Nutrition

Abstract

The nutritional history is a tool for gathering information about a child’s food consumption and eating behaviors. (The history is most often secured during the initial interview.) Components of the nutritional history include information about diet from birth to the present, history of family and social situation, and a summary of the child’s nutritional status.

Patty Reid is a registered dietitian at The Children’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado. We have worked together on many of the cases described in this book. I have asked her to share information directly relating to food-refusal children, as well as offering her views on how to “punch up” foods and provide good nutrition for young children. She is married and is expecting her first child. In Patty’s own words, “Nutritional assessment and management are essential components in the care of a food-refusing child. The registered dietitian works with the other members of an interdisciplinary team to provide optimal nutritional care. The beginning of this chapter will discuss the nutritional needs of the food refuser. In the second portion of the chapter, practical information used to develop the nutritional care plan will be highlighted.”