Baby (fetus) in womb

When in womb, fetuses swallow amniotic fluid and this happens as early as 12 weeks. If swallowing begins long before birth then the taste preference too should begin quite early. Now the real question is what is the taste of amniotic fluid that the fetus swallows? The amniotic fluid takes that taste and flavor of whatever the mother had last eaten.

Taste preference after birth

The babies do have preferences right at birth owing to their time spent in womb and most of the taste preference is governed by mother’s eating habits. An experiment was carried out by Varendi et al in 1996 in which it was shown that babies had preference for breasts that were dabbed by their amniotic fluid as compared to those without or of someone else’s amniotic fluid. This preference is shown by the baby because of their association with smell of the amniotic fluid. This preference however is lost quite early just after some days after birth.

General taste preference

Babies have a strong liking toward sweet. They resist sour and bitter fluids but they do accept any sweet fluid. Babies have a tendency to put things in their mouth. In doing this, they get a taste of whatever is offered to them. If given something sour, they just spurt it and put it away. They like sweet things. If given something salty, they are sort of neutral to it, i.e., they do not display either dislike or affinity to it.