Its not a secret that eating and mealtimes with my children is the Bain of my life. I hate mealtimes and sadly they are getting worse. Little Bean is dropping more and more foods off her list of acceptable foods. Today for lunch whilst on a shopping trip to Ikea she ate three chips and one biscuit.
As we ride home in the car my mind is whirring and it keeps coming back to what each of the Beans prefers to eat and how they directly relate to what I ate in pregnancy. Could they be linked or is it just a strange coincidence?!?!
Little Bean
My pregnancy with Little Bean was plagued with heartburn and acid indigestion so I craved cold milk and thick milkshakes. I drank them every single day.
I also had big cravings for chocolate and cakes, so naturally being my first pregnancy and not quite understand just how much of my weight gain was food and how much was baby, I indulged myself (and regretted it later).
Fast forward to Little Bean weaning and we have a little girl whose diet pretty much consists of milk, yoghurts, chocolate and cake.
Beanie Boy
When pregnant with Beanie Boy I made the decision not to make the same mistake again with milkshakes and chocolate. When the heartburn and acid indigestion returned I turned to herbal teas. I ate more fruit and vegetables, more meat and a generally healthier diet.
Beanie Boy by the same token LOVES fruit and meat. He isn’t a fan of cakes unless they are bread based, he is happy to try new foods and overall prefers a more savoury diet. He likes chocolate but on the whole prefers strawberries and strawberry flavoured treats.
Jelly Bean
My final pregnancy with Jelly Bean was perhaps my most healthy pregnancy by far. I had not long started a health kick, eating better amd attending the gym so I wanted to keep it up as best as I could. Unfortunately due to ankle and knee pain I had to stop going to the gym but I kept up my healthy eating and felt better for it.
Jelly Bean is my best eater, he loves just about everything and will happily try most food if it is on my plate. He isn’t so good at trying new foods when Little Bean is around as she pulls faces and tells him he wont like it.
Like I say, it could just be a big coincidence but I think there has to be something in it. What do you think?
Hmmm, your account gives pretty strong evidence for the theory however with my eldest I too suffered heart burn and ate everything I could get my hands on esp sweet foods. Although she is a good eater she is a slow eater and is not a big fan of desserts, chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks. With Alyssa I hardly ate at all, only gaining 10lb all pregnancy, she has a very healthy appetite but craves sweet foods and fizzy pop! Interesting also I could not eat poultry or banana’s with either of my girls (in fact Eating a banana and being sick is what made me suspicious i was pregnant with Alyssa). Elizabeth hates Chicken and it is Alyssa’s favourite meat and Banana’s is one of the few fruit they both will eat!
What a helpful article for young mums to be. We all look for excuses to eat what we enjoy and the pregnancy cravings do not help so it would be easy to give in (like you did for the first of your pod..) without good articles like this one to provide ‘food-for-thought’. Our own bodies benefit from healthy eating and children probably do also. Plus babies are created from the proteins and amino acids we consume so it may not be the best idea to eat fatty foods all day. Most children are influenced more by ‘nurture’ so if you indulged as a pregnant mum there is plenty of time to fix things once they’re born. Leading by example is the best way to encourage good eating (as much as possible). Overall I’d suggest it certainly can’t hurt to eat healthily in the hope your child has the best start in life!
Good work (good thoughtful article)
Thank you for your thoughtful and considered response, I definitely felt that what I ate affected my children and their diets now.