Infant Food Preferences

Babies’ taste preferences are influenced even before birth.  Flavors in their mums’ diets such as garlic, curry, anise, banana and vanilla are carried into the placenta and through to the amniotic fluid so babies are exposed to various flavors while still in the womb.

Similarly, flavors in the diet of breastfeeding mums find their way into their breast milk. These flavors influence babies’ future food preferences As a result of this early exposure to a variety of tastes, breastfed infants tend to adapt quicker to new foods than formula-fed infants – and are later more likely to prefer some of the flavors already experienced during breastfeeding.