What's on Your Child's Plate in Day Care?
What's on Your Child's Plate in Day Care?
Oct. 9, 2000 -- Before choosing a day care center for your child, you carefully checked out the staff's credentials, examined the playground equipment, and sat in on a storytelling session. But if you're like many parents, you may have paid little attention to something experts say can be just as important: The food that ends up on your child's plate at lunch and snack time.
"Today, child care providers have a major impact on shaping the eating habits of kids that could stay with them throughout their lives," Theresa Nicklas, PhD, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, tells WebMD.
Six out of 10 infants, toddlers, and preschool children -- nearly 13 million total -- are enrolled in child care, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That includes nearly 88% of children whose mothers work full time, and 75% of children whose mothers work part time. As a result, ensuring that children's daily nutritional needs are met often becomes the responsibility of a day care provider.
Parents should ask day care providers about the content and variety of meals and snacks, and how often the children are fed, Nicklas says. Too often, she says, day care meals are low in minerals, vitamins, and other important nutrients, and high in fat and sodium.
American Dietary Association (ADA) guidelines say children should receive foods that provide nutrients in proportion to how much of their day they spend in a child care facility. "A child in a part-day program [four to seven hours, for example,] should receive food that provides at least one third of the daily nutrition needs, whereas those in a full-day program [eight hours or more] should receive foods that meet at least one-half to two-thirds of the child's daily nutrition needs," the ADA says.
Even when no nutritional problems become immediately evident, a poor day care diet could set children up for problems later on, warns the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
For example, maintaining an adequate calcium intake during childhood is necessary for bone development throughout life. In fact, the AAP says, strong bones in childhood may reduce the risk of osteoporosis in later adulthood. Children who don't have access to an adequate diet also are at risk for a variety of other conditions, including long-term learning and developmental problems, the ADA says.
"Today, child care providers have a major impact on shaping the eating habits of kids that could stay with them throughout their lives," Theresa Nicklas, PhD, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, tells WebMD.
Six out of 10 infants, toddlers, and preschool children -- nearly 13 million total -- are enrolled in child care, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That includes nearly 88% of children whose mothers work full time, and 75% of children whose mothers work part time. As a result, ensuring that children's daily nutritional needs are met often becomes the responsibility of a day care provider.
Parents should ask day care providers about the content and variety of meals and snacks, and how often the children are fed, Nicklas says. Too often, she says, day care meals are low in minerals, vitamins, and other important nutrients, and high in fat and sodium.
American Dietary Association (ADA) guidelines say children should receive foods that provide nutrients in proportion to how much of their day they spend in a child care facility. "A child in a part-day program [four to seven hours, for example,] should receive food that provides at least one third of the daily nutrition needs, whereas those in a full-day program [eight hours or more] should receive foods that meet at least one-half to two-thirds of the child's daily nutrition needs," the ADA says.
Even when no nutritional problems become immediately evident, a poor day care diet could set children up for problems later on, warns the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
For example, maintaining an adequate calcium intake during childhood is necessary for bone development throughout life. In fact, the AAP says, strong bones in childhood may reduce the risk of osteoporosis in later adulthood. Children who don't have access to an adequate diet also are at risk for a variety of other conditions, including long-term learning and developmental problems, the ADA says.
Source...