Читать книгу Nurturing a Healthy Generation of Children: Research Gaps and Opportunities - Группа авторов - Страница 19

The present results may have practical implications in terms of child feeding in the early years. Encouraging mothers to eat a variety of foods during pregnancy may help to imprint their child’s liking of healthy foods through the exposure to the flavors of such foods in utero. Similarly, breastfeeding until the start of complementary feeding may enhance the acceptance of new foods offered at this transitional stage in child feeding. Parents should also be aware that when tasting or smelling new foods, children are more likely to display negative facial expressions than positive ones, but they may also continue eating. Thus, parents should be encouraged to continue offering new foods to their children for sensory learning to take place, even if they feel that their child’s initial reactions to these foods are not very positive. Such advices should be particularly enforced in parents of children who are very sensitive to taste and odors, and who may be more likely to display neophobic reactions. Parents should be patient and ready to persist in their willingness to offer new foods without forcing their child to eat.