Breastmilk gourmets - Your baby can taste what you eat
Categories: Just for moms, Babies, Eating & nutrition, Mealtime
A recent study showed that what a mother eats influences the taste of her breastmilk, as much as eight hours afterwards. Licorice and caraway seeds showed up in the breastmilk most strongly after two hours while mint was most noticeable six hours after being eaten. Bananas never actually seemed to show up at all in the breastmilk.Scientists see this as an important clue in figuring out why some people like some foods and others don't. It may be important for mothers to eat a wide variety of foods in order to avoid having a picky eater once the child moves to solid food. "Parents should be mindful so they can expose the baby to a variety of foods," says Nicolas Stettler, assistant professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "You know how it's always a struggle with young children to eat new food."
Personally, I see this as vindication of my own position -- that mothers should eat the foods they normally eat even while breastfeeding. In fact, it may be important. "That's why we have always thought that babies have preferred cuisines of their culture," notes Miriam Labbok, director of the Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I've always argued that women in countries where spicy foods are the norm don't suddenly stop eating what they've always eaten.
Furthermore, if the taste of breastmilk affects a child's tastes in food later, it seems to me that it's very important to eat a wide variety of foods while breastfeeding if you want to have any hope of eating different foods once the kid starts eating solids. So go ahead and go for Indian curry and have that burrito! It's for the kid's sake!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
javajill 7-28-2008 @ 3:38PM
If this article is true, why do all three of my children, who were all breast fed exclusively until 1 have totally different pallets? I think to say that the childs preferences will be affected by the taste of breast milk is ridiculous. Of couse you can taste different foods in the milk. Doesn't mean that the baby will love it all. Just his Mom.
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Jenni 7-28-2008 @ 3:42PM
They needed a study to tell us this? How do they think breast milk is made? How many mothers have learned that if they eat one particular food and later breast feed their child would get a stomach ache? Why do you think that we don't want nursing mothers to drink alcohol or take certain medications?
Although, it is cool to see how long things can be traced, I hope this wasn't a tax payer funded study.
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Paula 7-28-2008 @ 3:44PM
I want to know who actually looks and sits like this while they breastfeed.
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the goddess anna 7-28-2008 @ 3:48PM
Lucy Lawless is the only one who can pull it off! It looks uncomfortable, doesn't it though.
My three kids, who were formula-fed, have a varied palate. I made sure to feed them different foods than what I normally eat, because I'm a picky eater. I tend to believe that truly picky eaters are born, not made. Every child goes through a period where they only want one or two foods - they're just being stubborn, not picky.
Carrie 7-28-2008 @ 3:49PM
"How many mothers have learned that if they eat one particular food and later breast feed their child would get a stomach ache?"
Actually, this is rarely the case. Unless a child has severe food allergy. Most of the things that are attributed to stomachache in the baby (carbonation and cruciferous veggies) cannot even get into the milk in the first place.
Think about it. Breastmilk is made from nutrients in the BLOOD (this is why alcohol and drugs are a concern, not because they're in the stomach of the mom). Since carbonation and indigestible carbs (the stuff that gives MOM gas when she eats beans) cannot get into the BLOOD, they cannot get into the MILK.
While carbonated or fibrous milk would be fun, it just ain't happening. A little science and logic to dispel these old wive's tales about breastfeeding, shall we?
Babies have stomachaches for a million reasons but what the nursing mom ate is rarely the case.
Another silly notion is that spicy foods cause baby pain. If that were so, the Chilean/Thai/Latino/African etc babies whose mommies eat spicy diets would be so miserable. ;)
Instead, they love it. At least one study showed that babies exposed to garlicky flavors via breastmilk sucked longer and harder than plain ole milk.
Viva la breastmilk!
http://www.SexyNursingBra.com
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