The Complete Taste Guide For Your Child; From Birth Till Turning 2

Understanding the tastes, textures and food preferences of infants and young children is very important for any parent as it influences their preferences right into adulthood. Newborns at birth recognize the known faces, sounds, smells and tastes; he/she recognizes the taste and smell of milk and the taste and smell of foods at 4 months. By the age of 2 years the baby would have been exposed to and accepted a variety of foods.

Newborns have a preference for the sweet taste, with other tastes learnt by experience. They recognize tastes and smell that they have experienced in the womb and have a few taste preferences right from the womb. Also some infants acquire a strong dislike for the bitter taste and certain food textures, with some disliking the bitter aftertaste of vegetables.

It is good to understand that infants cultivate the preference for some strong tastes like garlic by the food taken by their breastfeeding mother. It is best to introduce complementary foods with strong and wide range of tastes especially vegetables between the ages of 4 to 6 months; this helps their easy acceptance by them.

By the age of 6 to 12 months infants start accepting more solid textures as they are able to move the food to the back of their mouth and swallow it; the infant may gag on lumps initially as they learn to deal with the foods appropriately. It would now be best to understand the texture of food that should be given to babies.

Between the ages of 4 to 6 months it is best to give a baby pureed and mashed food as the baby can easily cope with it. By 6 months you could introduce lumpy solid foods mashed with small lumps. At 8 months the baby learns to chew and could easily cope with mash and harder lumpy solids. However it is best to note that complementary food of soft lumpy texture could be introduced at 6 months as this could eliminate rejection of food and a poor acceptance of a varied diet later on.  

Most babies would be able to make food choices by the time he/she is 18 months and may accept and reject foods or a meal in which disliked foods are hidden under liked foods.  Some toddlers and children unto 8 years of age may reject new foods or also foods that were previously accepted; this behavior is inherited though it may decline throughout childhood.

By the age of 2 years the toddler’s food preferences are set, so it would be good for parents to eat new foods and a varied diet in front of the children at every meal so the child would ape the parents.

As a last note parents can cultivate healthy food habits and tastes in infants, toddlers and young children by giving them a varied diet and encouraging them to try out new tastes and textures.

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