The Flavor Window
How baby’s first food experiences can influence future diet preferences and food acceptance
There’s a famous adage about babies and food:
“Food before 1 is just for fun”. The idea is that under 1, milk is the foundation of their diet while solid food is supposed to be more for fun, exposure and experimentation.
It’s the diet equivalent of “getting your toes wet before diving in”.
While food before 1 should be fun, it is also an opportunity to shape baby’s palate for years to come.
The more foods you can expose them to at a very young age the more likely they are to accept new and varied foods down the road.
In children, there is something referred to as the “flavor window”. This is when children are more likely to accept new foods than they will later on. The flavor window is believed to be between about 4-18 months of life.
A 2014 study showed that the strongest period of the flavor window is about 4-7 months when most babies are just starting to try their first foods.
Once that flavor window closes, your little one may be more set in their ways and resistant to new foods.
Foods that were slurped down happily before might start to be consistently refused.
One fascinating study showed that the percentage of kids that were identified as picky eaters by their parents increased from 19% to 50% from 4 to 24 months old.
Tasting begins even before baby starts eating:
Baby’s taste starts being shaped even before their first bite of solid foods. Taste buds form as early as 7 weeks gestation and are thought to be fully formed by around 15 weeks gestation.
What this means is that baby can taste while they are still in utero. Studies have shown that the taste of foods that mama is eating while pregnant make their way into the amniotic fluids allowing baby to get used to certain flavors even before birth.
A classic study showed that mamas who consumed carrot juice often during the late stages of their pregnancy had children that were more likely to accept the flavor of carrot when starting solids.
The implications of this are interesting:
Eat a diet full of fruits and vegetables and that is what baby starts getting used to. Eat a diet full of processed food and this is also what baby gets used to? (This by the way is not helpful information to share with a pregnant mom experiencing morning sickness who is only able to tolerate saltines and ginger ale!)
The same thing happens with breast milk. Research has found flavors such as garlic, vanilla, banana, anise and menthol in breast milk within hours of being consumed by the mother.
Fascinatingly one study found that babies nursed longer when the breast milk was garlic laced.
It’s also been shown that babies exposed to frequent carrot flavored breast milk were more likely to accept carrot flavored foods when starting solids.
How to use the flavor window to your advantage:
During the first months of eating, expose a baby to a large variety of foods and flavors. Try to introduce as many kinds of foods as you can before baby becomes more discerning and might turn some of those flavors down.
I tried to incorporate a lot of herbs and spices into my baby’s first foods so that they could become accustomed to all sorts of strong flavors.
Other than salt, I wouldn’t cut back on spices when I was preparing their food. On the contrary, I was always trying to think of an herb to mix into plain foods to add more flavor.
I could expose them to the flavor of cumin at the same time they were eating black beans or to garlic when they were eating broccoli.
Looking for more guidance?
There are some great tools to help parents introduce a large variety of foods early on. Consider using a Food Introduction Chart or 100 Before 1 table to help you track progress.
Food Introduction Charts:
These are filled with age appropriate foods for baby to try. There are ones for babies starting with purees or doing baby led weaning. Many are designed so that you can track your progress on a print out as you go.
100 Before 1:
This is a movement where parents work to introduce 100 foods to baby before their first birthday. (Many families celebrate reaching this goal by having the 100th food be a smash cake on baby’s birthday.)
Both of these options offer a systematic way that her child was trying all sorts of foods and flavors at a young age.
I love them and wish I had know about these options when I first started feeding my boys.
The first time I saw a Food Introduction Chart, I realized that Ramsey had never tried pear, kiwi or cottage cheese simply because these were not items we kept at home.
These resources can help push parents out of our own narrowed food preferences.
Here’s a sample Food Introduction Chart available for download on Etsy.
Does it seem like your kid has already aged out of the “flavor window”?
Do not despair. Older kids may not eagerly accept new foods but exposure is a great way to expand their palate. I have a whole blog post on this here!