According to new research from the Monell Center, if you’re breast feeding, you can provide baby with a good start by eating them yourself.

And, offer your baby plenty of opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables as s/he makes the transition to solid foods by giving repeated feeding exposures to these healthy foods — regardless of whether you’re breast feeding or using formula…

The results revealed that breast-feeding confers an advantage for baby’s acceptance of foods during weaning — but only if the mother regularly eats those foods…

“It’s a beautiful system,” says Mennella. “Flavors from the mother’s diet are transmitted through amniotic fluid and mother’s milk. So, a baby learns to like a food’s taste when the mother eats that food on a regular basis.”

“Babies are born with a dislike for bitter tastes,” explains Mennella. “If mothers want their babies to learn to like to eat vegetables, especially green vegetables, they need to provide them with opportunities to taste these foods.”

The researchers also found that babies’ facial expressions did not always match their willingness to continue feeding, noting that infants innately display facial expressions of distaste to certain flavors.

They urge caregivers to provide their infants with repeated opportunities to taste fruits and vegetables, focusing on the infant’s willingness to eat the food instead of on their negative facial expressions during eating…

Source: EurekAlert, DC
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/mcsc-hth112707.php