Appetite 57 (2011) 812815

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Appetite
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/appet

Research report

Childrens acceptance of new foods at weaning. Role of practices of weaning

and of food sensory properties
Sophie Nicklaus
Centre des Sciences du Gout et de lAlimentation, UMR6265 CNRS, UMR1324 INRA, Universite de Bourgogne, Agrosup Dijon, F-21000 Dijon, France

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 13 May 2011
Accepted 22 May 2011
Available online 27 May 2011

Weaning (i.e. introduction of complementary foods) is a transitional process between the consumption
of a unique food, milk, and family foods. This review of existing literature regarding factors favouring the
development of food acceptance at the beginning of weaning underlines in particular the roles of
repeated exposure, of introduction of a variety of foods, of timing of introduction of weaning foods, and
of food sensory properties (texture, taste and avours). All factors appear to play a role in the acceptance
of weaning foods. The efciency, most favourable windows and long-term impact of each of these factors
is not known accurately.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Weaning
Food
Acceptance
Sensory properties
Weaning practices

Introduction
Food habits form early in childhood and are likely to track over
childhood until the beginning of adulthood (Nicklaus, Boggio,
Chabanet, & Issanchou, 2004, 2005). Understanding the factors
driving the acceptance of the very rst foods other than milk, is
therefore of particular importance, since these foods will form the
basis of the childs future food repertoire.
Several factors are now known to be involved in the acceptance
of foods at weaning. In particular, the role of previous, indirect
sensory experience has gained attention, as described in another
paper in the present supplemental issue (Cooke and Fildes, 2011).
Here we will ocus on the role of direct experience with food on
their acceptance, describing in particular the role of the practices of
weaning, i.e. timing of introduction of solid foods, repeated
exposure, and variety of foods offered together with the role of the
sensory properties of foods.
Introduction of weaning foods is a process which helps the
transition between a unique single food, milk, toward a diversity of
family foods. At the age when weaning is generally conducted in
developed countries, that is during the middle of the rst year, the
infant displays limited abilities in terms of physiological capacities
(i.e. intestinal maturity, renal functions and oral development),
therefore family foods need to be adapted to enable the developing
infant to process them. They are adapted in terms of texture and are
initially offered in the form of purees or soup; they are also adapted
in terms of sodium and bre contents, which intake should be

E-mail address: sophie.nicklaus@dijon.inra.fr.

0195-6663/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.321

limited at the beginning of weaning. Weaning is dened here as the

transitional process between milk and family foods through the
progressive introduction of weaning foods and therefore can be
considered as having been achieved by around the end of the second
year at the latest. In the light of this specication, the present review
will mainly (but not exclusively) focus on studies presenting results
covering this age range (624 m).
How the practices of weaning might inuence the acceptance of
weaning foods
Weaning will be dened here as the transitional process from
milk to family foods. Human infants are born with very few innate
food preferences, but with a strong ability to learn to like new foods
(Davis, 1939). In relation with such learning abilities, some practices
of weaning are likely to affect the acceptability of weaning foods by
the infant. The impact of some practices on acceptance of foods such
as timing of introduction of solid foods, repeated exposure, and
variety of foods offered has received attention and is documented.
We will summarize the main ndings from this literature.
Role of the timing of introduction of solid foods
Across countries, recommendations may vary as to when to
start introducing infants to weaning food, ranging from between 4
and 6 months to the 6th month on (see also Schwartz, Scholtens,
Lalanne, Weenen & Nicklaus, 2011 in this issue). This discrepancy
may result in practical questions from the parents regarding when
and what to introduce the infant to rst. Nevertheless, guidelines
clearly state that parents should wait at least until the age of 4

S. Nicklaus / Appetite 57 (2011) 812815

months before introducing solid foods, but it was observed in

different countries that mothers do not wait until this age (Alder
et al., 2004; Anderson et al., 2001; Le Heuzey, Turberg-Romain, &
Lelie`vre, 2007; Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Leathwood, & Issanchou,
2007).
From a physiological and psychological point of view, one might
wonder whether specic time windows are more favourable to the
introduction of weaning foods, independent of the importance of
sustaining breastfeeding until the 6th month of life (WHO, 2003),
and of the role of timing of weaning on the development of
allergies (Anderson, Malley, & Snell, 2009; Zutavern et al., 2008).
The hypothesis of the existence of a sensitive period for the
introduction of solid foods was previously raised (Beauchamp &
Mennella, 1998; Illingworth & Lister, 1964; Mason, Harris, &
Blissett, 2005). However, consequences of timing of introduction of
complementary foods in terms of food behaviour and acceptance
are not very well documented. Studies focusing on a specic milk
formula such as casein hydrolysate formula, which bears distinct,
unpleasant avour notes, suggest that there may be a specic
window to favour its acceptance: it is easily accepted at the age of 2
months but not at the age of 7 months (Mennella & Beauchamp,
1996). At the age of 7 months, such a formula is accepted provided
the infant had received previous exposure to this type of formula
but exposure during the rst three months of life or during months
35 did not make a difference (Mennella, Grifn, & Beauchamp,
2004). Concerning solid foods, a study with 12 subjects showed
that the acceptance of salty cereals compared to plain cereals was
higher in infants aged 1617 weeks than in infants aged 1825
weeks (Harris, Thomas, & Booth, 1990). Whether acceptance of
other complementary foods might differ according to the age of the
child at weaning is not completely elucidated yet.
The consequences of an early introduction to fruit and
vegetables have been analysed in different ways. One study
reported a positive relationship between early consumption of
fruits and consumption of fruits at 18 months old, and this
relationship was mediated by the acceptance of the sour taste,
which is pronounced in fruits (Blossfeld et al., 2007). Another
study based on parental report revealed in particular that early
introduction to fruit or vegetables (with no indication of specic
age) was associated with higher consumption of fruit or
vegetables, respectively, at 25 years of age (Cooke et al.,
2004). In this analysis, after adjustment for effects potentially
inuencing consumption, such as parental intake or parental
neophobia, only fruit intake was signicantly related to early
introduction of fruit. A similar nding was also shown in a study
conducted in the USA (Skinner, Carruth, Bounds, Ziegler, & Reidy,
2002), suggesting that the early introduction of fruit has more
impact on later consumption of fruit than the early introduction of
vegetables. It is difcult to interpret such a nding. One might
conclude that it is not necessary to introduce vegetables early in the
infants diet. However the specic nature of vegetables is that they
are much less energy dense than other foods and than fruits (Gibson
& Wardle, 2003) which does not favour their consumption in young
children (Nicklaus, Boggio, & Issanchou, 2005). So altogether,
vegetables are easily accepted at the beginning of weaning, but
not when the child has reached a more advanced age around 24
years old (Gibson & Wardle, 2003; Nicklaus, Boggio, & Issanchou,
2005), revealing a transition in acceptance which might be related to
their nutritional properties, their sensory properties (see section on
sensory properties below), or to a competition from other more
palatable foods introduced later on after the beginning of weaning.
Role of repeated exposure
The repetition of exposure of a food to a child is one of the
primary determinants of its acceptance. Several studies have

813

shown that a food is consumed more and is judged as more liked by

an adult (generally the mother) after a number of presentations.
The rst study related to the effect of exposure in infants at the
beginning of weaning clearly demonstrated an increase in
acceptance of a novel green vegetable (green beans or peas) after
10 exposures to this food (Sullivan & Birch, 1994). A further study
also showed a similar exposure effect: after 8 exposures to a novel
fruit, intake increased (Birch, Gunder, Grimm-Thomas, & Laing,
1998). Such an exposure effect was further shown to be effective
even for foods which were initially refused by the infant during the
course of the weaning process (most often green vegetables, but
also pumpkin) in contrast to foods initially accepted at the
beginning of the weaning process (such as carrots for a majority of
infants) (Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Issanchou, & Leathwood, 2007).
The exposure effect thus seems so consistent, powerful and
universal that in later studies, it was considered as the gold
standard against which any studied mechanism should be tested
(see below).
However, despite the power of practices of repeated exposure
in terms of increase of weaning food acceptance, surveys
conducted in different countries across the world underline that
most often, foods are only presented a limited number of times (in
a majority of cases less than 5 times) before the parent(s) decide
that the infant dislikes this food (Carruth, Ziegler, Gordon, & Barr,
2004; Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Leathwood, & Issanchou, 2007).
Therefore, it is likely that the most frequently offered foods are
those that are the most liked initially. The effect of exposure might
thus act principally by reinforcing acceptance of initially liked
foods.
After the beginning of weaning, other studies showed that in 2year-old children, taste exposure to the food, involving ingestion of
the food, is necessary to increase acceptance of the food whereas
visual exposure is not sufcient (Birch, McPhee, Shoba, Pirok, &
Steinberg, 1987). Moreover, repeated exposure to a food can be
offered either in a neutral context, or in a context where parents
interact more directly with the child. For instance, in 2- to 6-yearold children providing the child with additional information on the
benets of a vegetable did not result in a higher liking of the
vegetable relative to exposure alone (Wardle, Cooke, et al., 2003).
Moreover, offering a reward (sticker) to the child if she/he agrees to
taste a vegetable results in a lower increase in acceptance of the
vegetable than simply exposing the food without contingency
(Wardle, Herrera, Cooke, & Gibson, 2003). These results suggest
that exposure is sufcient on its own in young children to promote
food acceptance, provided they actually taste the food.
Repeated exposure can also lead to over-exposure and
boredom, as discussed elsewhere, but it is not known exactly
which amount and/or frequency of exposure is optimal to
promote food acceptance (Cooke, 2007). It may be also that there
are individual variations in acceptance of repetitions: some infants
might appreciate more than others to be given the same food
repeatedly.
Role of the variety of foods offered
Not only do the repeated presentations of a given food inuence
acceptance of weaning foods, but also the repeated presentation of
a variety of foods. Studies in this area were initially inspired by
research in rodents demonstrating that exposure to a variety of
avours around the time of weaning was associated to a higher
acceptance of new foods (Capretta, Petersik, & Stewart, 1975;
Gerrish & Mennella, 2001). In human infants, exposure to a variety
of foods at weaning also matters. Infants better accept carrot, a
new food, either if they had been repeatedly exposed to carrot
(repeated exposure effect) or to a variety of foods differing from
one day to the next, but not if they had been repeatedly exposed to

814

S. Nicklaus / Appetite 57 (2011) 812815

potato (Gerrish & Mennella, 2001). In this study, infants in the

variety group better accepted chicken than children in the two
other groups. Moreover, further studies showed that exposure to
variety might enhance the acceptance of a less liked food, green
bean, only if the intensity of the exposure to variety is increased:
in that case, only if pairs of different foods were presented during
the same meal over several days, not if different foods were
presented over several days (Mennella, Nicklaus, Jagolino, &
Yourshaw, 2008). This reveals that acceptance of green beans is
more difcult to favour at the beginning of weaning, and that
exposure to variety might be interpreted at the day level or at the
meal level, that is introducing more than one food per eating
occasion might also be a way to enhance exposure to variety, and
therefore acceptance of new foods.
Research to understand the role of timing of exposure to variety
(Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Leathwood, & Issanchou, 2008) has also
been conducted. This research revealed in particular that offering
three different foods three times by alternating foods from one day
to the next resulted in a higher acceptance of a new food than
offering each of the three different foods for a period of three days.
This effect on enhanced acceptance of the number of changes
rather than of the number of different foods was observed for
several new foods (zucchini-tomato, peas, meat and sh).
Altogether, these ndings suggest that variety is a robust
mechanism favouring the acquisition of preference for new foods.
However, one might wonder whether exposure to a variety of
foods from a given group generalise to new foods from another
group (Mennella et al., 2008). In other words, does exposure to a
variety of fruits generalise to a variety of vegetables? This study
showed that exposure to a variety of fruits promoted the
acceptance of a new fruit, but unfortunately not of a new
vegetable. One might conclude that a certain level of proximity
in nutritional and/or sensory properties of foods is necessary to
enable a generalised effect of learning toward a new food.
However, more specically, it is not known exactly how such a
level of nutritional or sensory proximity could be dened and more
research is needed to clarify this aspect.
In other respects, one might wonder whether the association of
two foods during a meal might affect acceptance of one of them, in
particular if one food is a vegetable and the other a sweet fruit. This
was studied with weaning-age children (Forestell & Mennella,
2007). The results showed that repeated exposure to green beans
increased consumption of green beans, whether or not peach puree
was consumed after green beans. In this context therefore, it seems
that the acceptance of each food is learned independently.
How the sensory properties of foods might be related to their
acceptance
The sensory properties of the foods are important determinants
of the initial acceptance of the foods by infants. Texture, taste and
aromatic properties in particular play a role in their initial
acceptance.
Due to the limited motor oral functions of the infant (Carruth &
Skinner, 2002; Gisel, 1991), texture is one of the properties of the
foods that requires the most adaptation to enable the infant to
process and swallow the food. Even in older children, it is
hypothesised that children prefer textures that they are able to
process with ease (Szczesniak, 1972). A signicant proportion of
infants (23%) have difculties with foods containing pieces
(Coulthard & Harris, 2003). Such difculties should not however
be interpreted by parents as a reason to delay the introduction of
solid foods. Delayed introduction is indeed associated with further
problems of texture acceptance, as observed in infants who have
received tube feeding (Mason et al., 2005). In healthy children,
experimenting with new and varied textures early on in

development is associated with less food refusals and a better

acceptance of weaning foods later on (Northstone, Emmett, &
Nethersole, 2001). In particular, the best predictor of chopped
carrots in 12-month-old infants is the experience with carrots
presented under a variety of textures (Blossfeld, Collins, Kiely, &
Delahunty, 2007). Introduction of lumpy foods before the age of 6
months was associated with fewer food refusals at the age of 7
years, and a higher consumption of a number of fruits and
vegetables (Coulthard, Harris, & Emmett, 2009). Lastly, concerning
texture, the observation of the absence of the transfer of the effect
of exposure between an industrially processed baby food and a
home-made food might be related to the texture differences
inherent to each type of food (Birch et al., 1998).
Beyond the specic contribution of texture at weaning age,
some foods seem to be more easily accepted by infants from the
very rst bite than others (in which is also the case for older
children and adults!) (Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Issanchou, &
Leathwood, 2007). Flavour, which can be broken into its
components such as taste and aromatic properties, certainly plays
a role. Previous indirect (and unconscious) learning of the foods
specic avours might inuence this initial acceptance, as
described more specically in the paper by Cooke and Fildes
(2011) in the present issue. It may also be that some tastes are
more acceptable than others to the young child: it is well known
for instance that acceptance of sweet taste and rejection of bitter
taste is innate (in humans, in primates and in non-primates), which
could account for the liking/disliking of foods bearing those tastes
(Berridge, 2000; Steiner, 1979).
However, in the young infant, when studying taste solutions at
moderate concentrations, a clear rejection of a bitter solution is not
always observed (Schwartz, Issanchou, & Nicklaus, 2009). Infants
exhibit negative faces while drinking bitter solution, but might
continue to drink, revealing the difculty to interpret universally
infants reactions to a food (Schwartz et al., 2009). Moreover, as
revealed in a study conducted in France, infants in their rst year
are more exposed to the sweet taste than to the bitter taste, which
might reinforce the inborn preference for sweet taste (Schwartz et
al., 2010). Analysis of infants rst reaction when tasting a new food
between the ages of 5 and 7 months revealed that most foods are
accepted (88%), but this acceptance is modulated by the taste of the
foods (Schwartz, 2009). For instance salty vegetables are signicantly more accepted than vegetables without salt (Schwartz,
Chabanet, Lange, Issanchou, & Nicklaus, 2011). For some foods
bearing a sweet, sour or umami taste, the level of acceptance is
correlated to the childs level of preference for solutions of the
same tastes (Schwartz, 2009; Schwartz, Scholtens, et al., 2011). A
similar nding was also reported for the acceptance of sour fruits
(Blossfeld et al., 2007).
More globally, the contribution of avour in the initial
acceptance of vegetables can be interpreted by comparing the
effect of exposure to a variety of vegetables on the acceptance of
carrot (Gerrish & Mennella, 2001) or of green beans (Mennella et
al., 2008). Clearly, acceptance of green bean is more difcult to
promote than that of carrot, no doubt in part due to the difference
in tastes of the two vegetables with one being sweeter than the
other. More research is needed to understand the role of food
sensory properties on their acceptance by infants and young
children at different stages of development.
Conclusion
Regarding factors favouring the development of food acceptance at the beginning of weaning, existing literature focuses
heavily on the role of repeated exposure, introduction of a variety
of foods, timing of introduction of weaning foods. However, the
impact of timing of weaning on food acceptance has received very

S. Nicklaus / Appetite 57 (2011) 812815

little specic attention with most investigation focusing on the

nutritional consequences of the cessation of breastfeeding. The
literature also clearly underlines the role of food sensory properties
as determinants of the acceptance of the food, in particular texture,
taste and avours. It seems that within a food group (e.g.,
vegetables, fruits), foods might share a certain level of sensory and
nutritional proximity which might drive, within certain limits,
exposure to a food to promote acceptance of other food(s) from the
same group. Therefore, within each food group, exposing infants to
each food at least several times, together with exposure to a variety
of foods from this food group, appears to be an interesting strategy
to favour acceptance of these foods. Such a strategy should be
applied for all food groups.
However, despite the importance of this emerging literature
regarding factors driving the acceptance of weaning foods, many
questions remain regarding the efciency, most favourable
windows and long-term impact of each of these factors. More
specically, whether each factor (exposure, variety and timing) is
similarly efcient in promoting the acceptance of each food group
(fruit, vegetables, meat, sh, dairy products, etc.) and in generalising to the acceptance of other food groups is not established. A
greater focus on answering these questions would be of considerable interest to advance the science underlying weaning processes
and will be of considerable utility to parents attempting to
negotiate this difcult but important period of transition.
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