Abstract
Early infant feeding practices are a critical part of education and care programs within Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. With an increasing number of children attending ECEC services from a young age, adherence to best practice infant feeding will improve long-term health outcomes. This paper uses inductive and deductive thematic analysis informed by Social Cognitive Theory and inductive content analysis, to describe Australian infant feeding nutrition ECEC policy environments. Key Australian ECEC policy documents were analysed, revealing the invisibility of infants generally, and infant feeding specifically, in current quality standards. This was followed by analysis of 28 nutrition or infant feeding policies from 19 centre- and home-based ECEC services impacting over 1500 children in Queensland Australia. Five key themes characterising the content of service policies impacting infant feeding emerged: documentation, values, curriculum and pedagogy, supportive environments, and working in partnerships with parents. Service policies are required by legislation and set the foundation for a safe, supportive environment for infant feeding. The lack of infant feeding practice examples and invisibility of infants in legislation increase ambiguity, and health and safety risks. Opportunities exist to adopt separate infant feeding policies which will assist the provision of quality practice for the short-term and long-term optimal health of infants in ECEC settings.
Highlights
Childhood education and care (ECEC) settings have always been recognised as important sites of learning; with an increasing number of children attending these services their role in optimal infant and child health is increasingly significant (Petitclerc et al 2017; Scully et al 2017; World Health Organization (WHO) 2016a)
Analysis of the National Quality Framework (NQF) in relation to infant feeding Analysis of the NQF revealed two key findings: the invisibility of infants generally, and in relation to infant feeding and nutrition; and the relevance of all seven quality areas for infant feeding best practice and the need for interpretation when applying these to infant feeding practices in Early childhood education and care (ECEC)
The invisibility of infants and infant and young child feeding in the NQF The NQF broadly applies the generic terminology of “child” or “children” and more specific terms such as “infants” and “babies” are used infrequently
Summary
Childhood education and care (ECEC) settings have always been recognised as important sites of learning; with an increasing number of children attending these services their role in optimal infant and child health is increasingly significant (Petitclerc et al 2017; Scully et al 2017; World Health Organization (WHO) 2016a). 14% of Australian children under 5 years attend long day McGuire et al ICEP (2018) 12:14 care and 8% of these children are under the age of 12 months with 9% spending more than 35 h per week in these environments (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS] 2011; Marinelli et al 2012). This increasing reliance on ECEC services has highlighted the important role of educators in establishing life-long healthy practices including those around eating and physical activity. With an increasing number of infants attending ECEC a focus on early infant feeding in these settings is warranted
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