Objective. The introduction of solid foods is a major step in the development of food behaviour. Previous studies showed that higher sensory variety in weaning period can later influence infant's acceptance of new food. The aim of the present study is (i) to describe precisely the different maternal weaning practices, (ii) to relate them with the individual mothers' and infants' characteristics, (iii) to study if these practices could impact infant's acceptance of new foods. Methods. Mothers (n=121) were requested to record each food proposed to their infant detailed from a sensory point of view and to score the level of its acceptance at the 4 first presentations. The beginning of the weaning period was defined as the age of a regular introduction of complementary semi-solids foods and recording was stopped at the age of 15 months. New foods were clustered into food categories (i.e. fruits, vegetables ...). The age of introduction of each food and each category, the order in which they were introduced, the duration necessary to introduce all foods of each category and the total number of foods over all categories were analysed. The distribution of these variables were drawn and compared according to several mother's characteristics. Results. Age of initiation of weaning is in accordance with the actual French recommendations and is significantly higher with the age and the level of education of the mother and for the multiparous vs primarous. The number of new foods introduced is very different from one infant to another and seems also linked to some individual characteristics, but only for some food categories. To date, results reveal that most of the reactions to new foods were quite positive.
