Early Childhood Nutrition & Chest/Breastfeeding
The First 1,000 Days: Infant & Toddler Nutrition Security
Communities across the United States are faced with persistent inequities in breastfeeding duration and secured access to nutritious foods. Suboptimal breastfeeding and nutrition insecurity can lead to negative short- and long-term health outcomes for infants, toddlers, and birthing parents, such as increased incidence of infection, diabetes, obesity, some cancers, and other chronic diseases. Many families discontinue chest/breastfeeding prematurely due to many reasons that could be solved with continuity of care through the first 1,000 days of life.
The following resources will help health departments and community-based organizations support community members and interdisciplinary public health professionals to improve the local nutrition infrastructure for infants and toddlers. The below nutrition materials will include the following types of resources:
- Educational nutrition material
- Social media toolkit
- Community resource guide
There are several resources available to support 10 communities/languages: African, Black, Caribbean (ABC), Latine/Mexican American, Chinese and Vietnamese, South Asian, and Middle Eastern.
These materials are products of a NACCHO-Dairy Council collaboration, and underwent an extensive vetting process where medical students from the University of California - Irving provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
Materials will soon be available in Haitian Creole, in collaboration with 2024 grantee from Indiana, Eskenazi Health.
These materials are products of a NACCHO-Dairy Council collaboration, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Spanish and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (ASAP!) Breastfeeding Taskforce, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Chinese and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (ASAP!) Breastfeeding Taskforce, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Vietnamese and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the Apostle Group, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Hindi and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the Apostle Group, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Punjabi and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available for Sudanese families in Arabic and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available in Kurdish Arabic and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available for families in Dari and English.
These materials are products of a collaboration between NACCHO and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and underwent an extensive vetting process where community members provided feedback and informed the choices in language, tone, color, recipes, and more. We are grateful for the insights received, facilitation, and compilation of inputs and resources that supported the development of these materials.
As a result, the following resources are available for families in Pashto and English.
The Blueprint, developed with a public health lens, aims to increase local capacity to implement community-driven approaches to support breastfeeding, centered on the needs of populations disproportionately impacted by structural barriers that lead to low rates of breastfeeding.
The goal of this resource is to ensure that breastfeeding support services are continuous, accessible, and coordinated; and that community spaces are consistently supportive of breastfeeding families.
This resource is intended for any local-level organizations and individuals who interact with pregnant and postpartum families.
The Breastfeeding Public Health Partners (BPHP) is a group of national organizations established in 2014 that collaborate in the public health field to improve the health and overall well-being of infants, children, and families. Along with other members of BPHP, NACCHO developed the Lactation Equity & Inclusive Language Toolkit. The Toolkit encourages local health departments and other stakeholders to use language and imagery that reflect the diverse way people experience parenting and lactation. See below for the toolkit.
| Webinar | Links | CE Credits | CE Expiration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lean on “We”: The Power of Partnerships, Leadership Buy-In, and Sustainability to Advance Infant and Toddler Nutrition - Learn from 3 years of NACCHO's local level initiatives to develop strong community partnerships and build leadership buy-in for programs that strengthen infant and toddler nutrition. Speakers include the Augusta University Research Institute (Georgia/South Carolina) and the Nourish Foundation (Alabama). | Click here to register | Earn 1.5 CERPS/CPEUs | 1/29/2026 |
| Beyond Baby's High Chair: Improving Infant and Toddler Nutrition Security - Showcased nutrition resources for African, Black, Caribbean, and Latine (specifically, Mexican-American) families. | Webinar Resource Guide | CEs no longer available | NA |
| Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E): Community Preparedness Systems to Keep Babies Safe - Collaborated with the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee to share the CDC's IYCF-E Toolkit, current research, and successes from Jefferson County Public Health. | Webinar Resource Guide | CEs no longer available | NA |
| Improving Nutrition Security for Infants and Toddlers in Communities of Color - Overview of the landscape of the first 1,000 days of nutrition in the United States, showcased culturally responsive nutrition initiatives that aim to diversify the Dietary Guidelines for infants and toddlers. | Webinar Resource Guide | CEs no longer available | NA |
During this 8-part webinar series, NACCHO provided an overview of the different strategies in the Continuity of Care Blueprint. The goal of the webinar series was to increase the knowledge of continuity of care in breastfeeding practices and help improve infant and toddler health. To learn more about each session and available continuing education credits, please view the information below.
With support from the CDC-DNPAO, NACCHO awarded communities with funding to implement the Continuity of Care in Breastfeeding Support Blueprint to strengthen support within the local lactation and nutrition infrastructure to improve infant and toddler health.
To view successes, visit NACCHO's CoC Blueprint website.
The Chest/Breastfeeding team published two open-access peer-reviewed articles focused on social justice and lactation in the Spring 2018 issue of the Journal of Human Lactation. They were the 2019 top 2 most read articles of the Journal of Human Lactation!
"Breastfeeding in the Community: Sharing Stories on Implementations That Work" highlights the work of 19 NACCHO breastfeeding project grantees.
In "Breastfeeding in the Community: Addressing Disparities Through Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes Interventions," the authors share practice-oriented strategies for agencies seeking to implement community-level breastfeeding interventions through a public health policy, systems, and environmental change approach.
Disclaimer
Currently, these success stories document communities across the nation that were funded by NACCHO to implement recommendations and strategies from the Continuity of Care in Breastfeeding Support Blueprint, and does not yet include successes from communities that have implemented recommendations and strategies on their own.
If you are a community that has implemented a Blueprint recommendation or strategy, we would love to hear your story! E-mail breastf[email protected] for an opportunity for your successes to be shared in our MCAH newsletter.
National Breastfeeding Public Health Partners (BPHP)
Established in 2014, the Breastfeeding Public Health Partners (BPHP) is a group of national organizations that collaborate in the public health field to improve the health and overall well-being of infants, children, and families. This work happens through individual and collective efforts to establish and support infant feeding practices that align with public health imperatives and address disparities across racial and demographic indicators. The active partnership meets bi-monthly, to share organizational updates, leverage efforts, and strategize collaboration to tackle structural issues that lead to inequities in breastfeeding rates within maternity care practices and in state/community continuity of care, and within the inequitable access to lactation support and accommodation services.
MyPlate Strategic Partners
NACCHO has been actively involved in MyPlate National Strategic Partners, a group that supports the CDC and USDA in promoting Chapter 2 of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which is dedicated to infants and toddlers. In alignment with the recommendations from Chapter 2, NACCHO has co-created culturally diverse nutrition materials for infants and toddlers with input from communities. Materials are developed for communities that identify as Chinese, Vietnamese, Latine, African, Black, and Caribbean. These materials include educational handouts, social media toolkits, and resource directories.
United States Breastfeeding Committee (U.S. Breastfeeding Committee)
The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) is a national coalition of 140 organizational members representing nonprofits (national, state, local, and community), breastfeeding coalitions, and federal agencies working to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and human milk feeding. As a backbone institution, the USBC uses an equity-centered collective impact approach to manage multi-sectoral collaborations.
USBC is an active member of the National Breastfeeding Public Health Partners.
There are currently no funding opportunities available at this time.
Please check this webpage in July 2025.
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