Should I Feed My Baby Vegetables Before Fruit?

My almost 6-month-old is about to start solids soon, and I’m wondering, should I start with veggies first before fruits? I saw on some parenting boards that they’ll do vegetables first, so their babies can tolerate the taste of it before moving on to fruit. We know babies prefer the sweeter stuff! Is there any data on this? Will my baby be more likely to eat veggies consistently if I introduce them first?

— Carrie

This is a great example of a place where there is some interesting and informative research which, frankly, people have taken too far.

Let me explain!

There is good evidence in the literature that tastes for foods are formed early. My favorite is a paper that showed babies liked carrots better if their moms ate a lot of carrots during pregnancy and breastfeeding. With a wider lens, researchers have shown that long-term food preferences are formed in childhood.

There is also some evidence that repeated exposures to foods matter for acceptance. Especially for bitter or otherwise complex foods, babies will often reject them the first time, but like them on later attempts. Which is to say, do not give up on Brussels sprouts if your baby doesn’t like them the first time. Fruits are less likely to prompt rejection because the flavor is sweeter, but the same repeated exposure principle applies.

So far, that’s all right. But these studies about long-term tastes are about the entire swath of exposure during childhood. They are not about the first exposure to foods, and there is nothing in the data that would suggest that babies whose first exposure is peaches would be less likely to enjoy carrots or peas or anything else. This feels like an example of a time when we took a true thing — that exposure to vegetables overall in childhood can encourage children to like them in the long term — and drew an extreme conclusion — that you should not give apples before squash.

Starting solids is confusing for many people! The reality is, there are many good ways to do it, from purees to baby-led weaning, and food order is really up to you.