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Daycare food programs provide cash reimbursements for nourishing meals and snacks served to children ages 12 years and younger in licensed family day care homes. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) improves the quality of daycare by making it more affordable for many low-income families. The CACFP child care component is a state and federally funded program that gives financial aid to licensed child day care centers and day care homes.

Types of Daycare Businesses Eligible for Daycare Food Programs

Who may participate in CACFP?

• Eligible public or private nonprofit child care centers
• Infant centers
• Care centers that provide care outside of school hours
• Head Start programs
• Other institutions which are licensed or approved to provide day care services may participate in CACFP.

What if your child care business is for-profit? If your child care business is for-profit, the business must receive title XX funds for at least 25 percent of the children enrolled or licensed capacity (whichever is less).  Your for-profit child care center may also be eligible if at least 25 percent of the children in care are eligible for free and reduced price meals.

Qualifying organizations receive cash reimbursement for serving meals to enrolled children and adults that meet Federal nutritional guidelines. The CACFP can assist with State and federal meal reimbursement for the number of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and supplements served to enrolled children. Meals must meet the USDA minimum meal requirements. These meals are then reimbursed at rates based on the child’s eligibility for free, reduced price, or paid meals.

Daycare Food Programs Benefit Daycare Businesses

Participating in the CACFP helps enhance the diets of children up to the age of 12 by providing them with nutritious, well-balanced meals. According to studies, the CACFP develop s good eating habits in children that will last through later years. Studies also show that children who participate in the CACFP program have higher intakes of vital nutrients and fewer servings of fats and sweets than children in non-participating care.

Other benefits of participating in the CACFP are that your daycare business may receive:

• Food donations
• Technical assistance for food service operation program management, and recordkeeping
• One time start-up funds for your daycare home in some cases

Daycare food program Record Keeping

The CACFP requires the following records in order receive benefits:

• Facility license
• Enrollment form signed by a parent
• Daily menus including quantity served
• Daily attendance
• Number of meals by type served to enrolled children each day
• Verification of children’s eligibility category
• Civil rights data.

As a daycare provider, it is wise to invest in childcare software in order to keep track of the records necessary to receive food program benefits.

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Toddlers can be very fussy eaters. Sometimes toldders will go on food jags, requesting to eat same foods day in and day out. The trick to getting kids to eat an array of healthy foods is to make it appealing to the eye, creative, and delicious. Whether you are a parent or a licensed day care provider, consider the following lunches at home and at daycare:

1. Fancy Sandwiches: Get out of the boring sandwich rut by making  fancy, creative sandwiches using an assortment of breads and cookie cutters. Find cookie cutters in a variety of shapes and sizes and use them to cut the bread for super cool sandwiches. Children will be intrigued by your creativity and will be more apt to finish their sandwich. Also try switching up the bread.  Plain white bread day to day can become mundane and uninteresting. There are a wide variety of breads to choose from that are made fresh at your local bakery to choose from like honey wheat, rye, asiago, tomato basil, pumpkin, focaccia, and ciabatta . Their unique flavors, colorful presentation, and textures can be appealing to young children.
2. Mini Pizzas: Mini pizzas are a great alternative to sandwiches and a healthy alternative to pizza.  Top whole wheat English muffins with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and a host of veggies like tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, or broccoli. Let children take turns choosing their own healthy toppings. Broil the mini pizzas in a toaster oven or under the oven’s broiler.
3. Whole Grain Crackers: Crackers are a great substitute for bread. You can take two large crackers like Wasa Hearty Rye Crisp bread and put sandwich fillings between them. As an alternative you can pack a lunch of whole grain crackers along with low fat cheese slices, sliced lean meats, and sliced veggies. Spread crackers with a variety of spreads like cream cheese, peanut butter, cottage cheese, whole fruit spread or mashed bananas.
4. Wraps or Roll Ups. Tortillas are great for making sandwiches because they are less likely to get soggy.  Wraps can be made with whole wheat tortillas. Add healthy combinations like lean cold cuts, grilled chicken and veggies and lowfat cheese. You can make rollups on a whole tortilla topped with all sorts of healthy fun toppings. Try lowfat cream cheese topped with veggie slices or dried fruits like raisins, apples, and apricots.  You can even make rollups out of your usual sandwich toppings like peanut butter and jelly.
5. Healthy Dips: Dips are a great way to provide a nutritious, deconstructed lunch.  There are a variety of healthy, great tasting dips like fruit and yogurt dip, hummus dip, bean dips, and avocado dip. Cut whole grain bread into strips or cut pita bread into triangles for dipping. Sliced fruit and veggies can also be used as dippers.

It is important to offer young children choices from a wide variety of foods in an assortment of colors and textures presented in small portions. Also remember one of the responsibilities you hold as part of your child care job is being a role model. Children learn good eating habits from their role models. When an adult models good eating habits in childcare centers, helps instill good lifelong eating habits in young children.

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When starting your child care business, daycare food programs and daycare nutrition are vital component to consider. Parents in conjunction with child care providers must work together to ensure that children receive the proper amount of vitamins and minerals each day.

According to the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine research by the Children’s Hospital in Boston shows that at least 40 percent of American infants and toddlers aren’t getting enough vitamin D. 12 percent of the young children in the United States are deficient in vitamin D while 28 percent of infants and toddlers are at risk for vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D is a nutrient important for bone grown, bone strength and neuromusular health. Vitamin D helps toddlers’ immune system function and reduces inflammation in the body. It also helps reduce the risk of rickets (softening of bones in children which can lead to fractures and deformity). A deficiency in vitamin D will restrict calcium absorption. The amount of Vitamin D currently recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics is 400 IU (international units) daily.

As a daycare provider, how do you make sure the children in your care are receiving enough Vitamin D and that you are serving foods that are rich in vitamin D? The best source of Vitamin D is Milk. 8 ounces of vitamin D fortified milk contains 100 IU. However, be aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines state that toddlers need no more than 16 ounces of milk per day (about 2 glasses). Too much milk can put your toddler at risk for iron-deficiency anemia and irritate your toddler’s gut.

Luckily, children in your daycare center can absorb vitamin D from sunlight or by eating vitamin D rich foods in addition to milk. There are a variety of vitamin D rich foods that help toddlers meet their Vitamin D requirements. Some examples of vitamin D rich foods to include in your child’s diet:

• Salmon
• Sardines
• Swiss cheese
• Tuna
• Yogurt
• Mackerel
• Beef liver
• Egg yolks
• Mushrooms
• Ice Cream
• Vitamin D -fortified cereal (check the label – Total or Cheerios for example)
• Cream Cheese

You may also try these tasty, toddler-friendly, vitamin D-rich recipes at home or in your child care center:

Pineapple-Orange Smoothie: Blend 8 ounces calcium and Vitamin D-fortified orange juice, pineapple chunks and low-fat vanilla yogurt in using a blender, hand blender, or food processor.

Teriyaki Salmon: Marinade salmon steaks in teriyaki sauce for 2 hours. Arrange salmon skin side down in a pan sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle brown sugar over the salmon according to taste. Bake in an over at 375 for about 30 minutes or until salmon flakes with a fork.

What about Supplements? The American Academy of Pediatrics supports Vitamin D supplements for children. In your daycare business, is important to keep the lines of communication open to be sure you are meeting the needs of infants and toddlers in your care.

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