The “Cinderella sector”: The challenges of promoting food and nutrition for young children in early years’ settings in England

Abstract

ABSTRACT The quality of food that children eat in early childhood has profound impacts on their future wellbeing. In England, many children eat the majority of meals in early years’ settings including nurseries and childminders. We conducted 16 interviews with 18 stakeholders exploring food provision, the use of voluntary nutrition guidelines, and the effects of government support on the early years’ sector. Key themes emerging from our thematic analysis included feeling insufficiently consulted, undervalued, support being unequally distributed, needing to fill multiple support roles for families, disagreement about the role and effect of voluntary nutrition standards, and being chronically underfunded.