2025 NCNC

Does it seem like the children in your program enjoy learning about vegetables more than they like eating them? Maybe the way they are learning about new foods isn’t preparing them to eat them. Learn ways in which you can offer nutrition education proven to help children eat new vegetables and fruits and how you can make taste tests part of your program’s routine.

Take a fun and flavorful journey that will spark your creativity in developing easy, nutritious snacks. Celebrate every day with a new snack idea. Come hungry for ideas and leave with a snack resource to help you serve a variety of foods to those in your care.

Could “picky eating” be reframed in a more positive, productive way? Examine the concept of “cautious eating” and explore how this reframe can help children and their caregivers approach food differently. Hear evidence-based practices for developing positive relationships with food, how to support extreme selective eating, and what authoritative feeding means.

Increase cultural competency by learning to plan meals and snacks to celebrate food diversity. Discover how to adopt culturally responsive feeding practices through menu development and classroom celebrations. Gain tips for creating an allergen-friendly environment and develop strategies to partner with families and the community to maintain inclusivity in all aspects of your nutrition program.

Are you prepared for the process of helping parents develop healthy eating patterns for children? Raising healthy eaters requires a deep understanding of feeding development milestones and necessary benchmark skills. From infants to toddlers, hear the latest recommendations on early feeding and safely introducing babies to family meals to assist in preventing picky eaters.

Responsive feeding is an attentive way of feeding young children that includes watching for their hunger and satiety cues. Explore adult and child roles in the division of responsibility in feeding and its impact on children’s physical and mental development.

Child care sites can help youth develop positive relationships with food and create lifelong healthy habits through nutrition education in the classroom, cafeteria, and beyond. Explore how to incorporate nutrition education across core curricula and develop a skills-based nutrition education lesson plan that can be easily incorporated into a variety of subjects.

Breastfeeding parents need all the encouragement they can get, and you are an important part of their support system. Even under ideal circumstances, returning to work and maintaining a milk supply can be challenging. Learn how to use evidence-based best practices, techniques, and policies to support families and help them reach their infant feeding goals.

Have you ever wondered why some children refuse to eat the foods on your menu, no matter their variation or relevancy? Children who are selective eaters often have different reasons why. From learning to tolerate the presence of food at the table to tasting new food entirely, explore how to support selective eaters who struggle with the territory of unfamiliar foods.

If your facility serves few clients with celiac disease (CeD) or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), does it matter if you use the same cutting board for gluten-free (GF) and regular food? Managing gluten exposure can feel burdensome, but has significant health impacts. Explore the effects of continuous low-level gluten exposure, how to improve kitchen practices, and cross-contact preventative strategies.