Gill Rapley > Quotes

“EASY FIRST FINGER FOODS FOR BABIES • steamed (or lightly boiled) whole vegetables, such as green beans, baby corn, and sugar-snap peas • steamed (or lightly boiled) florets of cauliflower and broccoli • steamed, roasted or stir-fried vegetable sticks, such as carrot, potato, egg plant, sweet potato, parsnip, pumpkin, and zucchini • raw sticks of cucumber (tip: keep some of these ready prepared in the fridge for babies who are teething—the coolness is soothing for their gums) • thick slices of avocado (not too ripe or it will be very squishy) • chicken (as a strip of meat or on a leg bone)—warm (i.e., freshly cooked) or cold • thin strips of beef, lamb or pork—warm (i.e., freshly cooked) or cold • fruit, such as pear, apple, banana, peach, nectarine, mango—either whole or as sticks • sticks of firm cheese, such as cheddar or Gloucester •breadsticks • rice cakes or toast “fingers”—on their own or with a homemade spread, such as hummus and tomato, or cottage cheese And, if you want to be a bit more adventurous, try making your own versions of: • meatballs or mini-burgers • lamb or chicken nuggets • fishcakes or fish fingers • falafels • lentil patties • rice balls (made with sushi rice, or basmati rice with dhal) Remember, you don’t need to use recipes specifically designed for babies, provided you’re careful to keep salt and sugar to a minimum.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“Many of the eating problems that affect older children and their families have their roots in issues of control.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“The healthiest fats are mono- and polyunsaturated fats, mainly found in plant and fish oils.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning, Completely Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition: The Essential Guide - How to Introduce Solid Foods and Help Your Baby to Grow ...

“• A baby’s motivation to put food in his mouth is curiosity and copying—not hunger. • For the first couple of months or so, solid food is all about learning.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“Eating with your baby – at the same time, at the same table and sharing the same food – is at the heart of baby-led weaning.”
― Gill Rapley, The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy

“Aim to treat your baby with the same respect you would any other mealtime companion. That means not telling her what to eat or how much, not constantly wiping her face, and resisting the temptation to do the washing-up while she is still eating!”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“The first few months of BLW are not really about eating – they’re about exploring food.”
― Gill Rapley, The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy

“Food is intrinsically linked with nurturing and love: we all want to show our babies how much we love them and feeding them is one way to do this. At the same time, we can feel a sense of rejection when our child turns down the food we have prepared for him. These emotions, combined with unrealistic expectations of how much food babies should eat (see page 142), mean that many babies—and older children—are regularly persuaded to eat more than they need.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“In fact, it’s impossible to force a baby to breast-feed—as you’ll know if you’ve tried it.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater

“Your baby will start by handling food, learning what it looks and feels like, then she’ll use her mouth to discover its taste and texture. She may not actually eat any at first, but this is quite normal; her milk feeds (whether she is breast- or formula fed) are still providing almost all of her nutrition so she doesn’t need anything else yet.”
― Gill Rapley, The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy

“We now know that babies don’t need solid foods, and their bodies aren’t really ready for them, until they are around six months old. If you’ve waited until six months to start solids with your baby, you’ve skipped the spoon-feeding stage. At this age babies are quite capable of feeding themselves and they don’t need to be spoon fed.”
― Gill Rapley, The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy

“Babies who aren’t given the opportunity to chew food until they are quite a bit older than six months (10 months or more) are often fussy eaters later on.”
― Gill Rapley, The Baby-led Weaning Cookbook: Over 130 delicious recipes for the whole family to enjoy

“the very best sign that a baby is ready is when she starts to put food into her mouth herself—which she can only do if she is given the opportunity.”
― Gill Rapley, Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater