From Mama to Baby: How Long It Takes for Various Food Tastes to Reach Breast Milk

We already know that the foods mothers-to-be eat can influence their child's tastes, pre-birth, through amniotic fluid. The same goes for breast milk post-birth. The foods in the mother's diet faintly permeate into her milk. But when is baby tasting what you ate for lunch?

From American Baby magazine, here's the lowdown on a few food flavors and how much time they take to influence what your baby's tasting:

Coffee: 15 to 60 minutes
Garlic: 2 hours
Carrots: 2 to 3 hours
Mint: 4 to 6 hours
Bananas: Never - their taste doesn't influence the milk's taste at all!

Did you have a glass of wine with lunch? It takes 30 to 90 minutes for it to reach breast milk. Ice cream for dessert? Cow's milk proteins, to which some infants are sensitive, takes 1 to 2 hours.

Related: New Research Shows Food Memories Shaped Before Birth

(Image: Faith Durand)