Paediatric Food Diary
Date issued: July 2022
Review date: July 2024
Ref: C-256/Dietetics/MM/Food diary v8
PDF: Paediatric food diary final July 2022 v8.pdf [pdf] 197KB
To help us to calculate the nutrients in your child’s diet it is important that we know exactly what he/she eats over 3 days.
Please use this diary to record everything he/she eats and drinks for 3 days including 1 weekend day.
Try to record as you go along while the information is still fresh in your mind. If you leave it until the end of the day it is easy to forget things.
Please do not change what is normally eaten just because you are filling in a diary.
Do not forget snacks, sweets and drinks.
Describing foods and measuring portion sizes
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Try to give as accurate a description as possible, e.g. a sandwich is 3 foods (bread, filling and butter or spread).
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Spoons: indicate whether tea, dessert or table spoons, and level, rounded or heaped.
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Bread: what type of bread and how thick were the slices?
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Butter or margarine: was it spread thickly, medium or thinly?
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Describe meat, fish and cheese as well as you can, e.g.
- 2 large thin slices ham
- 2 small lamb chops (no fat eaten)
- small fillet of cod grilled
- cube of cheddar cheese the size of a matchbox.
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Vegetables, cereals, puddings etc. can be measured in tablespoons.
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For dishes prepared at home please give a recipe and state the proportion eaten.
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How was the food prepared? e.g. fried (with fat or oil), boiled, casseroled, roasted or grilled.
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Remember to look at labels and wrappers. Write down the brand name, weights and proportions eaten, e.g. ½ a 450g tin Del Monte pears in syrup.
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State whether drinks are in bottles, beakers, glasses, mugs or cups and measure the volume e.g. 240ml mug of tea with semi-skimmed milk (no sugar), or 8 fl.oz. of infant formula.
For dry powdered baby foods, state how many tablespoons or teaspoons were eaten. Write down the brand, the name of the food and whether this is dry or the made up amount. For jars, state how much was eaten, the brand and the name of the food,
e.g. ½ a 125g jar of cow & Gate Tasty Pumpkin & Chicken (from 4-6 months).
GENERAL QUESTIONS (please tick the appropriate box)
Which type of milk does your child normally have?
Full cream Skimmed
Semi-skimmed Other
Please specify …………………………………...…..
How much milk does your child usually consume in one day?
Over 1 pint ¼ pint
½ - 1 pint None
Please specify.…………………………….…………
What type of bread does your child normally eat?
White Granary
Wholemeal/brown Other
Please specify …………………………………….…
What kind of fat is used on bread/toast?
Butter Margarine
Low fat spread None
Which brand do you normally use? ……………………………………………………..…...
Is salt added?
in cooking?
at the table?
Is sugar taken in drinks?
Yes No
____ teaspoons in tea
____ teaspoons in coffee
Does your child take any special dietary products or vitamin supplements?
Yes No
If yes, please specify…………………….………….
EXAMPLE PAGE
DAY: MONDAY DATE: 23rd March
|
Time |
Portion size/quantity |
Details of foods and drink |
|
8am
12pm
|
1/3 glass (100ml) 2 biscuits 1 medium slice from large loaf + medium spread
1 glass (250ml)
2 small thick slices thin spread 1 cube, size of matchbox 1 medium
1 x 125g carton 1 medium 1 glass |
pure orange juice Weetabix® wholemeal bread
margarine (Vitalite®)
No added sugar orange squash
wholemeal bread salted butter cheddar cheese
tomato
Tesco low fat fruit yoghurt apple squash (as above)
|
DAY: MONDAY DATE: 23rd March
|
Time |
Portion size/quantity |
Details of food and drink |
|
4pm
6pm
|
200ml 2 finger bar
beef stew recipe: 1lb stewing beef 1 large onion ½lb carrots 1 tablespoon veg oil
¼ recipe 1 large
3 tablespoons ¼ 425g tin
1 cup
1 teaspoon
|
Semi skimmed milk Kit Kat®
beef stew baked jacket potato including skin frozen peas Ambrosia® low fat rice pudding
Options Highlights® made with water
sugar
|
