There are many well documented studies showing how what we eat during pregnancy has a direct relationship with the types and flavors of foods our babies will prefer.  One in particular involving carrot juice comes to mind.  I thought of these studies as I ate loads of broccoli and kale and seaweed and blueberries and walnuts and anything I could think of that I’d want my baby to like and eat.

There was also another study that came out right before I got pregnant with my 2 year old.  This one showed that women who ate chocolate consistently during pregnancy had overall sweeter babies with happier dispositions.

I took this study all the way to the chocolate factory.  I made sure that not a day went by that I did not have some chocolate.  I really mean it.  I ate chocolate, and I ate chocolate, and I ate some more chocolate.  Most days it was a few squares of organic very dark chocolate, and some days it was chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting from Magnolia Bakery, as my friend Stephanie can attest.  Unlike many pregnant women, I did not crave sweets during pregnancy and sugar didn’t make me feel that great, but I had to eat chocolate because the study showed how important it was!

The result?  From a biased mom’s opinion, my son is very sweet with an overall happy disposition.  And he also dreams about chocolate, wakes up asking for chocolate and continues to think of creative ways to ask for it about 49 more times throughout the day.  Now he’s added “Please, please, please, please?”  on to all of his requests, so it’s very hard for me to say no.

We give him dark chocolate that is at least 70% cacao, as this has the least amount of sugar and still tastes great.  We also always make sure it’s organic.  He’s getting antioxidants, polyphenols, and some good fats.  And, he came across some packaged milk chocolate- the kind you’ll find in every conventional supermarket- tried that and said to me, “Mommy, it’s yucky,” so we know he has good taste.

Yes, he definitely has a preference for what I ate when he was in utero.

Thankfully, every single day he also asks me for seaweed.