Healthy Starts: Repeated Exposure Pilot

Decades of research have established that providing repeated exposure to new foods is the most robust strategy for promoting children's acceptance of new foods (1). However, there is little guidance on how best to translate this recommendation into everyday family life about how often to introduce children to new foods. We propose to conduct a proof-of-concept randomized trial that will evaluate three different schedules of repeated exposure to a novel vegetable, which will help to identify the optimal "pacing" of repeated exposure to promote children's acceptance (i.e., intake) of new vegetables. Here we define "pacing" as how often (every day, every few days, etc.) and across what interval of time (days, weeks, months) repeated exposure is effective for infants to learn to accept a novel food.

Inclusion Criteria:Adult caregivers ≥ 18 years of ageInfants 9-12 months of ageInfants born ≥ 37 weeks gestational ageInfants have not been diagnosed with developmental delays, congenital or other medical conditions that may interfere with feeding (e.g., dysphagia).Exclusion Criteria:Caregivers younger than 18 years of ageCaregivers do not speak English or SpanishCaregivers do not live in the Denver Metro areaInfants who were born < 37 weeks gestational ageInfants have been diagnosed with a developmental delay or congenital or medical condition that may interfere with feeding.