![]() Menella’s lab obtained similar results in a later study, one in which mothers were instructed to drink four different types of vegetable juice (vegetable, beet, celery, and carrot) for one month during the early weeks postpartum. They seemed to recognize the taste of carrots - more than three months after their mothers had stopped drinking carrot juice. But compared with babies in a control group, the babies who had been exposed to “carroty” breast milk reacted less negatively (Mennella et al 2001). What happened next?Īll the babies made screwy, disapproving faces when they encountered the carrot-flavored cereal. On different days, the babies were offered plain cereal and carrot-flavored cereal. Julie Mennella and colleagues wanted to find out, so they recruited a group breastfeeding women, and then randomly assigned some of the mothers to drink carrot juice each day for the first 2 months postpartum. Months later, when the babies were 5-6 months old, the researchers brought the babies into the lab for a taste test. Does this have any lasting effects? Do babies remember flavors in breast milk, and recognize these flavors when they start eating solid foods? So it seems likely that many food flavors make their way into breast milk. Banana peaked after just one hour, but the others lasted longer (Hausner et al 2008). And when researchers asked lactating women to ingest four different flavor capsules, they found that all four flavors - banana, caraway, anise, and menthol - could be detected in breast milk later on. They apparently liked the garlic (Mennella and Beauchamp 1991).Ī similar experiment suggests that babies enjoy vanilla, too (Mennella and Beauchamp 1996). And then?Ĭompared with babies whose mothers had swallowed placebo pills, the “garlic babies” spent more time feeding. The flavor peaked between 1.5 to 3 hours after ingestion, at which point the women were asked to feed their 3-month-old babies. What happens if you ask a bunch of breastfeeding mothers to swallow some garlic pills? Researchers tried it, and confirmed through lab analyses that the garlic made its way into the women’s milk. More garlic-flavored breast milk, please. A mother’s diet really can affect the taste of her milk, and babies don’t just notice these flavors. The baby probably isn’t mulling it over with the vocabulary of a foodie. Will the flavors make their way into the breast milk? Will her baby detect undercurrents of garlic? Top notes of ginger and coconut? It might even affect their food preferences later in life.Ī mother eats a spicy meal, then nurses her baby an hour later. ![]() © 2018 – 2022 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reservedįlavors in breast milk? From the food that mothers ingest? Yes, it really happens, and babies can taste the difference. ![]()
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