Mother's milk: A determinant of the feeding preferences of weaning rat pups

Studied feeding preferences of weaning rat pups in 4 experiments with 20 recently parturate female hooded rats and their litters (reduced to 8 or 12 pups per litter). Results show that cues associated with the diet eaten by a lactating female rat are transmitted to her young, probably via her milk, and are sufficient to markedly influence the food preferences of her young during weaning. For their 1st meals of solid food, the weanlings actively seek and preferentially ingest the diet their mother has been eating during the nursing period, even if that diet is relatively unpalatable. (15 ref.)