Child Care Food: Is it Nutritious and Safe?

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Good nutrition is important for your child for many reasons. For one thing, proper nutrition is necessary for body growth and development. Without it the brain, nervous system, bones, teeth, muscles, eyes, heart, and lungs will not grow and work as they should. Your child will also learn, think, play, and work with others better if they are eating right. Signs of poor nutrition are restlessness, irritability, and a withdrawn personality. You should be concerned with your child's nutrition both at home and in your child care situation. To make the most of your child's nutritional intake, to develop a good food relationship between child and child care provider, and to ensure food safety, you should be able to answer some basic questions about food when you are selecting child care.

Nutrition for Infants

The following questions are important if your child is very young.

• What types of food intake records are kept?
  
  
• A food record for your child should be made available to you at least every two weeks, so that you can keep track of what your child is eating.
  
  
• Who evaluates the nutritional content of the meals at your child care provider? A dietitian or nutritionist knows what is required for a balanced and varied diet for children at specific ages.
  
  
• Who supplies and prepares the formula for your child?
  
  
• Do you know whose responsibility it is to supply the formula? Meet the person who mixes the formula and be sure that they are preparing the formula correctly.
  
  
• Are infants held during feeding? Holding an infant promotes a healthy feeding relationship—both physically and emotionally.
  
  

Nutrition for Toddlers

If your child is in the toddler stage, the following questions are important to answer.

• At what age does your child care provider stop bottle-feeding? Will they follow your instructions? The age restriction may interfere with meeting your child's nutritional needs if they only take fluids from a bottle.
  
  
• Who supplies the baby food? Know whose responsibility it is to supply the baby food on a daily basis.
  
  
• What foods are served? Are they similar to food you serve at home?
  
  
• Are written menus available? Look them over to see if they have a variety of nutritious foods included in them.
  
  
• What kind of snacks are provided? Snacks should contribute to a balanced daily diet. They should be nutritious as well as have a variety of flavors and textures.
  
  
• What beverages are served? Those that are 100% fruit juices are excellent sources of nutrients, including vitamin C. Whole milk is a good source of calcium, vitamins A and D, and the necessary calories for healthy growing bones and teeth. Water should be available to children at all times to replace the fluids they lose in their active lives.
  
  

See the factsheet entitled The Child Care Food Program: Promoting Healthy Eating Habits for further information on suggested meals and meal portions for specific ages.

Safety

Safety should also be considered in your evaluation of child care facilities. Consider the following questions.

• Is the facility visibly clean? A clean child care environment helps prevent the transmission of illnesses.
  
  
• Who prepares the food? Meet the person who prepares the children's food. Ask him or her if he or she receives on-going training in food preparation for children. You may also be interested in learning what recipes and ingredients are used.
  
  
• Is the food prepared on-site or off-site? The advantages of having on-site food preparation is that there is less chance of contamination of the food and there is more flexibility in feeding times.
  
  
• What is done with leftover formula and baby food?
  
  Baby Formula. The Minnesota Extension Service recommends that open cans of unmixed formula may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. Leftover mixed formula in the bottle may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Check with the provider to see what their policy is. Talk to the person who will be feeding your infant and give special written instructions whenever possible. Leftover formula that remains in a bottle after a child has been fed should not be kept and used later. It is a perfect environment for bacterial growth. Unused powdered formula can be kept tightly covered on the shelf for up to a month.
  
  Baby Food. The recommendations taken from No-Nonsense Nutrition For Baby's First Year (McGraw-Hill, 1985) say that opened jars of food and juices may be kept up to 72 hours in a refrigerator. The Minnesota Extension Service recommends that cooked fruit and vegetables may be kept for up to three days in the refrigerator. Raw fruit and cooked meats may be refrigerated no more than two days. Baby food should always be served from a container other than the jar it came in. Take out only the amount of food you think the child will eat. If the child does not eat it all, food should not be returned to the original jar.*
  
  *Note: When the baby is fed from the jar of food, the bacteria from the baby's mouth contaminates the food so that bacteria will grow rapidly in the jar. In addition, salivary amylase from the baby's mouth breaks down the starch and deteriorates the product.
  
  Most food poisoning can be controlled by cooking and refrigeration. Since most bacteria get into food through careless handling, it is important that everything in the food preparation area be clean. Also, hot food should be kept hot (140-165°F) and cold food should be kept cold (40°F or colder). Never keep any food out at room temperature for more than two hours.
  
  
• How are dishes cleaned or sanitized?
  
  A dishwasher with a very hot water rinse, a boiling water rinse sink, or a disirdectant rinse for dishes helps to keep down the spreading of illnesses and microorganisms.
  
  

Feeding Relationship

It is important that you feel comfortable leaving your child in the child care situation you have selected. In addition to your child's feeding, you also need to consider the relationship that you develop with your care provider. You may have some very specific ideas on how you want your child fed. You need to be assured that the provider will carry out your wishes as much as possible. Communication is very important between provider and parent.

Visit the child care setting during mealtime so that you can evaluate the following: how the children are fed, the feeding environment, the amount of food and the manner in which it is served to the children, and whether food is used as reward or punishment. Food should be served in a positive environment without reward or punishment.

The feeding relationship between parent, provider, and child needs to be comfortable and consistent. Always remember that the role of a parent and a child care provider is to provide a variety of nutritious food for the child. It is then the child's role to determine how much and what to eat. It is not the role of the parent or provider to force-feed the child. When selecting care for your child be sure to consider nutrition, food safety, and the kind of feeding relationship you would like to have between you, your child, and the child care provider.

Many resources are available on child nutrition and food safety. For further information, contact your local Minnesota county extension office.

University of Minnesota Extension Service
University of Minnesota
College of Human Ecology

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This information is intended to help parents make the best decision about the selection of child care for their family. The University of Minnesota Extension Service does not recommend any particular providers or any specific type of care.

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