Recommendations exist for the food intake of infants and young children in pre-school child care^{(1, 2)}. However, pre-school aged children's diets are reported to be low in vitamin A, vitamin C, Fe and Zn and contain high quantities of salt and sugar⁽¹⁾. In Ireland, while ‘Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Pre-schools’ are available⁽¹⁾, these are not mandatory and, therefore, methods to encourage the provision of nutritious food in this setting must be pursued. The ‘Healthy Incentive for Pre-schools’ (HIP) project is an ongoing child care intervention in the Midlands of Ireland which aims to develop and evaluate an incentive scheme to improve pre-school nutrition practices. The aim of this study was to obtain baseline data on the nutrition practices of full day care pre-schools for children aged 3 months to 5 years that had agreed to engage in the HIP project (n 76 of 96 eligible pre-schools). One researcher directly observed and recorded all aspects of nutrition practice in each pre-school over a full day using a structured data collection tool developed for the HIP project. A description of all foods offered was recorded using household measures. A photographic food atlas developed for the HIP project, using foods recommended for pre-school children and recipes from the Irish Health Service Executive ‘3-week menu plan – a resource for pre-schools’, was used to aid data collection⁽Reference Johnston Molloy, Corish and Kearney³⁾. Ethical approval to carry out the study was obtained from the Irish Health Service Executive Dublin Mid-Leinster and the Dublin Institute of Technology Research Ethics Committees.

Due to changes in pre-schools' eligibility to participate (as directed by the local pre-school inspection team), or in the service offered, baseline data were collected in fifty-eight pre-schools; private (n 39), community (n 19). Data were analysed using SPSS for Microsoft Windows (version 15). Of the forty-three pre-schools that reported having a written healthy eating policy; this was visible in only three services. Fifty-four pre-schools reported having a written menu cycle; however, the cycle length varied widely: 3 week+ (n 28); 1 week (n 13); 2 week (n 7); none (n 6). The table provides information on the baseline nutrition practices observed in pre-schools engaged in the HIP project.

In conclusion, few pre-schools provided the recommended: serving sizes of the main food groups; number of meals and snacks; or drink types. Provision of foods from the top shelf of the Food Pyramid occurred frequently. The type of ‘family style food service’ practice varied and few pre-schools provided recommended feeding utensils. The study results support the need for the development of an incentive scheme to improve nutrition practices within the pre-school setting.