Acceptance of flavour in toddlers does not depend on how complementary food is introduced

02.2026
Author Dr. Martin Claßen, Bremen

Acceptance of flavour in infants and toddlers depends on various factors, one of which is early sensory experiences in utero from the amniotic fluid and then from breast milk in children who are breastfed – both of which are influenced by the mother’s diet. The question of how children can learn to accept as wide a range of flavours, foods and textures as possible at an early stage in life is still the subject of debate. The traditional approach, where parents decide when to introduce solid foods, contrasts with baby-led weaning, where the child plays a part in an interactive process.

In a new prospective Brazilian study where 140 randomised children with an average age of 5.5 months were introduced to complementary food, Parent-Led Weaning (PLW) was used for 45 children, Baby-Led Introduction to SolidS (BLISS) was used for 48 children, and a combined approach (PLW and BLISS) was used for 47 children. When the children were aged 12-35 months, a questionnaire (n = 132) and a flavour acceptance test (n = 92) were conducted to investigate food and flavour preferences. When sour, sweet, salty, bitter and spicy flavours were tested, the only higher preference was for sour flavours in the combined group, which became insignificant after adjusting for covariables. This shows that the method of introducing complementary food has no significant influence on acceptance of different flavours.

Comment: The time when children are introduced to complementary food is a huge opportunity to lay the foundations for acceptance of a wide range of healthy food. The results of this study show that a dogmatic discussion about the right method to use is unhelpful. Instead, an individual approach should be taken based on the needs of the child and their family to decide whether the parents should determine when to use spoon-feeding or whether the child should decide what they want to put in their mouth and eat. 
What matters most is creating a positive environment with as many shared mealtimes as possible. Distractions such as phone or TV screens should be avoided, and parents should not offer their child sweetened or salted food. Plant-based foods are recommended – a mixed Mediterranean diet is the ideal model.
One thing I particularly liked about the study was that the results of the combined method were as good as the results of the other two methods.

Reference:
Neves RO, Magalhães EIdS, Ficagna CR, Moreira PR, Sanini Belin CH, Silveira LdO et al. (2025). Do children allocated to different methods of complementary feeding introduction have distinct food preferences and flavor acceptance in the first years of life? A randomized clinical trial. PLOS One 20(11): e0335592. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0335592