Nutritional best-practices among child care providers in Washington State

Abstract

Objective: Explore knowledge and concerns around the Let’s Move! Child Care nutritional best-practices among child care providers in Washington. Methods: Data was collected from an online professional training module for child care providers. We examined providers’ knowledge of and behaviors they are willing to do to meet the best-practices by program type and size, provider experience, and written nutrition policy status. Concerns for implementation were analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis. Results: The final sample included 668 providers. Providers knew most best-practices (88.2%-98.8%), but had lower levels of knowledge about sugary drinks (47.6%) and milk type (65.7%). Concerns for implementation included practical concerns, dealing with picky eaters, and parents not supporting child care nutrition efforts. Conclusions and Implications: Sugary drinks and milk type recommendations are target areas for future interventions and research among child care providers. More research is needed about how to best integrate parents with child care nutrition efforts.