Literal question
During(name's)illness,did he/she eat less,about the same,or more food than usual?
Interviewer instructions
During an episode of diarrhoea or other illness a child may change the amount usually
eaten. The focus in this question is on how much food was actually consumed by the child.
Ask the question just as it is worded here. Read out the entire question and circle the code
corresponding to the caretaker's response. Get the caretaker's best judgment of the
relative amount of total food actually consumed by the child. Try to find out what actually
happened, not what the caretaker thinks ought to have happened. An answer such as, "A
child with diarrhoea (or "a child who is ill") needs more food" is not satisfactory. You would
need to ask, "But how much did your child actually eat during this diarrhoea?"
If the caretaker replies that the child took only fluids (e.g. did not "eat"), circle '1' for 'None'.
If the caretaker's answer is "less than usual," probe by asking "much less or a little less?"
to find out if she/he thinks the amount was "much less" or "somewhat less". Then circle the
appropriate code. If the mother/primary caretaker offered more food than usual, but the
child ate much less, the answer is "much less"; circle '2'.
Make sure that the respondent understands that this includes breast milk, if the child is still
being breastfed. If the child is very young and the caretaker replies that he/she takes only
fluids or breast milk (i.e. has not started 'eating' yet), there is no need to probe, since
'drinking' and 'eating' count as the same for this child. Circle the answer for this question
(eating) that comes closes to the answer you circle for CA3 (drinking).
