There is compelling evidence that exposure to an inappropriate nutritional environment before birth and/or in early infancy, whether it be a nutritional deficiency, nutritional excess or deficiencies of key macro or micronutrients, is associated with an increased risk of obesity and altered food preferences in the offspring. It is also clear that the consequences of this altered nutritional exposure is also dependent on the period of development during which this exposure occurs. Recent work from our group has highlighted the critical role of the suckling period for the programming of obesity and food preferences in the offspring, which opens up the potential for the negative effects of prenatal exposures to be mitigated by improved maternal nutrition during lactation. This presentation will focus on these findings and their potential implications, and describe the impact of maternal cafeteria diet on breast milk composition in our animal model.