Shaping Your Child's Taste Buds
There are theories that babies experience everything that the mother experiences during pregnancy whether it is stress, food or emotions. As a nurse I have seen newborn babies suffer from withdrawals if the mother was using drugs during pregnancy so I wanted to research on this topic about taste.
According to an article titled Prenatal and Postnatal flavor learning by human infants which described the carrot juice experiment where babies whose mom consumed carrot juice while pregnant or breastfeeding enjoyed cereal made with carrot juice, while babies whose mom drank only water during pregnancy did not. The reason for this is that flavors from the mother’s diet are transmitted to the amniotic fluid which is then swallowed by the baby. Also the scent of the amniotic fluid also helps the baby get used to the smell of food such as garlic since this is the fluid that surrounds the baby while in the womb.
So for my pregnant moms, this is something to consider while pregnant. To shape your child’s eating habits, start from when you are pregnant to shape the taste. Eat more vegetables, fruits, healthy carbs and fats.
Have you heard of this theory before? Did you have such an experience with your own children?
Resources
U.S National Library of Medicine, National Institute of health
Baby’s Palate and food memories
www.npr.org