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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Catherine Cowell, PhD, Columbia University, 730 Riverside Drive, Apt. 3-B, New York, NY 10031, 212-234-5416, cc34@columbia.edu
Every day, 13 million preschoolers, including 6 million infants and toddlers, are in child care settings and are provided food service by child care providers (1). Public health professionals are approached to promote and consult on ways to meet nutritional needs of children in these settings based on age appropriate foods provided in safe and nurturing environments.
On January 22, 2002, the American Public Health Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, and National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care released the second edition of Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs. The standards, written by child care health and safety experts, promote healthy environments that allow the child to develop properly and ensure school readiness.
Standards related to meeting nutritional needs of infants, toddlers and preschool age children, and how health/nutrition providers can form partnerships with child care programs will be described. Among topics to be discussed are appropriate procedures for safe handling of human milk; foods which are safe and age appropriate; family style meal service; food brought from home; food service systems and staffing patterns; and food equipment and kitchen safety and sanitation. Child care settings are opportune times to guide and support sound eating habits and food learning experiences for children and parents.
(1) National Center for Education Statistics (October 1996), Child Care and Early Education Program Participation of Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers, Washington, DC: NCES.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Child Care, Nutrition
Related Web page: nrc.uchsc.edu
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: American Public Health Association,
American Academy of Pediatrics,
National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.