Pregnant Mother's Diet May Shape Child's Food Preferences: Real Moms Weigh In
By Maris Callahan for DietsInReview.com
Not only is it important to be mindful of nutrition during pregnancy to help nourish your baby, but according to an article on NPR, what a woman eats during a healthy pregnancy may shape his or her food preferences later in life.
"Things like vanilla, carrot, garlic, anise, mint - these are some of the flavors that have been shown to be transmitted to amniotic fluid or mother's milk," Julie Mennella, who studies taste in infants at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, told NPR.
Additionally, babies whose mothers ate a lot of a certain type of food while pregnant were said to be less likely to reject that food when fed it as an infant. "This makes a lot of evolutionary sense," says Mennella. "Since mothers tend to feed their children what they eat themselves, it is nature's way of introducing babies to the foods and flavors that they are likely to encounter in their family and their culture."
However, the jury is still out for most moms on whether or not their eating habits during pregnancy affected their babies' diets. "I was that stereotypical pickle-eating mom during my pregnancies," said Sarah Caron, a food writer and mother of two. "My son and daughter both adore pickles and anything that is pickled." At the same time, her children also developed very individual palates as their tastes grew and changed. "My son loves foods that I had clear and definitive aversions to during pregnancy, such as lobster," said Caron.
For many moms, a positive attitude towards new foods is the best way to help shape their young child's palate. "[My daughter] will generally eat anything we offer her," said Farrah Rubenstein, mother of an 18-month old. "We find she is most willing to try things we are also eating at the same time and is especially excited if it's something she can feed herself." Rubenstein said that she has never noticed a correlation between her daughter's tastes and the food she ate when pregnant. "I ate a lot of junk food when I was pregnant and [my husband and I] generally try to give our daughter healthy food," said Rubenstein. "We always fed her based on what was easy to make, and as she moved beyond purees, we fed her what we were having. Since we eat grilled chicken or curry chicken and not chicken fingers, that was what she got from the start."
Megan Carroll, a stay-at-home mom of two, believes that biology is only responsible for kids' tastes to a certain extent. "Young children trust the foods that we give them," Carroll said. "It is when they start gaining independence and are able to discern for themselves that they stop eating what we give them."
While biology may play a part in the development of babies' palates, many experts agree that the best way to encourage healthy eating habits is to lead by example. "The best way [to encourage your child to eat the veggies] is to eat them together," said Katie Thomson, a mother and registered dietitian. "Eat right off their plates!"
Learn More:
My Two-Year-Old Eats Octopus Teaches Balanced Eating for Kids
Sneaking Vegetables in to Food Cheats Kids
Jillian Michaels' 5 Nutrition Tips for Pregnant Women
