Link between eating habits in Pregnancy and baby's attitude to food..opinions appreciated

[lubella]

Do any other Mums out there feel there is a corelation between their appetite/ extent of diet / amount of food consumed whist PG and the eating habits of their child(ren?).

If perhaps with one child you ate a different type of food (ie. spicy) and the desire for this kind of food in the child is distinct from the others? Or if you were off food throughout your PG and have a child who has less of an appetite?
I am both PG and working towards a nutition qualification and so far the response I have had from mums is proving really interesting - would love to hear what everyones views are...

Ta Muchly
x

[NotQuiteCockney]

Hmmm, I've certainly noticed a bit of a correlation, personally. When I was pregnant with DS2, I wanted mustard, spicy things and vinegar. He's two now, and will just dip his fingers in mustard and lick them clean. He also likes spicy food, and vinegary things.

[fridascruffs]

well now you mention it, with the first (DS) i had less nausea and could drink alcohol (OK I know I shouldn't have, I still worry) and I ate loads; with DD I was much more nauseous and unablet o eat certain things, and she's a less hearty eater than DS was. See what others say.

[justaphase]

I craved healthy food when I was pg and had lots of fruit and raw veg. Meat made me sick.

Ds is a pretty good eater. He will eat unlimited amount of fruit. He is not much into meat.

[Elibean]

Hmm. Cynic here.

With dd1 I loved curry, and chocolate. She certainly adores chocolate, but hates spicy food...though she will eat mustard sandwiches (yuk, I know) and whole lemon slices given half the chance. She's nearly 3.

Too early to tell with dd2, who is 2 weeks old today

[Elibean]

Oh, and dd1 loves raw veggies - eats tons of them. I certainly didn't whlist pregnant, thought I did whilst pg with dd2 - time will tell!

[MKGnearlyimmaculateconception]

I ate everything and ds eats everything.

[lulumama]

i had a craving for garden peas when pregnant with DS..he adores peas !! i mean, he would eat a plateful for dinner!!

with DD , i craved strawberry hubba bubba , so won't be finding out for many years if she likes it

i ate well in both my pregnancies as was very sick, so was quite careful to eat good food...although i did have junk too!! but ate well on the whole....so far, both of them will eat anything !!! except v.spicy and both love fruit & veg exp. broccoli!

[cori]

mmm with DS i went off all foods with any spice etc and ate really plainly. DS is quite fussy with food and doesnt like anything to much flavour. Actually vegetables made me feel ill as well and it has been a struggle to get DS to eat them. I also craved fruit and DS is fine with that. On the other hand i craved coca cola and drank loads of it as it was only thing that didnt give me heart burn. DS doesnt drink anything fizzy.

[ProfYaffle]

Hmmm, well with dd I didn't have any real cravings but did develop a sweet tooth (am normally a savoury person) but dd seems to be taking after my normal savoury preferences, eg she won't eat cakes or biscuits but loves olives, blue cheese and lemons. (she's 2.5 btw)

Am pregnant again and having the sweet tooth thing again so time will tell what dd2 prefers!

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, yeah, when I was pregnant with DS1, I was really really fussy, and couldn't stand any meat or fish except for salmon. DS1 isn't very fussy, and does eat meat.

[poppiesinalinewithtinsel]

no link ime. I was pretty much the same through all 3 pregnancies and they all eat and like completely different things.

[blueshoes]

I ate everything in pregnancy. dd eats practically nothing.

[SenoraPostrophe]

no correlation between children's eating habits and anything imo (except possibly for those weird kids who only eat chips). dd will eat anything except spicy food. ds will not eat much, but will eat spicy meat.

[SenoraPostrophe]

(meant to say that I ate the same in all 3 pregnancies, give or take a few litres of pop). ds2 only eats milk.

[CranberryJelley]

No link.
I'm vegetarian, one of my dds loves meat.
I ate tons of potatoes when pg with dd1. They are one of her least favourite foods.
I did not have a craving for citrus. Both dds happily eat raw lemons.

[lubella]

Wow thanks for all your quick responses - in theory there should be a link, esp in choosing spicy/savory over sweet etc. but it seems like opinion is v mixed...


Oh and congrats Elibean! - I have spoken with you from the Dec ante natal

[alison222]

I ate reasonably normally through both pregnancies. DS is very fussy and DD will eat practically anything.
Also they were both BF and they say that B milk tastes different depending on what youy were eating. As DS has food allergies I was told to avoid all those allergens while feeding DD just in case. She loves all those things I avoided.

I would say therefore in my case I don't think there is a link.

[airy]

I ate anything and everything when I was pregnant and dd is not at all fussy will eat pretty much anything you give her. Interestingly the few things I can't stand she doesn't like either after having tried them, mushrooms is one that springs to mind.
I can quite confidently say that if I don't like it there's not much chance she will either

[juuule]

IME not any link that I can see. My diet has been pretty much the same during all my pregnancies. My children's appetites and tastes have ranged from very faddy to eating anything.

[NAB3]

I definitely think there is. I lived on grilled tomatoes on toast when pregnant with DS1 and he adores tomatoes. I ate really well, no rubbish and no sweets until the last month, and he is a dream to feed. With DD I felt sick all the time so had loads of pasta, biscuits, toast and crisps. DD is better now but in the beginning was really fussy about what she ate. Can't remember what I did with DS2 but he is more fussy than his older brother though he did eat pilchards and mango for the first time this week. BTW DS1 says he can remember me eating tomatoes when he was in me!!!

[Troutpout]

mmm just to be awkward, my experience is completely the opposite. I loved pears when i was pg with ds... gorged on them...it is the only fruit he isn't keen on. With dd it was apples ...and she isn't keen on them....but likes most other fruit

[bubbles4]

i had a thing about pomegranates with ds3 and he adores them,onlt thing is he makes me gat all the fleshy pips out for him,lazy little toe rag!

[USAUKMum]

lubella --

no real correlation between my diet between pg and what DD & DS eat. However, my DD does seem to have exactly the same tasts as DH, while DS follows my tastes. We believe DD & DH to be supertasters. It was v. funny during weaning of DD as after the first month or so, I would take to giving DH a taste first. And if he didn't like it -- DD also wouldn't touch it (I did give it to DH out of sight of DD so she couldn't see his reaction )

[whenevilgotstuckupthechimney]

had HG during pregnancy and ate lots of nothing! now doing BLW with dd who eats everything!
though as soon as she was out all nausea vanished totally and i eat (in my opinion!) a varied and healthy diet, so perhaps being fully bf helped dd's palate?
an interesting thread!

[Bienchen]

Lubella - I think it's more to do with what you offer them from six months on. DS was eating more or less what we all had by one year and he is and has always been a brilliant eater with just a few dislikes. I put it down to the varied diet he had rather than to what I was consuming during pregnancy.