Infant and Toddler Nutrition - USDA

With newly mandated nutrition requirements for meals and snacks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) needed to equip caregivers with the knowledge to provide healthier foods and to meaningfully contribute to the health and wellness of children throughout the US.

We developed comprehensive bi-lingual tools and training resources to help childcare providers understand new meal requirements, how foods support growth and development, and best practices for feeding infants and toddlers.

The CACFP Feeding Infants trainer’s toolkit comprises 10 lessons that can stand alone or be combined into 1-, 2-, or 4-hour training sessions. Lessons are enriched with videos, interactive games, and pre and post test assessments.

Additionally, we partnered with USDA to create Mealtimes With Toddlers, which includes a series of bi-lingual educational films and a guide for childcare providers. This resource highlights new requirements and ideas for encouraging toddlers to feed themselves and to try new foods, and for transitioning from infant formula or breast milk to whole milk. We also created a Family Handout to reinforce these messages at home.