Tag Archives: Obesity

Nemours looking to partner with ECE/Childhood Obesity Organization to test ECELC revised Toolkit

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Nemours Children’s Health System is pleased to announce a search to fund an organization to test an Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative (ECELC) Toolkit beginning October 1, 2017.  The ECELC Toolkit will guide a state/community through developing and implementing a childhood obesity learning collaborative for early care and education (ECE) providers.  For additional information regarding Nemours National ECE Learning Collaborative model, please visit https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/about-ecelc/.

Nemours’ National ECELC is an evidenced informed model that, with funding from CDC, has reached over 1,670 early care and education programs and over 170,000 children nationally over the past five years.  As childhood obesity prevention efforts in the United States continue, policy and practice based interventions to promote healthy eating and physical activity best practices help shape healthier environments for children attending early care and education programs.  Over the past five years, early care and education programs participating in Nemours ECELC have improved healthy environments in their programs and continue to implement healthy eating and physical activity best practices.  Through self-assessment tools, we have learned, the ECELC model contributes to increases in child nutrition, physical activity, breastfeeding support, outdoor play and learning, and screen time best practices and healthy policy changes in early child care and education programs across the country.[1]

The ECELC model has been implemented with large grants to public and private partners and technical assistance from Nemours and CDC.  As part of the project, Nemours has developed an off-the-shelf ECELC Toolkit to guide organizations on how to run a learning collaborative for ECE providers focused on childhood obesity prevention. Nemours is seeking a partner organization to test whether the model can be implemented with limited technical assistance using the ECELC Toolkit and a small amount of funding.  The ECELC Toolkit can provide a tremendous opportunity for an organization to build upon their current professional development repertoire for early care and education programs in a targeted community.  As an added bonus, all training materials and resources are provided at no additional costs to the partner organization!   Piloting the ECELC Toolkit before full dissemination will allow Nemours and CDC to enhance the content and supportive resources with key information to ensure success of learning collaborative(s) launched by other organizations.

The selected organization will collaborate with Nemours beginning October 1, 2017 through September 2018.

The selected partner organization will receive the user-friendly Nemours ECELC Toolkit manual, all training materials and resources online, limited technical assistance support, and a small amount of funding from Nemours.  The partner organization will provide a designated staff member for the project, funding to support the project needs beyond the Nemours grant, and participate in a formal evaluation process.

An informational webinar is scheduled for Monday, August 21, 2017 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to provide potential partner organizations information regarding Nemours ECELC Toolkit project and application process.  For questions or to register for the webinar, please contact, Content Specialist Kevin Cataldo at kevin.cataldo@nemours.org.

Nemours Children’s Health System is committed to improving the health of children.  As a nonprofit children’s health organization, we consider the health of every child to be a sacred trust.  Through family-centered care in our children’s hospitals and clinics in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, as well as world-changing research, education and advocacy, Nemours fulfills the promise of a healthier tomorrow for all children – even those who may never enter our doors.

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[1] Smith TM, Blaser C, Geno Rasmussen C, Shuell J, Plumlee C, Yaroch AL. Assessment of nutrition and physical activity practices using self-report and observation in early care and education across multiple US states. Public Health Nutrition. March 2017:1-7. doi:10.1017/S1368980017000155.

 

Smith, T. M., Blaser, C., Geno Rasmussen, C., Shuell, J., Plumlee, C., Gargano, T., & Yaroch, A. L. (In Press). Real world implementation of a project aimed to improve nutrition and physical activity policies and practices in early care and education. Preventing Chronic Disease.

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Keeping All of Us Healthy Why We Value Physical Activity and Nutrition in Early Care and Education

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Early Care and Education Innovations Series Audio Conference:
January 10, 2017
8:00 to 8:45 pm ET
7:00 to 7:45 pm CT
6:00 to 6:45 pm MT
5:00 to 5:45 pm PT

Why is it important for you to help children stay physically active and well nourished?

Join this webinar to learn more about why healthy eating and physical activity is important for the children in your program. Panelists will discuss important topics including:

  • Feeding infants
  • Helping families obtain healthy and culturally appropriate food
  • Giving children safe spaces to play
  • Providing positive adult examples

Presenters:
Facilitator: Emily Keenum
Virginia Early Childhood Foundation

Panelists:
– Mona Liza Hamlin, Nemours
– Christine Twait, Partners in Nutrition
– Dianne Stanton Ward, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Who Should Participate?
This webinar is designed for early care and education providers including teachers, administrators, and family child care providers working with children from birth to five and their families.

Do you have questions?
If you have questions about healthy eating and physical activity, please send them to a_l_schwartz@yahoo.com with the subject header “Question for the Keeping All of Us Healthy Webinar”. We will answer as many questions as we can during the webinar.

How to Register:
Go to: https://nemours.webex.com/nemours/j.php?MTID=m1690099263d99ab3c6420fa4c066cade and complete the form to register for this audio conference. Presentation materials will be sent with a reminder on the day of the session.

Sponsored by Healthy Kids, Healthy Future.

Convened by the Early Care and Education Innovation Collaborative, an ad hoc activity associated with the Roundtable on Obesity Solutions of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Fewer Babies in Poor Families Are Overweight

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12/13/2016

The percentage of overweight babies in poor families in the United States may be on the decline, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that fewer babies enrolled in the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutritional assistance program had a high “weight-for-length” in 2014, when compared with 2010. The percentage went from 14.5 percent to just over 12 percent in that period.

The WIC program helps low-income pregnant women, new mothers and children up to age 5. With federal funding, states provide those families with supplemental foods, nutrition education and health care referrals.

Researchers said the new findings are “encouraging.”

High weight, even in infancy, has been linked to an increased risk of obesity later on, said study author David Freedman. He is a researcher with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And children in low-income families are at particular risk of both a high weight in infancy and childhood obesity, Freedman pointed out.

Dr. William Dietz, director of the Global Center for Prevention and Wellness at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C., agreed that “high weight-for-length is beyond ‘chubbiness.’ ”

Dietz, who was not involved in the study, pointed to a finding he thought was particularly encouraging: Weight improvements were greatest among babies in certain minority groups. Hispanic and Native American babies showed the biggest changes.

The prevalence of high weight among Hispanic babies dropped from 17 percent in 2010 to just under 14 percent in 2014; among Native Americans, the prevalence fell below 16 percent — down from almost 19 percent, the findings showed.

Meanwhile, just under 12 percent of black babies had a high weight in 2014, compared with 11 percent of white babies.

“The declines were greatest in groups disproportionately affected by obesity,” Dietz said. “So those disparities, at least in this youngest age group, may be narrowing. That’s an important finding.”

The results were based on nearly 17 million U.S. babies younger than 2 whose families took part in WIC between 2000 and 2014.

Between 2000 and 2004, the proportion of babies with a high weight-for-length rose from roughly 13 percent to 14.5 percent. That figure held steady through 2010, then dropped to just above 12 percent by 2014.

Why did the picture improve? Changes to the WIC program are one likely reason, Freedman said.

During the study period, the program’s food allocation package was revamped to fall in line with federal dietary guidelines, as well as infant feeding recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“There were changes that resulted in increased consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables,” Freedman said.

Plus, he added, those years saw a growing awareness — among health professionals and parents — of the childhood obesity problem.

Freedman did underscore a limitation of the study: Since the findings come from the WIC program, they do not reflect U.S. families as a whole.

However, recent studies have found that early childhood obesity seems to be on the decline nationwide. According to the CDC, just over 9 percent of 2- to 5-year-olds were obese in 2014 — down from 14 percent a decade earlier.

That’s in contrast to what’s going on with older kids and adults, Freedman pointed out.

Among 2- to 19-year-olds, the CDC says, the prevalence of obesity has remained stubbornly stable — at around 17 percent. And roughly one-fifth of U.S. teenagers are obese.

Still, the fact that the youngest kids are showing a different pattern is a positive sign, according to Dietz.

“This shows that we are making some progress,” he said.

Freedman agreed. “We are seeing some positive results,” he said. Now, the question is whether the encouraging trends will continue, he added.

More information

The CDC has more on childhood obesity.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Available at: https://consumer.healthday.com/vitamins-and-nutrition-information-27/obesity-health-news-505/fewer-u-s-babies-from-poorer-families-are-overweight-now-cdc-717726.html

Achieving a State of Healthy Weight-National Resource Center

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5/2015

Beginning in 2010, the National Resource Center (NRC) for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education worked within the context of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Weight Initiative Child Care Workgroup to support the national effort to prevent childhood obesity in child care and early education programs. One part of this work was a national assessment of the child care regulations in all fifty states and the District of Columbia relative to newly revised expert consensus-defined and evidence-based best practices encompassed in Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs: Selected Standards from Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition. The following reports present the findings of the annual assessments.

Source: National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education

Available at: http://nrckids.org/index.cfm/products/achieving-a-state-of-healthy-weight1/

Teachers Play Key Role in Program to Fight Childhood Obesity

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8/13/2014

An innovative physical activities guide developed at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute FPG is helping North Carolina fight childhood obesity. New research shows that when teachers direct these physical activities, young children become more active and less sedentary.

“In the past twenty years, childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed,” said FPG investigator Allison De Marco. “And for the first time in over a century, children’s life expectancies are declining because of increased numbers of overweight kids.”

De Marco said these statistics are especially alarming because research has long shown that being overweight during childhood is associated with health issues later in life. Obesity, coupled with a lack of physical activity, can lead to coronary heart disease, hypertension, Type II diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

“About one-third of overweight preschoolers and one-half of overweight school-age children remain overweight as adults,” she explained.

She also noted that studies have shown how physical activities can reduce the chances of developing obesity and chronic diseases, while positively influencing other areas of development. Childhood physical activity is related to better health, higher test scores, and fewer behavioral problems.

“But preschoolers engage in mostly sedentary activities,” said De Marco. “Surprisingly, children don’t just run outside and play, and even at recess, preschoolers actually are fairly inactive.”

“Clearly, it’s important to get children up and keep them moving,” said FPG director Samuel L. Odom. He and his colleagues wanted to create a program that would include children even younger than the 3 to 5-year-olds that other physical activity programs had tried to target previously.

Source: FPG Child Development Institute

Available at: http://fpg.unc.edu/news/teachers-play-key-role-program-fight-childhood-obesity

Discover MyPlate: Nutrition Education for Kindergarten | Food and Nutrition Service

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6/2/2014

Discover MyPlate is fun and inquiry-based nutrition education that fosters the development of healthy food choices and physically active lifestyles during a critical developmental and learning period for children — kindergarten.

Kindergarten teachers can meet education standards for Math, Science, English Language Arts, and Health using the 6 ready-to-go and interactive lessons. Children become food-smart as they practice counting, reading, writing, and more. Fun characters and developmentally appropriate activities engage children in:

  • Exploring healthy choices from each of the MyPlate food groups
  • Discovering the colorful variety of fruits and vegetables and how they grow
  • Identifying feelings of hunger and fullness
  • Selecting balanced meals and healthy snacks
  • Experiencing the fun and importance of being physically active

Available: in PDF, for download. If you have difficulty opening any of these files in your Internet browser, please right-click on the link and “save target as…” to download. Printed copies expected in Fall 2014.

Source: Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Available at: http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/discover-myplate

Parent and child must get enough sleep to protect against child obesity — ScienceDaily

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Is sleep one of your most important family values? A new University of Illinois study suggests that it should be, reporting that more parental sleep is related to more child sleep, which is related to decreased child obesity.

“Parents should make being well rested a family value and a priority. Sleep routines in a family affect all the members of the household, not just children; we know that parents wont get a good nights sleep unless and until their preschool children are sleeping,” said Barbara H. Fiese, director of the U of Is Family Resiliency Center and Pampered Chef Endowed Chair.

And the effects of sleeplessness go beyond just being tired the next day. Studies show that moms, dads, and their children are likely to gain weight as they lose sleep, she said.

Source: Science Daily

Available at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140609153345.htm

Achieving a State of Healthy Weight-National Resource Center

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5/14

Beginning in 2010, the National Resource Center NRC for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education worked within the context of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Weight Initiative Child Care Workgroup to support the national effort to prevent childhood obesity in child care and early education programs. One part of this work was a national assessment of the child care regulations in all fifty states and the District of Columbia relative to newly revised expert consensus-defined and evidence-based best practices encompassed in Preventing Childhood Obesity in Early Care and Education Programs: Selected Standards from Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and Education Programs, 3rd Edition. The following reports present the findings of the annual assessments.

Source: National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education

Available at: http://nrckids.org/index.cfm/products/achieving-a-state-of-healthy-weight1/

Let’s Move! Webinar Will Feature CMOM’s EatPlayGrow™ Curriculum

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Dates and Times: June 18, 12-1:30pm EDT, repeated September 15, 12-1:30pm EDT

Three federal Let’s Move! partners will host free training webinars featuring the EatPlayGrow™ early childhood health curriculum of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan CMOM. Presented by CMOM educators, the interactive webinars will cover obesity prevention lesson plans and activities; early childhood methodologies; wellness leadership and capacity building; partner and community resource development; and other topics of interest to staff of child care centers, museums, community centers, faith-based organizations, public libraries, and other community locations where parents and their children come to learn, be active, and have fun.EatPlayGrow™ is an early childhood health curriculum developed by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan CMOM in partnership with the National Institutes of Health’s NIH’s We Can! Program. The curriculum combines the most up-to-date science from the NIH with CMOM’s creative educational approach to teach young children and their parents how to make healthy nutritional and physical activity choices. EatPlayGrow™ is free and available online. Click here to download a copy.

Webinar: EatPlayGrow™early childhood health curriculum

Dates and Times: June 18, 12-1:30pm EDT
repeated September 15, 12-1:30pm EDT

June 18 registration link: www4.gotomeeting.com/register/614180479
September 15 link: www4.gotomeeting.com/register/907340055

A certificate of completion will be provided to participants who take the entire webinar training does not apply to phone access only.

This webinar training is co-hosted by CMOM’s Let’s Move! Partners: Let’s Move Faith and Communities, Let’s Move! Child Care, and Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens.About the Institute of Museum and Library Services The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nations 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Sciences

Available at: http://www.idevmail.net/message.aspx?d=73&m=2112&e=bhamilton@hrsa.gov&r=1118567

Local School Wellness Policy Implementation Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

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2/26/2014

This proposed rule would require all local educational agencies participating in the National School Lunch Program and/or the School Breakfast Program to meet expanded local school wellness policy requirements consistent with the new requirements set forth in section 204 of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This proposed rule would establish the framework for the content of the local school wellness policies, ensure stakeholder participation in the development of such policies, and require periodic assessment of compliance and reporting on the progress toward achieving the goals of the local school wellness policy. This proposed rule would also require local educational agencies, as part of the local school wellness policy, to implement policies for the marketing of foods and beverages on the school campus during the school day consistent with nutrition standards for Smart Snacks. Additionally, this proposed rule would require each local educational agency to make information about local school wellness policy implementation for all participating schools available to the public on a periodic basis. The provisions of this proposed rulemaking would ensure local educational agencies establish and implement local school wellness policies that meet minimum standards designed to support a school environment that promotes sound nutrition and student health, reduces childhood obesity, and provides transparency to the public on school wellness policy content and implementation.

Source: Federal Register, Volume 79 Issue 38

Available at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2014-02-26/html/2014-04100.htm