The preschool provider has become an important gatekeeper in early childhood feeding, providing an environment that can promote the development of lifelong healthy dietary patterns or alternatively lay the foundations of obesity and subsequent ill health. However, as Irish preschools are not obliged to structure their nutritional practices in line with the Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Pre-school Services⁽¹⁾, variability exists in current nutritional practices, with adherence to food safety legislation currently taking priority.

The present study investigated the current nutritional practices of full-day-care preschools (n 54) in Dublin North West by means of a telephone questionnaire completed by preschool managers. The detailed questionnaire contained over 150 questions, both open and closed ended, and took between twenty-five and fifty minutes to complete. It was preceded by a pilot study of seven full-day-care preschools in Dublin North Central. Descriptive data analysis using SPSS for Microsoft Windows (version 14.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) revealed that twenty-five preschools were the only food providers for attending children, twenty-three contributed to food provision, with parents as only providers in six. Attendance at nutritional training was reported by forty preschools and the possession of the Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Pre-school Services by forty. Forty-one preschools were found to adhere to the current regulations necessitating provision of at least two meals and two snacks daily for full-day-care children, with variation existing in menu cycles used. Although thirty-four pre-schools had a written healthy eating policy, poor parental (n 11) and staff (n 14) involvement in policy formation existed. Food was used as a reward in fourteen preschools. The Table provides information regarding food provision in preschools catering for children <1 year of age (n 35) and children aged 1–5 years (n 54).

In conclusion, variable dietary practices exist in preschools, many of which are inconsistent with current guidelines. Nutritional training should advocate parental and whole staff involvement in nutritional practices, and focus specifically on policy development, appropriate weaning practices, healthy beverage and snack provision and menu planning.