child-care providers’
feeding practices. The purpose of this study was to examine child-care providers’
feeding practices to assess whether providers met the Academy’s benchmarks and whether
attainment of benchmarks varied across child-care contexts (Head Start, Child and
Adult Care Food Program [CACFP], and non-CACFP). Cross-sectional data was collected
in 2011 and 2012 from 118 child-care providers who completed self-administered surveys
regarding their feeding practices for 2- to 5-year-old children. χ2 tests and analysis of variance were used to determine variation across contexts.
Head Start providers sat more frequently with children during meals (P=0.01), ate the same foods as children (P=0.001), and served meals family style (P<0.0001) more often compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Head Start providers
(P=0.002), parents (P=0.001), and children (P=0.01) received more nutrition-education opportunities compared with CACFP and non-CACFP.
Head Start providers encouraged more balance and variety of foods (P<0.05), offered healthier foods (P<0.05), modeled healthy eating (P<0.001), and taught children about nutrition (P<0.001) compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Providers across all three contexts
used significantly more non-internal than internal mealtime verbal comments (P<0.0001). Head Start providers had greater compliance with the Academy’s benchmarks
compared with CACFP and non-CACFP providers. Possible reasons for this compliance
might be attributed to Head Start nutrition performance standards and increased nutrition-training
opportunities for Head Start staff. Head Start programs can serve as a model in implementing
the Academy’s benchmarks.
Keywords
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Biography
D. A. Dev is a doctoral student, Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana.
Biography
B. A. McBride is a professor, Department of Human and Community Development, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 02, 2013
Accepted:
May 15,
2013
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT This research was funded, in part, by grants from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families/Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (grant no. 90YR0052) and the Illinois Trans-Disciplinary Obesity Prevention Program Seed Grant Program to the lead authors. The larger longitudinal study from which child-care centers were recruited was funded, in part, by grants from the Illinois Council for Food and Agricultural Research, the University of Illinois Health and Wellness Initiative, and the US Department of Agriculture (Hatch 793-328).
Identification
Copyright
© 2013 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
