The majority of U.S. children are placed in some form of non-parental care during their preschool years, in arrangements such as child-care centers and family child-care homes, preschools, and Head Start programs. These early care and education settings provide numerous opportunities to promote healthy eating at a young age, when dietary habits are forming. Compared to research regarding schools, there has been limited research to date about federal, state, and local policies and practices that affect food choices or offerings in these settings. This research aims to identify policy and environmental changes for the child-care and preschool settings that can help prevent childhood obesity.
Fast Fact
Early Childhood
Research & Publications
March 2019
Studying the Impact of Ecological Momentary Interventions on Sugary-Beverage Consumption by Children Through Age 2 in Low-Income Families
The first 1,000 days describes the period from pre-pregnancy through age 2 years, and is increasingly recognized as a critical period for development of childhood obesity. The overall goal of this study is to test mobile technology-based ecologic momentary interventions (EMIs) to deliver policy-relevant health messages among families living in … More
March 2019
Promoting Responsive Bottle-Feeding Practices Among Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Mothers to Reduce Infants’ Rapid Weight Gain and Obesity
Bottle-fed infants are at significantly greater risk for overfeeding and rapid weight gain (RWG), yet few studies focus on promoting healthy feeding practices for bottle-feeding caregivers. Bottle-feeding caregivers receive little support related to learning appropriate bottle-feeding practices, and this problem is pronounced in low-income, minority populations at higher risk for … More
February 2019
Examining State-Level Strategies to Implement Child-Care Licensing Regulations on Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Screen Time for Children
State child care licensing regulations, which specify the standards for practice to which child care providers must adhere to be licensed, can be a policy tool for ensuring that child care providers use healthy nutrition, physical activity, and screen time practices. However, what state agencies do to support child care … More
November 2018
Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Attitudes and Consumption During the First 1000 Days of Life
This study examined the relationship between parental sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) attitudes and SSB consumption during the first 1,000 days – gestation to age 2 years. The study population consisted of 394 WIC-enrolled, Hispanic/Latino families living in northern Manhattan. Parental SSB attitudes were determined through a four question survey that used … More