We read to our babies, sing to our babies, play Mozart, hang mobiles, buy brightly lit toys, always concerned with our babies’ senses of vision and hearing, but how often do we think about taste?
The sense of taste is very acute at birth. At just seven to eight weeks gestation, taste buds start emerging and babies can taste amniotic fluid. Possibly the most overlooked of all the senses, early taste preferences can set a foundation for a lifetime of eating and making healthy food choices. Studies show that mothers who eat a large amount of garlic or certain herbs while pregnant or nursing have children who later prefer those flavors.
Babies are born with the ability to detect only three of the four main tastes: sweet, sour, and bitter. Studies show that they prefer sweet tastes over anything else. Babies will suck sugar water out of a bottle, but turn away from a bottle with lemon water. Did you know that babies are unable to detect salt at birth? Babies will drink salt water exactly the same as they would drink plain water. Scientists believe the taste buds that detect salty flavors develop around four months of age. This doesn’t really mean very much, as we are not going to try to add salt to baby’s formula or breast milk, but it certainly is an interesting fact about taste buds and how they are ever-changing!
Babies have the most taste buds at birth, over 40,000 in fact, all over the tongue, throat, and inside the cheeks. Taste buds deteriorate over time until most adults actually have less than 10,000 taste buds, with little to none left inside the cheeks. This tells us that not only does the sense of taste become less sensitive over time, but tastes are constantly changing and evolving. If your baby dislikes peas at eight months, keep trying again, as they may develop a taste for peas as their taste buds change.
If you are switching between formulas and baby seems picky, he probably is. He can taste subtle differences and may turn his nose up if he does not approve! She may also taste subtle differences in the taste of your breast milk depending on your diet.
References:
Aamodt, S. & Wang, S. (2011). Welcome to Your Child’s Brain: How the Mind Grows from Conception to College. Bloomsbury, NY.