PARENTING:Parents are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of diet, but the quality of food in creches still varies

IT IS HARDLY your typical nursery food: lemon and dill hoki with red pepper and spring onion couscous; beef moussaka with fresh aubergine and au gratin potato; fish bouillabaisse with mashed potato.

These are some of the delicacies on this month’s menu at the Park Academy Childcare centres in Dublin, where chefs aim to educate the palates of their young charges as well as meet their nutritional needs.

“What we introduce to children at this stage carves their eating habits for later life,” says Mary McGibney, co-owner of Park Academy Childcare.

Chicken nuggets and chips, still ubiquitous on children’s menus in restaurants, have more or less disappeared from creches, at the “high end” of the childcare market at least, as parents become increasingly aware of the importance of a healthy diet.

“Nutrition is one of the most important things in our business,” says Robert Buckley, joint managing director of Cocoon Childcare, which runs 15 centres in the Leinster area. “If children aren’t properly fed and nourished, then their opportunity to learn, grow and enjoy themselves is impeded.”

Cocoon’s focus on nutrition “is one of our key selling points. Everything has to be fresh; processed food is a ‘no no’ and low sodium is very important.”

Parents are getting more demanding about the quality of food, confirms Maura Corbett of the National Children’s Nurseries Association (NCNA). Some creches may still serve convenience foods but they try to balance them with healthier options most of the time.

Regulations about what food should be given to under-fives in childcare are vague. They stipulate simply that pre-school services should “ensure that suitable, sufficient, nutritious and varied food is available”. However, guidelines published by the Department of Health and Children in 2004 give childcare providers – and indeed parents – a much better idea of good practice.

The majority of pre-school children are cared for by parents, extended family or childminders. Childminding Ireland says that food is one area where members need to have a “close working partnership arrangement with parents” so that if an issue arises, they can address it.

When visiting a prospective creche for their child, parents should always ask to see its nutrition policy, advises Aileen McGloin, scientific support manager with Safe Food. If it does not have one and seems unaware of the Department of Health guidelines, “alarm bells should ring”.

“I know some parents will go as far as asking to go into the kitchen to root in their cupboards,” she adds.

Safe Food is currently involved in a pilot project in the midlands to evaluate the nutritional quality of food provided in childcare settings. Initial findings suggest that standards vary.

Paediatric dietician Valerie Kelly stresses that pre-school children are a vulnerable group in terms of diet. She welcomes the fact that, this autumn, the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance is embarking on a national nutritional survey of children aged between 12 months and five years.

Parents and/or carers of 500 children will be asked to write down, and as much as possible weigh, every single item of food and drink consumed over four days (including one weekend day).

As well as analysing the nutritional value of their food intake, this project will be looking at health and lifestyle factors, what additives are going into the packaged food they are eating and the influence of marketing on children’s food choices.

Pre-school children have very high energy requirements in relation to their size, explains Kelly. “They need to eat a fair amount as they have high levels of growth. At age two, your brain is about 80 per cent of its adult size – a lot of brain growth is done early on in life, between one and two.”

That is why it is a good idea if they are given oily fish at least once a week. “There is no evidence that it will make your child smarter, but when their brain is growing so quickly it might help. It is a brain food.”

The need for iron-rich foods is also an issue; one survey found that 10 per cent of Irish toddlers were anaemic. Red meat, dark green vegetables, pulses, such as beans and lentils, and fortified breakfast cereals are all good sources of iron.

Parents can also get carried away with the healthy eating message about “five a day” and want their toddlers pumped full of fruit and veg. In fact two to four portions a day is enough, she advises, because they are low in calories and this age group needs higher energy, nutritious food such as cheese, yogurt, eggs, meat and fish.

A positive aspect of creche life is that toddlers are much more likely to eat a wide variety of food with their peers than they would eat at home, points out Kelly, who works at the Children's University Hospital, Temple Street and is co-author of Feed Your Child Well – A Handbook for Parents in Ireland.

The phenomenon of “fussy eaters” tucking into everything when they are with other children is one with which Imelda McPhilbin, manager of Naomi’s Creche in Knocknacarra, Galway, is very familiar.

“We find they are great eaters because they are eating in a group situation. It is a very social thing for them. As well as that, they know it is their dinner – and if they don’t eat it there is a risk somebody else might get near it!”

She cooks for the 50 children in full-time day care. “Nearly every day there is a parent who will say, ‘I can’t believe she’s eating lasagne’, or whatever, ‘she won’t touch it with a barge pole at home.’

“They won’t eat their parents’ chicken curry because it is not the same as the curry at the creche. This is the sort of thing they go on with but it is all part of their growing up. I do give recipes out if I need to,” McPhilbin adds. “Worst case scenario, you send a bit of spare dinner home with them!”

Parents who find a childcare provider who offers a good and varied menu are the lucky ones. The chances are their child’s diet is far more varied and nutritious than their own. At home, the tendency is to get stuck in a culinary rut – and children also learn how to press their parents’ emotional buttons at meal times.

Having to send in food for a child in full-time day care is a big burden for working parents – and can be a bit of a nightmare for creches where children are all eating different food.

“If you have a child who is coeliac and the child beside them is eating pasta – there is a downside to parents providing food,” says Corbett. It is also labour-intensive reheating all the individual meals.

Preparing food from scratch on site or serving up what has been sent in the child’s bag are the two most common scenarios in childcare settings. A third option is to buy in prepared nursery food, which needs only to be reheated.

Moon and Spoon in Warrenpoint, Co Down, is one company which supplies creches both sides of the Border with ready-to-serve food. It was set up five years ago by Tish Dorman and Donna Devlin, who brought their business and catering backgrounds, respectively, to something they passionately believe in as mothers of young children.

“I was always quite neurotic about what went into food,” says Dorman. “I would be scanning labels. Donna was more into taste.

“When children eat a lot of processed food, they won’t touch real food – they don’t even know what real food should look like some of the time. It is frightening.”

The business idea was born out of a conversation about what their children would be eating as they got older. When there was so much going on in nurseries, how were they supposed to provide a really healthy lunch for children as well?

“Even having a chef on your premises, how is that chef going to know what salt intake he is bringing to those children?” Dorman asks.

Every recipe devised by chef Neil McFadden (who cooked for the Beckham’s 1999 wedding in Dublin) for Moon and Spoon is nutritionally assessed. The finished dish is not only sent to a lab for salt analysis but is also trialled for taste among children.

Only when it is cleared as coming well under the recommended salt guidelines – as well as getting the little thumbs up – will it be included in the three-week rolling menu.

All the food is prepared fresh in Monaghan and then blast-frozen to preserve it. “It is a good way of locking in the nutritional value for children,” says Dorman.

The food, packaged in five or 10-portion trays, is delivered once a week to creche; chest freezers for storage are usually provided by Moon and Spoon. The advantages for nurseries are that this process has fixed costs, and parents can know precisely what their children are eating.

Quality of the food aside, all creches are encouraged by the NCNA to help children to see food as a “social opportunity and not just refuelling”. Childcare workers should sit and, preferably, eat with the children, says Corbett.

“We recognise that staff might not like to have pasta at 11 o’clock in the morning, but it is very important that they at least sit with the children and are not standing over them.”

With kitchens having to be off-limits for safety reasons, it can be difficult in creches to give children meaningful “hands on” experience of preparing food. The Park Academy’s Bray centre in Co Wicklow has a “Sticky Fingers” cookery room where they can muck in with the chef – and children are bussed in from its other centres to enjoy this facility too.

Undoubtedly, these children are a generation of foodies in the making. And, as one parent jokes, if you know they are getting five-star food all week, you don’t have to feel guilty about bringing them to the fast food joint at the weekend.

For more information, see the Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Pre-school Services on the publications section of dohc.ie

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: WHAT PARENTS NEED TRO ASK

Does the creche provide food or are parents expected to supply meals for reheating?

Unless you are a control freak or your child has unusual dietary requirements, having to send in food every day is something to be avoided if possible – provided you are happy with what is on offer.

Does the creche have a nutritional policy?

Even if parents are supplying food, the creche should have a written policy on what is acceptable and in keeping with healthy eating.

Does the creche adhere to the guidelines on pre-school food and nutrition, published by the Department of Health and Children?

These are not compulsory but a childcare provider should be observing them.

Can I see the kitchen?

It is good idea to check that it appears clean and there is a hygienic system for storing and preparing food. Creches are subject to inspection as a food premises.

Can I see a sample menu?

Nutritionally-balanced meals and plenty of variety are the things to look out for.

What is the schedule for snacks and meals?

Regular mealtimes are essential. Any child in full day care (more than five hours) should be offered at least two meals and two snacks – one of those meals should be hot.

What drinks are available?

Water and milk are the most tooth-friendly drinks to have between meals. Diluted fruit juice is best served with food.

Do staff eat with the children?

Ideally, creche workers should sit and eat with the children, as this helps to foster the social dimension of meals. While staff cannot be forced to eat the same food, they certainly should sit at the table with the children, rather than standing over them.

Are children involved in getting ready for meals?

For safety reasons, the main kitchen should be off-limits to children, but they can be encouraged to help with things like laying the table in their rooms. Being able to serve themselves is desirable.

Do they get any “hands on” experience of food preparation?

Cooking is a life skill that children should be introduced to as early as possible. Simple food activities, such as helping to assemble home-made pizzas or fresh fruit salad, should be facilitated.