TY - JOUR
T1 - State Regulations Promoting Infant Physical Activity in Early Care and Education
AU - Benjamin-Neelon, Sara E.
AU - Neelon, Brian
AU - Pearce, John
AU - Grossman, Elyse R.
AU - Gonzalez-Nahm, Sarah
AU - Slining, Meghan
AU - Duffey, Kiyah
AU - Frost, Natasha
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Healthy Eating Research #73391. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the RWJF. The funders had no role in the design of the study, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
PY - 2018/8/1
Y1 - 2018/8/1
N2 - Background: State policies have the potential to improve early care and education (ECE) settings, but little is known about the extent to which states are updating their licensing and administrative regulations, especially in response to national calls to action. In 2013, we assessed state regulations promoting infant physical activity in ECE and compared them with national recommendations. To assess change over time, we conducted this review again in 2018. Methods: We reviewed regulations for all US states for child care centers (centers) and family child care homes (homes) and compared them with three national recommendations: (1) provide daily tummy time; (2) use cribs, car seats, and high chairs for their primary purpose; and (3) limit the use of restrictive equipment (e.g., strollers). We performed exact McNemar's tests to compare the number of states meeting recommendations from 2013 to 2018 to evaluate whether states had made changes over this period. Results: From 2013 to 2018, we observed significant improvement in one recommendation for homes - to use cribs, car seats, and high chairs for their primary purpose (odds ratio 11.0; 95% CI 1.6-47.3; p = 0.006). We did not observe any other significant difference between 2013 and 2018 regulations. Conclusions: Despite increased awareness of the importance of early-life physical activity, we observed only modest improvement in the number of states meeting infant physical activity recommendations over the past 5 years. In practice, ECE programs may be promoting infant physical activity, but may not be required to do so through state regulations.
AB - Background: State policies have the potential to improve early care and education (ECE) settings, but little is known about the extent to which states are updating their licensing and administrative regulations, especially in response to national calls to action. In 2013, we assessed state regulations promoting infant physical activity in ECE and compared them with national recommendations. To assess change over time, we conducted this review again in 2018. Methods: We reviewed regulations for all US states for child care centers (centers) and family child care homes (homes) and compared them with three national recommendations: (1) provide daily tummy time; (2) use cribs, car seats, and high chairs for their primary purpose; and (3) limit the use of restrictive equipment (e.g., strollers). We performed exact McNemar's tests to compare the number of states meeting recommendations from 2013 to 2018 to evaluate whether states had made changes over this period. Results: From 2013 to 2018, we observed significant improvement in one recommendation for homes - to use cribs, car seats, and high chairs for their primary purpose (odds ratio 11.0; 95% CI 1.6-47.3; p = 0.006). We did not observe any other significant difference between 2013 and 2018 regulations. Conclusions: Despite increased awareness of the importance of early-life physical activity, we observed only modest improvement in the number of states meeting infant physical activity recommendations over the past 5 years. In practice, ECE programs may be promoting infant physical activity, but may not be required to do so through state regulations.
KW - child care
KW - physical activity
KW - policy
KW - regulation
KW - tummy time
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U2 - 10.1089/chi.2018.0087
DO - 10.1089/chi.2018.0087
M3 - Article
C2 - 30199297
AN - SCOPUS:85053245561
SN - 2153-2168
VL - 14
SP - 368
EP - 374
JO - Childhood Obesity
JF - Childhood Obesity
IS - 6
ER -