Can Pregnancy Cravings Affect Your Baby's Food Choices?

There are a lot of rumours attached to pregnancy cravings and the baby’s connection with them. You must be hearing ample of these yourself- “You crave for foods your baby likes most”, “Craving for sweets?? It’s a girl”, “Craving for salt?? It’s a boy”. And it is convenient and sometimes fun to believe these. But there is another side too to these cravings. These cravings are mainly caused because of some nutritional deficiencies and mischievous pregnancy hormones playing in your body which elevate the level of taste and smell.

In this article, we will understand more about pregnancy cravings, some common cravings during pregnancy, how to manage them and the connection between your food choices and your baby's.

What are some common pregnancy cravings?

Food cravings are common and may start anytime during pregnancy. Cravings could be for any food item. Some common pregnancy cravings are for chocolates, rice, fruits, lemon, fish, and dairy products. Cravings could also be for unusual combinations like pizza with peas, sambhar with noodles, and rice with only roti. Other than food cravings, there could be some strong aversions too, especially towards strong smells like that of onion, garlic, tomatoes etc.

Sometimes pregnancy cravings are not for edible items, but instead for stuff like soap, chalk, and paint and these carvings are named ‘PICA’. PICA could be because of a deficiency of iron, zinc or other micro-nutrients. In case you are experiencing PICA, tell your doctor. Sometimes overcoming these deficiencies is as simple as increasing the intake of foods rich in the nutrients that the body is deficient in.

Whatever the craving is, it must be managed well! Pregnancy cravings could be severe and may lead to overindulgence in one food item. This can lead to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and hypertension depending on whether what you are craving is healthy or unhealthy.

How to manage pregnancy cravings?

It is ok to get into occasional food cravings provided you are craving a variety of healthy foods. Here are some ways to manage your pregnancy cravings:

• Keep eating healthy meals at regular intervals. This way you will never be too hungry to overindulge.
• Keep your kitchen and refrigerator stocked up with healthy food so that you have healthy options readily available when you are hungry.
• Never go to the market empty stomach. You may end up eating unhealthy foods you might be craving.
• Take plenty of rest and sleep as lack of sleep may lead to craving unhealthy food, especially junk food.

Cravings for alcohol, tobacco, undercooked meat or soft cheese should not be entertained, not even occasionally! An indulgence here may have serious implications you would not want to hear about.

You may also like: Pregnancy Cravings: When Do They Start and What Are The Most Common Ones?

How is the food you eat connected with your baby’s food choices?

The good news is that whatever you eat is also tasted by your baby too. It’s not that food particles reach the baby swimming through the amniotic fluid but the digested food molecules through blood circulation reach the baby. There have been experiments in the past that explain how sniffing the amniotic fluid can tell what the mother ate an hour before, especially strong smells like garlic, mint, and curry. So, the baby is always swimming in the fluid and by the age of 21 weeks, is already gulping the amniotic fluid.

At this age baby’s neurons are developed to the extent that the baby can smell what it is gulping. This proves that food preferences start from the womb but are mostly learned post birth depending on what the baby is exposed to more frequently. Some scientists say what a woman eats during pregnancy really helps in shaping what her baby will eat for the rest of his/her life. This means, if you eat healthy now, it is more likely that your baby will eat healthy too in his/her life. Can that even protect your baby from lifestyle disorders like obesity, diabetes etc.?? Think about it!

Closing Thoughts

Eat a variety of healthy foods during pregnancy to keep yourself healthy. This will allow your baby also to get exposed to a variety of tastes and smells to inspire healthy food choices at a later stage in life. The choice is yours!