Hoping you don't end up with a picky eater? Good news: your baby's first "taste test" happens long before that first spoonful of purée.
In fact, your little one starts developing taste buds early in pregnancy — and what you eat now may help shape what foods she'll love later.
When do babies develop taste buds?
Your baby's taste buds start forming during the first two months of pregnancy. By around week 8, those taste buds are already connecting to her brain through tiny nerve cells — though it takes a little longer before your baby can actually taste.
By around week 16, taste pores (the openings that let flavor compounds reach the taste buds) are in place, and your baby has started swallowing amniotic fluid. That's when she experiences her very first flavor: salty amniotic fluid!
The amount of amniotic fluid she swallows — and the number of tastes she has exposure to — will keep increasing through the second trimester and third trimester. By week 21, she'll be swallowing several ounces a day.
Eventually, her taste buds will recognize taste sensations like sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami.
When can babies taste food?
When your baby starts tasting amniotic fluid around week 16, she'll also start tasting some of the foods you eat.
Even though your digestive system is separate from your baby's, molecules from the foods you eat travel through your bloodstream into your amniotic fluid. As your baby swallows, she gets a (very watered-down) sample of what's on your menu.
The flavors in the womb aren't as strong as those you taste. That's because much of what you think of as the flavor of a food is actually its smell, which is transmitted to your nose through the air.
Since your baby is surrounded by amniotic fluid, she only tastes molecules from your bloodstream and doesn't have the sense of smell yet to amplify those flavors. But even with this blunted sense of taste, your baby will start to recognize foods.
In one study, fetuses from 32 to 36 weeks given carrot or kale (via mom's amniotic fluid) reacted to the flavors with discernable facial movements.
Fetuses exposed to carrot flavor were more likely to respond with "laughter-face reactions" (yum!) while those exposed to kale flavor showed "cry-face reactions" (yuck!). As the fetuses got older, their facial expressions became more complex.
"With my son, I craved meat and sweets and ate like a teenager," says What to Expect Community mom germaphobemomma. "He hates most meat and doesn’t like many sweets. With my oldest daughter, sweets made me queasy, but she loves sweets. With my other kids, my cravings were all over the place, so I can’t compare."
Can your diet prevent picky eating?
It just might help! Research suggests that babies who experience certain flavors during pregnancy — or later through breast milk — are more likely to accept and enjoy those foods as they grow. That means your love of roasted veggies or zesty curry could rub off on your little one.
Track your symptoms, baby's development, and more at each stage of your pregnancy in the What to Expect app.
Exposing your baby to a wide variety of flavors now may not only help with adventurous eating later, but some scientists say that the foods you eat during pregnancy could support your baby's healthy eating habits — and her odds of obesity and diabetes — well into the future.
So what flavors should you expose your baby to during pregnancy? Aim to eat a balanced and varied diet, and choose fresh fruits and vegetables over processed snacks. This not only helps keep you healthy during pregnancy, but it also sets the stage for your baby to love diverse tastes.
Yes 
No 
