Want to Avoid a Fussy Eater? Eat Up Your Fruit and Veg Early On

It makes perfect sense to eat well during pregnancy, which includes ensuring a good intake of fruit and veg; indeed many expectant mothers take steps to improve their diet if they had not already done so. However, new research from the United States, suggests there is yet another reason to eat healthily while pregnant; eating more fruit and vegetables appears to increase children's acceptance of these on weaning.

In the study conducted at the Monell Center in Philadelphia, which involved 46 babies, those whose mothers drank carrot juice a number of times each week during pregnancy ate almost twice as much when offered carrot-flavoured cereal. Another study carried out there showed that breastfed infants ate more peach when offered this than those who were fed formula milk, which may relate to the fact that the mothers who breastfed also ate more fruit. It has been suggested that flavours from what the mother eats are transmitted through the placenta and via breast milk. In the peach study, green beans were also offered to infants, but both breastfed and bottle fed infants were reluctant to take these, possibly due to the fact that neither sets of mothers ate these frequently in their diet. However, repeated exposure to these over an 8 day period increased their consumption in both groups of babies.

This suggests that it is only those foods that babies are exposed to during their time in the womb or through breastfeeding for which an advantage is conferred, but that when provided with the opportunity to try them frequently during weaning their acceptance to them is increased. Green vegetables are particularly unpopular amongst infants and young children due to their bitter taste, so providing plenty of chances to try these is especially important.
The take home message to prevent fussy eating in your children is to eat a varied diet during pregnancy and breastfeed if you can; whether breastfed or bottle fed, introduce a range of foods early during weaning. However, remember that current guidelines advise weaning should ideally start at 6 months of age and definitely shouldn't begin till 17 weeks; some foods should also be avoided initially due to the risk of allergies or safety issues. Further advice on weaning can be found here.

Photo by CDC/James Gathanyvia Wikimedia Commons