About Developing Appetites
Developing Appetites is a website dedicated to exploring how our appetites develop during early childhood.
Our articles, educational materials, and tools highlight the many factors influencing young children’s developing appetites, food preferences, and dietary patterns. Because what children eat affects not just their physical health, but also their behavior and development, we focus on the big picture: how early feeding experiences shape lifelong health outcomes. The habits formed and lessons learned during early childhood last a lifetime – that’s why we believe early childhood is an important window of opportunity to support healthy growth and development.
Developing Appetites is committed to translating research to practical information, tools, and recommendations.
Our mission is to make high-quality research accessible and useful. Drawing on decades of experience in the fields of pediatric nutrition, human development, and family studies, we translate the science into practical advice and tools for real-life feeding decisions. Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, researcher, practitioner, or policymaker, Developing Appetites is here to help you understand how early experiences shape what and how children eat, and how we can guide them toward healthy choices right from the start.
About the Founder
Alison K. Ventura, PhD, LEC
Professor, Author, Mom to Two Healthy Eaters
Dr. Alison Ventura is a Professor of Kinesiology and Public Health at the California Polytechnic State University where she serves as the director of the Center for Health Research and Healthy Kids Lab. She is the author of Promoting Responsive Feeding during Breastfeeding, Bottle-feeding, and the Introduction to Solid Foods.
Dr. Ventura holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies and an M.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Pennsylvania State University. She earned her B.S. in Psychology with a concentration in Biology and a minor in Community Nutrition from the University of California, Davis. She also completed postdoctoral training as a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award fellow at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, a leading research institute in taste and smell. In addition, she is a trained Lactation Education Counselor (LEC), certified through the UC San Diego Extension program.
Her research explores how early family interactions shape children’s food preferences, eating behaviors, and growth trajectories. With over two decades of experience in the field – and more than a decade of parenting her own two sons – Dr. Ventura brings both scientific insight and real-world perspective to the work of supporting healthy childhood development.