Does Temperament Underlie Infant Novel Food Responses?: Continuity of Approach–Withdrawal From 6 to 18 Months

Abstract

This study investigated whether temperamental approach-withdrawal underlies infants' responses to novel foods. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of mother-infant dyads (n = 136). Approach-withdrawal responses to novel foods and novel toys were coded when infants were 6 and 12 months of age. When infants were 18 months of age, approach-withdrawal behaviors, positive affect, and negative affect were used in a latent profile analysis to identify groups of toddlers who exhibited similar responses to novelty. As predicted, novel food and novel toy responses were concurrently associated at 12 months and followed a similar developmental pattern across the 1st year. Furthermore, novel food acceptance at 12 months of age, but not 6 months, predicted greater toddler approach.

Infant and Toddler Responses to Bitter-Tasting Novel Vegetables: Findings from the Good Tastes Study

“…These findings are consistent with those of Mennella and colleagues (2017) who reported that young infants (∼8 mo of age) readily accepted a novel carrot-flavored cereal after exposure to carrot flavor through their mother's breastmilk ( 23 ). They concluded that the early period of complementary feeding “may be an optimum time for [the] infant … to learn to like the taste of healthy foods.” Our findings, though from a cross-sectional study design, align with those of Mennella and others ( 23 , 26 , 27 , 56 ) and together indicate that introduction to new foods in general, and in our study, a bitter green vegetable, may be more easily achieved early on in the complementary feeding process. More research could help to determine whether critical periods exist for development of food acceptance patterns and whether early acceptance is associated with later intake ( 3 ).…”

Infant temperament and parent use of food to soothe predict change in weight-for-length across infancy: early risk factors for childhood obesity

“…Surgency is a cluster of temperament characteristics (e.g., high activity level, high intensity pleasure, approach behaviors) that indicate an approach orientation to new objects, people, and situations. Recently, Moding & Stifter ( 37 ) showed that greater approach to novelty in infancy and toddlerhood to be to be related to positive responses to new foods. This underlying approach motivation may explain past findings linking greater negativity to higher weight status.…”

Avoidance of plant foods in infancy.

“…However, precursors of food neophobia might be present in infancy. In a series of longitudinal studies, Moding and Stifter (2016a, 2016b, 2018) found that infants who exhibited low approach tendencies toward new foods and high levels of food refusals at 12 months of age had high levels of food neophobia at 4 years of age. The authors argued that food neophobia should emerge after infants’ transition to solid foods (and therefore novel foods), only after the first half of the first year of life.…”