FIRST FOODS SHAPE OUR TASTES FOR LIFE - discuss!

[suedonim]

Anyone else see this item about first foods ? I thought the breastfeeding snippet was quite interesting, too.

This one is even more interesting.

Thing is I like a wide range of tastes and didn't particularly modify my diet when pregnant or breastfeeding. So why do I have 3 of the faddiest eaters in England??? Or does it mean that they will like these tastes, but only when they are older and have stopped faffing around?

I only went off mushrooms last tmie and they (and olives - but I think they are an accquired taste) are the only thing DD will not eat!!

She also loves crunching ice and eating ice lollies both of which I did throughout my pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding her!!

My first time and I've laughed! Maybe its me (I do hear my mother in my head) all the dd's eat what we do or they starve, (mashed up for baby). Yes they can get faddy, but persevere and they will eventually give in

My mum ate loads of eggs, mushrooms, beans and raw tomatoes when pg with me and I hate of all them!

I ate loads of fatty food when pregnant with dd2. (I was like side of bus) She does have the taste for it I must admit, but I am perservering with the sprouts

Freckle-infuriating isnt it! I love vegetables esp broccoli, even brussels, and eat loads. Do my 3 breastfed children eat vegetables-hmph!!!!!. My eldest, who was breastfed for longest, is the pickiest eater you could imagine, yet my breastmilk must have smelt of garlic!

both my kids eat anything except eggs (one allergic but she likes them one hates them)
usual no nos like mushrooms for older one and sprouts although he does eat a little now..
I breastfed and offered a really wide variety after I weaned them at 6-7 mths.
Coincidence or not I don;t care am just pleased LOL

I ate what I fancied throughout my pregnancy and whilst bf and a healthy and balanced diet (well most of the time, noone can be perfect) my dd (22months) will eat almost anything too. When I weaned her I added herbs and garlic in the further stages and she now seems to enjoy flavours. She will eat the odd bit of curry or spicy food from our plates and I'm glad because I think life is much more interesting with all the different foods we have available to us these days.

But I was bottle fed and weaned on dry packet mix food (mum thought they were more sterile then "real food" I would imagine to be very bland. And I love flavours in food. As a teenager I took over cooking in our house as my mum always cooked such boring food with no taste.

So I suppose part of it is genetic and part of it is our basic character. I'm a strong believer in "we are what we are, no matter what"

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Must admit when my babies were introduced to solids they ate everything. For the first couple of years they were very good eaters. However, once they got older, they all developed different likes and dislikes. I don't think the studies went on for long enough really to see if it continued.

I agree with mears. At first they eat most things then they have likes and dislikes just like us. The studies don't go for long enough. We do tend to give babies and toddlers bland food. My dad made me rethink my attitude when he gave my eldest stilton cheese, salami sausage and olives from about 2. At 10 she is a very adventurous eater.

My DS was a fantastic eater up to 14 months. He ate everything. We never gave him bland food and he had a huge variety of flavours in his diet ( DH is a chef , didnt want a fussy eater so followed all the advice) Now Ds 2.2 is now incredibly fussy and faddy will hardlly eat any thing. prefers plain pasta ( no sauce) rice, chips , sausages. He wont eat any vegetables at all. Thankfully he will eat fruit at times.
I admit we give in to his whims now, otherwise he would refuse to eat at all.
Hopefully he will grow out of it.

Afraid to say the study's baloney as far as me and dd are concerned. I ate incredibly healthily when pregnant and b/f and then went on to eat just as healthily in front of her while she was weaning. She eats nothing except pasta, chocolate buttons, potato waffles, broccoli and soya yoghurts. I mean literally nothing except those things, no bread, fruit or other vegetables. So dp and I sit down with our healthy tea and she nibbles her pasta and have all sort of got used to it. It does make me slightly mad though when people say that what their kids eat is down to the parents influence.

But I am a believer in kids being clever and managing to con their parents into thinking they won't eat anything else. If you don't give them too many snacks in between meals and don't panda to their wims. Then they WILL eat if they are hungry. It's all a mind game. Put the plate there, don't argue with them, and let them know you are not interested if they don't want it then fine. But offer no other choices. Let the power of silence say it all! Hunger will soon win over. I couldn't let my child get away with faddy eating as I see it as them winning the battle. That would anger me too much.

I'm with Evita. More anecdotal evidence: My brother and I were both bottlefed then weaned on the same beechnut jars. I will eat anything, and am especially partial to nutritious foods. My brother is picky & favors junk over anything else. Go figure.

samwifewithkid, I can only imagine you've never had to deal with a really fussy eater for you to say that! My dd's lost loads of weight when I've just 'left her to it' like that. That argument that 'they'll eat if they're hungry' just hasn't applied to us. We haven't been pushovers or anything like that and we never make an issue of her not eating something. The fact is that if I serve her up a portion of pasta and brocolli she eats it and if I give her something else she doesn't and goes to bed with an empty stomach and loses weight. I don't believe that kids 'con' us before they're a certain age (dd's 18 months) and I don't think they'd con at the expense of real hunger.

Samwifewithkid- surely parenthood isnt about battles and anger if they win?

I guess that's what I was trying to say hercules. I truly don't think my dd is just 'playing games with me' she seems genuinly turned off by certain foods and textures as though they 'nauseate' her. It seems to be a learning process with her. It took weeks of serving her up broccoli before she'd attempt to put it in her mouth. I don't think that was manipulation just that she's cautious about what she eats and I can either respond to that or turn a blind eye.

I'm not sure about the rest of you but I'm not a huge fan of having all my food mashed up together in one smooth blend. I drank milk as a kid, hate it now, and I don't remember Chardonnay being big with me when I was 6 months old

I mean, how many of us had curry, French cusine or anything special when we were a kid ? I'm sure its another one of those things where the basic conclusion is "Some kids do... Some kids don't".

Anyway this was my first post and now my two year old is claiming she needs the loo... again!

Not manipulation I'm sure just a fussy eater as so many kids are.

Yes, that's what I think. Some kids and adults will try anything, others are more conservative and need more time.

I adore fruit & would eat any sort all the time. My youngest can't bear fruit & won't touch it.

Having said that, my mum only likes a limited range of vegetables & only gave us carrots, peas, cauliflower and sprouts as kids & I struggle now to manage anything more "exotic".

My key word here was kids, I didn't mean toddlers. Sorry if this was mis understood Evita. But I still stand by my original point about kids testing out the boundaries with EVERYTHING this includes food.

and no Hercules parenthood is not about battles and anger, the power of silence is a much better way of doing things like I said.