Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs

Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs,  the new set of national standards describing evidence-based and expert consensus on best practices in nutrition, physical activity, and screen time for early care and education programs are now AVAILABLE. Access them at http://nrckids.org/CFOC3/PDFVersion/preventing_obesity.pdf. These updated standards will be a part of the comprehensive Caring for Our
Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Pro­grams, Third Edition (CFOC, 3rd Ed.) to be released in 2011. The standards are for all types of early care and education settings – centers and family child care homes.
 
Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs contains practical intervention strategies to prevent excessive weight gain in young children. The standards detail opportunities for facilities and caregivers/teachers  to work with families beginning on day one of an infant’s enrollment to prevent childhood obesity by promoting a healthy and active lifestyle.
Areas of coverage:
·         General Nutrition Requirements
·         Meal and Snack Patterns
·         Requirements for Infants and Support Breastfeeding of Infants
·         Requirements for Toddlers and Preschoolers
·         Meal Service and Supervision
·         Food Brought from Home
·         Nutrition Education
·         Active Opportunities for Physical Activity
·         Outdoor and Indoor Play Time
·         Caregivers/Teachers’ Encouragement of Physical Activity
·         Screen Time Limits
·         Policies on  Infant Feeding, Food and Nutrition Services, and
Physical Activity

Caring for Our Children standards are developed through a public-private partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Funding for the pre-released selected standards was provided by the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Child Care Bureau.
 
Preventing Childhood Obesity is available at http://nrckids.org/CFOC3/PDFVersion/preventing_obesity.pdf.
Additional Caring for Our Children and related health and safety resources can be found at http://nrckids.org.