Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby To Love Good Food

by Gill Rapley, Tracey Murkett

Contrary to popular belief, there is no research that supports the current mainstream view that babies should be weaned by being spoon-fed purees. Self-feeding allows babies to use their natural abilities to explore taste, texture, color and smell. It encourages independence and confidence by allowing them to experiment with foods at their own pace and helps to develop hand-eye coordination and chewing."Baby-led Weaning" is a practical and authoritative guide to introducing solid food, enabling your child to grow up a happy and confident eater. It shows parents why baby-led weaning makes sense and gives them the confidence to trust their baby's natural skills and instincts. With practical tips for getting started and the low-down on what to expect, "Baby-led Weaning" explodes the myth that babies need to be spoon-fed and shows why self-feeding from the start is the healthiest way for your child to develop. Your baby is allowed to decide how much he wants to eat, how to eat it and to experiment with everything at his own pace. Baby-led weaning is a common-sense, safe, easy and enjoyable approach to feeding your baby. No more purees and weaning spoons, and no more mealtime battles. Simply let your baby feed himself healthy family food.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Food, Childrens, Health, Reference, Family

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Aban (Aby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I try to keep up with my daughter's reading about child rearing, since it gives me an understanding of her approach to raising her baby, my precious granddaughter. I am so glad I read this book! When my daughter started introducing finger foods to her six month old, and I saw the little one 'gag', I was horrified and thought she was about to choke! I was used to babies having pureed foods and had a hard time understanding that babies could eat everything their parents eat (within reason)and that they should feed themselves from day one of weaning.

This book helped me understand my daughter's approach to solid foods and re-assured me that my granddaughter would not choke to death or starve because of it! I learned much that I had not known before:

- The latest thinking is that babies should not be introduced to solids until six months of age.
- They can be given much the same food as their family, as long as the food is such that they can grasp it in their little hands.
- In the first few months, babies will play with solid foods, exploring their color, smell, texture, but that is no reason to worry, as they are still gaining their main nutrients from their mother's milk.
- Given sufficient exposure to a variety of foods, babies will learn the skills for feeding themselves and will also take whatever they need. They may not take a balanced meal in one go but will, over days, take what is required.
- They need to eat with the family and be given all the time they need to feed.
- Babies do not need to be spoon-fed by adults. Given time and opportunity, they will learn to feed themselves.
- Yes, mealtimes will be messy, but that's OK!
- Most important of all they will not choke over solids. Babies have a gaging reflex that prevents large pieces of food approaching the air-passage, and they will cough out food they cannot swallow, PROVIDED they are sitting upright.
- With this approach, where babies are given both opportunity and time to feed themselves, parents can avoid the possibility of their babies eating too fast or too much, and so avoid having children who are obese. This is a major factor in today's world where so many adults and children are overweight.

This book provided me with the knowledge to relax and go along with my daughter's approach. Because of it I can anticipate watching (with pleasure) my granddaughter learn to feed herself. This ties in with raising an independent, confident, child . . . the goal of childrearing.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't bad, although far too anecdote focused for my taste and oddly (defensively?) repetitious about not needing to be concerned if your baby isn't chubby - that focusing on that is somehow old fashioned and raises the spectre of obesity which is just plain odd. One of the interesting things about baby books is the crazy insistence on One Right Way and a weird distortion of facts to ensure that parents don't make the wrong decision (according to the expert) when faced with ambiguous science. This book suffers from that a bit too, but overall, if you leave out the logical fallacies of this-causes-this so that-can't-cause-this-it-must-cause-the-opposite and correlation not causation (so - I fed my baby this way, he has a healthy relationship with food, therefore if you feed your baby that way, you deserve the picky eater/obese kid you're gonna get) you will run into some sensible advice, like not resorting to airplane and shoveling food into your kid if s/he doesn't want it, providing finger foods and accepting the messiness, giving the baby what you're eating rather than preparing something totally different, not worrying so much about choking. Oh, another odd thing: the book is sure that preparing purées and single ingredient baby food is onerous, but if you've got a microwave and a food processor or a steamer basket and potato masher this is clearly not the case, so it's another make the fact fit the theory for me.

What I find creepy about all these books is how once read, their words become aphorisms restated all over the Internet and in momversations. "So much easier than making purées" (really? Making your food with no spices/salt or changing your family diet is easier than putting a pear in a blender and having six baby meals done?) "It must be a wonder week" regardless of time (or, you know, babies are not consistent in their moods or behaviors because they're people not automatons), "blowouts don't happen with cloth diapers" or "blowouts only happen with cloth diapers", or the dreaded boys-r-this-way-girls-rthat-way I know cuz I have two boys and one girl and one of the boys is all BoyStereotype and the other one isn't but obviously he's an anomaly cause I have the one stereotypical one, "food before one is just for fun" (right, food is complementary to milk/formula but this is going a bit far and explains the defensiveness on the skinny vs chubby baby front), etc.

It's like a sea of refusal to admit that there isn't one right way in the face of our need to blame everything on something, primarily on parenting style or parenting choices so we can pretend it is all within our control. Or should be within that other parent's control, anyway, why is her kid a biter?

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely plan to use this method to introduce solids. However, the book itself was not much more useful then the website. The authors repeated themselves a lot. I think they were trying to find a way to fill up a whole book but failed at that. But redundancy aside, this book did raise my confidence in trying this with my daughter. I liked the explanations about the gag reflex as well as as their logic for things like 'if they are eating enough' and 'giving the baby control of feeding and choices'. So I would probably recommend the website first (http://www.baby-led.com/). Then if someone was still unsure about using this method with their baby I'd recommend the book. Most of what is touched on on the website is repeated in the book with just some further explanation.

[Bethany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book for both personal and professional reasons. As a parent of a baby (now toddler) and a speech-language pathologist I wanted to know more about what baby-led weaning was for my own child but also in my field. While I don't work in Birth to Three, I often evaluate 2 year olds. I also regularly talk with parents of children on my caseload, who may ask me about the child's younger sibling that's a baby, or may ask me what I think about baby-led weaning.

What I liked: Overall, there are a lot of great suggestions in here. I appreciated the push to have baby be a part of mealtime early on, to let them *safely* play with food and feel different textures and shapes, learning all the while. I also strongly agree with babies/all children eating what their parents eat, and I'm sick of this idea that kids are somehow born only desiring chicken nuggets and mac and cheese. (I mean, really don't we all want chicken nuggets and mac and cheese? But kids can eat anything, they don't need separate kids meals.) I also enjoyed the idea that this can help all families eat healthier as you set an example for your children in the meals you eat and the snacks you have on hand. Finally, I definitely agree with the safety issues concerning spoons of puree entering a baby's mouth when they're not ready for it and the swallowing risk this poses.

What I didn't like: For a book that talked about studies and research, I saw very little. I know it wasn't meant to be a textbook, just a book parents can easily read, but footnotes or endnotes or something would have given me more confidence. Speaking of science, the idea of a healthy or balanced diet given in this book (e.g. eat something from each of these food groups everyday) seems to be based on the 90's food pyramid or something similar. I am really sick of hearing about how whole grains are so important when the nutrients you get from them can easily be gotten elsewhere, and most kids in America are eating too many carbohydrates as it is. The books or articles I have read about eating grains were packed full of much more scientific research and studies than this one was. While yes, I still eat some bread and my child can too, I'm not going to pretend this is essential to our nutrition when it's not.

I was most frustrated by how information in this book seemed to conflict with each other. The book had a section about sugar and salt that was important because babies can only have a certain amount safely. Yet, later in the book when it talks about going out to eat or letting your child eat your food at home, it talks about babies having soup and other food items that are typically higher in sodium. It's almost impossible to make or find soup that has a low enough level of sodium for a baby and is flavorful enough the family actually wants to eat it as well. Not to mention the fact that food from restaurants typically has more sodium, and they don't typically put the amount of sodium on the menu so you have no idea how much is in your food. For me I don't mind this, but if it's for my very small child, I want to know how much is there so they can digest it safely. So you're not supposed to make separate food for your child, yet you're supposed to somehow make sure they don't get too much sodium or sugar, while still enjoying any meal you like at a restaurant.

Okay, now to my real beef with this book, that is probably mainly personal. One of the big bonuses of baby led weaning is that a child is supposed to be exposed to a wide variety of foods, flavors, etc. at an early age. This was a big focus for me because I wanted my child to be able to try a bunch of different foods and flavors, even if they didn't end up liking all of them. However, if we had done solely baby led weaning I can guarantee our child would have been exposed to fewer foods and flavors.

We have been doing a somewhat mixed approach (purees and finger foods/baby led weaning). I agree with the book that homemade purees are wayyyy too much work and store bought purees contain metals, so we used a company that makes fresh, all-organic purees that are frozen and shipped to your door. I am not going to name the company because this isn't an ad, but it was a lifesaver. Our child was exposed to a huge variety of foods - way more than if they had just eaten everything my husband and I eat. Sure, we eat a variety of foods (though that's much harder during a pandemic), but there are certain foods I don't like or my husband doesn't like so I never would have had around for my child to try (e.g. quinoa). Not to mention the variety and cost of buying a variety of fruits and veggies out of season just so my child could be exposed to them.

Because we used this company our child got to try a bunch of different foods from 6 months on, including foods and flavors like pitaya, hemp, avocado oil, beets, mango, spinach, banana, carrots, buckwheat, quinoa, cinnamon, pear, ginger, prunes, chia seeds, pumpkin, avocado, green apple, broccoli, basil, sweet potato, flax seed, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, etc. While using the puree we also encouraged our child to guide the spoon to their mouth, or helped them guide it, so they were swallowing safely (instead of shoving it in their mouth). The company's food containers also come with small spoons that are the perfect size for a baby to hold as well as hold the right amount of food. Also the purees were not all the same consistency so there was some exposure to different textures (again, not an ad, I'm just a big fan). However, we did also use finger foods and some baby led weaning first foods so that our child would still experience a range of textures and meat protein.

Each family has to do what works for them. If you want your child to be exposed to a bunch of different food and you know your diet is super varied, then doing just baby led weaning might be for you. But for us, especially during a pandemic, I was happy we took a different approach.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the intention of this book was good, but the writing was terrible. The author simply repeats herself over and over again in order to draw out her thoughts into a full book. She could have simply stated the facts and made it into almost a pamphlet size read. I also feel there should be a bit more of a warning in here about foods such as apples, beans, and roughage. My child did not do well with said items and ended up in the ER twice. Ultimately this was my fault but I just don't feel that the BLW has a full grasp on the details of this approach to eating. Perhaps the editors should be blamed. I'm not sure as I am not the professional. I found myself skipping over page after page thinking, "I just read this!"

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book so much I read through the entire thing in a day. We had already decided to do BLW before we bought this book, so we required very little convincing. Still, this book presented some of the research done on BLW and contained TONS of personal anecdotes by BLW parents, all of which really solidified our resolve to take this approach with our son. I really enjoyed the relaxed approach to solids advocated by this book.

The only reason I gave it 3 stars was because the dietary information was a little off. They advocate using the USDA Food Pyramid as a guide, but research is showing that such a diet not only does NOT prevent heart disease and obesity, but can actually contribute to it (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gener...). Furthermore, the authors claim that babies need saturated fats and cholesterol more than adults and that they can contribute to heart disease later in life. Does anyone buy the logic of this statement? Why would something considered to be good, nay essential, for a baby's health and development suddenly become unhealthy? We become accustomed to these foods only to be told we can't eat them anymore? And when do these foods magically go from healthy to unhealthy? Does it happen gradually or at a certain age? ("Sorry, Timmy. You're 7 years old now...no more butter.") Even as the so-called lipid hypothesis of heart disease is being disproven (http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com...) people are still clinging to the idea that saturated animal fats (which humans have been consuming for thousands of years) will kill us.

If you want to prevent obesity and heart disease in your kids, feed them full-fat dairy, butter, eggs, and fatty meat and limit their consumption of sugars, including grains and starches.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate when common-sense parenting methods get labelled with a phrase and we all begin referring to it by the term. e.g. "Did you BLW?".

Baby led weaning is very simply letting your child wean themselves naturally. You don't give them special foods, you don't buy or make fancy purees, and there is no need for any "toddler food" recipe books.

You cook the family dinner, you serve it up and you all eat. I used this method and it works.

The huge problem that I have with this book is the contradiction in ideals that it displays. On one hand it encourages you to do things naturally and just let your child eat whatever you are eating. This is great advice, not only is it a much simpler way for your child to learn to eat, it also requires less effort on your part (no extra cooking), and your child learns to enjoy the foods that you eat (kids need to taste foods multiple times to develop a like for them). So feeding kids what you are eating is perfect. So the book advocates for this, which seems like a really wholesome natural, back-to-our-roots kind of thing to do.

Then we contrast this with the book telling you exactly what you need to feed your child. e.g. you must give whole broccoli stalks to your child, and not panic when they gag. This part of the book (and the subsequent movement) completely rankles me. Basically the book is telling you to ignore your instincts, which I cannot support. My personal belief is that if you feel the need to puree, mash, or pre-chew the dinner in order to make it easier for you child to eat, then that is absolutely what you should do, you are all are the mother.

I still don't get what BLW supporters don't see how conflicting the two ideas are.

[Desinka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to BLW. I wish it was more synthesized. Some things were repeated at least 10 times. I missed some specifics as to what foods are a good idea to introduce first and how many foods to offer at once.

[Max · Rating 1 out of 5]

Other than the central premise of the book, which can be summarized in its entirety as "your baby can feed themselves", this book was maddeningly dull. Perhaps its because I possess just the tiniest amount of knowledge of food and cooking and eating, but it seemed as though 85% of this book was common sense. To be fair, the first few pages were mind-blowing to me, purely because I had assumed I would be feeding my baby purees. So all it took were a few basic facts about baby self-feeding before I was sold. As others have noted, this book could have been a pamphlet, not 239 pages.

This book was clearly written by and for mothers who both 1) worry about everything and 2) are surrounded by family and friends who constantly weigh in on how they are parenting and thus need an arsenal of explanations to defend their own choices and 3) Need 239 pages of reassurance that everything will be OK and 4) are utterly lacking confidence that they will make discoveries about how to feed their child along a bumpy road, and thus need a detailed map of every conceivably possible obstacle that they might encounter. This book is exhausting, and depressing.

I kept reading though, because there were a handful of useful nuggets sprinkled sparsely throughout. So maybe I can spare you the agony of wading through the repetition, conjecture, obvious statements, and overblown worries by summarizing the salient parts.

1. Babies do not like to be force-fed mush on a spoon. They are programmed to want to copy their parents and do become independent and explore different textures. Eating should be fun.
2. The process of figuring out how to chew and swallow a wide variety of types of food can help the fine muscles required for talking, so it might help the development of speech.
3. Younger babies gag reflex is triggered much closer to the front of the mouth than older babies and adults, which might help prevent choking on food before the baby is ready to swallow.
4. Don't worry if your baby is not consuming large quantities of food before age 1. Trust that when baby needs food for the extra nutrients, they will eat.
5. Trust that your baby will choose the foods that they need. They often go through "fads" where they will only want to eat one or two types of food. This is common, and it means that the baby needs some nutrient in that food. Every child has unique tastes and nutritional needs.
6. Trust that your baby will not decide to live off of chocolate chips. Babies who have control over what they eat, for whom eating is enjoyable, will most likely choose a balanced diet for optimal health.
7. As for dos and don'ts foodwise for the under-one crowd: No honey, no nuts, limit tuna and sardines (mercury), slice grapes down the middle, limit high-fiber foods (like bran) that can be too filling, limit salt. No packaged food, no junk food, no sugary deserts. Talk to your pediatrician about introducing foods if your family has a history of allergies or intolerances.

OK, that's it! If you still have questions after reading this, then by all means go ahead and read the whole book.

Bonus: there were some truly weird passages in the book too, including:

1) A complaint from a mother who claimed that making purees for her child took two hours each night. LADY. What are you doing?
2) Seemingly 34.6% of this book could be summarized as: "Baby-Led Weaning is Messy, OMG, How will you ever survive - but don't worry, you can clean up the mess! Babies are babies."
3) A food suggestion that made me laugh out loud: "celery (strings removed)". HAHAHA. Can you imagine? I'm crying laughing thinking about spending 20 minutes de-stringing celery (which has like zero calories and trace nutrients anyway) only for baby to reject it. HAHA.
4) This totally weird anecdote, provided without citation: "There is research that suggests that we get particular enjoyment out of eating crunchy foods. It seems that massive bursts of ultrasound are generated with the very first bite and that these trigger pleasure receptors in the brain." Something about this screams: "hey, I read this on the internet somewhere, and it NEEDS to go in the book!" Yay random factoids. Sorry, it might be true, but in the context of a book that boasts NINE (9) total references, two of which are dictionaries (?), this is, um, discombobulating.

The longest one-star review ever?

[Gavrish Nastya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Відгук: https://www.instagram.com/p/DC4OEZbN7...

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

I liked a lot of the ideas in this book - feed a baby what adults are eating, let them decide when to feed themselves, let them choose from several options at mealtimes. The ideas behind these things were to raise a child who was not picky and was confident.

Well, the problem with the book is that it is not based on any sort of science. It's completely anecdotal and frankly some of the anecdotes seem kind of forced. There's no evidence that feeding babies purees is in any way bad, and in fact I was fed that way, and I'm the most secure, adventurous eater I know.

It has influenced me to give Sasha pieces of food now and then to see what she does with them - like turkey cold cut in the grocery store, piece of cantaloupe, green bean from my plate at dinner. That's fun and I think it's good for her to experiment. But if the book were more rigorously researched, I'd have better reason to omit cereals and purees - which for now I am not.

[Kathrin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Als Einstieg in das Thema fand ich das Buch ganz brauchbar, allerdings neigt es dazu die grundlegenden Annahmen immer und immer wieder zu wiederholen. Das hat dem Lesefluss nicht geholfen. Am Ende war es mir dann etwas zu theoretisch und zu wenig praktisch. Zum Glück gibt es unzählige Online-Ressourcen, über die man sich weiter informieren kann.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was pretty good. It was a little bit repetitive, but that’s OK . It seemed to want to convince me to do baby led weaning, but I was already convinced, which is why I was reading the book. I read the whole book and I still didn’t really know where to start, so I can’t really describe this as a how-to guide. More of a philosophical text. Here Are my takeaways which I am preserving here on Goodreads for posterity and for my nephews

Basic principle: Babies are happier doing things for themselves and it helps them learn.

What is BLW: During BLW, the baby sits with the family and is encouraged to explore food as soon as she is interested, it does not matter whether she eats any. Food is offered in pieces that the baby can handle easily rather than as purées. It should start at six months.

Spoon feeding: it is harder for babies to figure out how to avoid gagging when they are spoon fed. being spoon fed means you are not in control of how much you eat or how fast. the problem is not the spoon itself; it is who is controlling it.

Purées: if you just rely on purées babies don’t develop their chewing skills. Chewing skills are needed for safe eating. It’s easier to manipulate and chew your food when it starts off at the front of the mouth; this can’t happen if you’re being spoonfed a purée. food that is thoroughly chewed is easier for the stomach than food that has been swallowed quickly, like a purée. purées can lead to tooth decay because pureeing releases sugar. Babies need to practice on foods that stimulate chewing not on foods that can be swallowed without being needing to be chewed at all.

Benefits of BLW: it’s fun, babies are part of the family meal time, babies learn about real food, babies learn to trust food, babies learn to eat safely, babies get better nutrition, learn appetite control, improve dexterity,gain confidence, fewer food battles.

Development: milk is sucked directly to the back of the baby’s mouth, but solid food must be actively moved there. This is something the baby cannot do until they learn to bite and chew, so for a while any food will fall out of the mouth until the baby learns to gather chewed food into a bolus. at nine months, the baby develops the pincer grip. If the baby gets to feed itself, they get lots of chances to practice.

Motivation: at six months, the motivation for a baby to put food in their mouth has nothing to do with hunger. They are just curious and want to copy what others are doing. The motivation for handling food only changes when the baby makes the connection to hunger. this happens between eight months and one year.

Milk feedings: between six and nine months the amount of milk your baby drinks will stay the same while solid foods increase.

Gag reflex: gagging is a retching movement that pushes food forward if the amount is too big to be swallowed. gagging doesn’t bother babies who are feeding themselves and they usually carry on. the gag reflex on a baby is further forward on the tongue than on an adult so when a six month old baby is gagging, it very rarely means they are in danger of choking. Scan reflex is a safety mechanism, but for it to work effectively, the baby must be sitting upright so that any food that has gone too far back is pushed forward by the reflex.

Cough reflex: coughing happens when the airway is under threat. if babies are upright and leaning forward, it is usually best not to disturb them while this reflex is operating. coughing as a sign that your baby is dealing with the problem

Choking: a baby who is choking is silent and needs someone to Dislodge the lump. Choking is more likely if 1. the food is a particular risk 2. if someone else has put the food in the baby’s mouth 3. if the baby is leaning back or 4. if the baby is distracted. allowing a baby to feed herself means that she is in control and having control helps to keep her safe. Exploring food with their hands helps babies to make predictions about how to best manage each mouthful.

Getting started: babies are happiest when they feel included. Make sure your baby can’t fall and that she is in a fully upright position. All you need to do at six months is to include your baby whenever you eat as long as she isn’t tired or grumpy. In the early weeks of solids, meal times have nothing to do with hunger. They are about play, sharing, and copying others— opportunities to learn rather than to actually eat. BLW works best if you are giving your baby milk whenever she wants it. that way she can take as much milk as she needs and enjoy exploring solid foods as a separate activity. Offer food that is easy and safe for your baby to pick up and bring to her mouth. Babies of six months use their whole hand to pick things up in a Palmer grip. They need the food to stick out beyond their palm because they can’t open their fist on purpose to get to it. Fingers of food at least 2 inches long will mean that half the length of the food is available for eating while the other half is a handle for the baby to hold it with. By Nine months they can use their pincer grip. You are offering suitable food; it is up to the baby whether or not she eats it. Put hot food on a plate that has been in the fridge to help it cool down.

How much: you can offer your baby three or four different things to start with. Be prepared to have more food ready to offer or to pass back the food she has dropped. Provide a small selection of foods and don’t worry about whether she eats any of it.

Learning: learning involves making mistakes. It’s important to let your baby find her own way to manage food and not give her more help than she actually needs. Interfering too much may confuse her. She also doesn’t need to be praised when she gets it right. dropped Food is not a failure and eaten Food is not a success. It’s just an interesting part of the experiment. Babies will gag in the early days. This may look alarming. But stay calm and be reassuring. She will naturally stop gagging once she learns how to avoid it.

Take your time : babies need to take their time when they are learning so it’s important not to rush them. Babies like to leave food while they explore other things, but they may want to come back to them later. Grazing like this is common so don’t clean up too early. As much as possible your baby should not be the only one eating.

Expect mess: babies don’t understand that the food needs to be cleaned up. They are engaged in the important activity of learning. The more relaxed you can be the faster. The baby will learn. The secret to coping with the mess is to prepare for it in advance. That means dress appropriately, protect the area, don’t rush, and give your baby plenty of opportunities to practice.

The secrets of BLW:
-meal time is playtime, not for eating
-Keep giving milk whenever the baby wants
-Eat with the baby and include her in your meal times sharing the same food
-Offer your baby a small selection of foods that are easy for her to pick up
-Don’t expect her to eat very much food at first
-expect mess
-Keep it enjoyable for everyone this will encourage your baby to explore. That way she’ll be eager to try new foods and look forward to meal times.

Avoid added salt. Babies under one year should have no more than 1 g of salt per day. Add your salt at the table not in cooking.

Allergies: wait a few days between foods you are concerned about, to spot an allergic reaction. Trust your baby if they refuse a food

Key to ensuring your baby has enough to eat is to always offer more without any expectation that she will eat it

Allowing children to make decisions about food, doesn’t encourage them to become fussy; it’s generally children who feel they have no control over their eating who are more likely to be picky later in life

Babies are grazers and should be offered food about six or more times a day

Cups: start offering your baby water with her food at six months. Let your baby practice with a real cup at home rather than a sippy cup to help her learn faster. This will be better for her teeth and for the development of her mouth. Choose a cup that is about the size of an espresso cup.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was quite helpful and I’ve captured my notes below. 4 stars because I could have done with the sanctimonious tone (or the pointless parent testimonials on every page). For these authors, BLW is the only conscionable way to feed your child without ruining their relationship to food forever (and also you should be breastfeeding for 2 years at least) (24). They recommend no pouches at all (143). They make BLW seem suspiciously easy: “no need to buy or prepare any special foods for her” because “all you need to do at six months is to start to include your baby whenever you eat” (78-79). They also say absurd stuff like venison, partridge, rabbit, duck, and goose would be very nutritious choices for your baby (201). Emily Oster says there is no evidence that BLW is better than purees, but I’m willing to give this a go.

Interestingly, our pediatrician asked us to try solids before our 6th month appointment (so we could discuss at the visit) but this book says “giving solid foods earlier than six months is not good for babies” because it is less nutrient dense than breastmilk but fills up the baby, decreasing their appetite for breastmilk and leaving baby less well nourished and more prone to infections (12).

Benefits of BLW
- Develops baby’s chewing skills, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination (2)
- Avoids gagging and choking because baby manipulates and chews food at the front of the mouth vs. spoon-feeding when food tends to be sucked straight to the back of the mouth (28)
- Kickstarts the digestive process by mixing food with saliva (32)
- Food pureed in advance is lower in vitamin C and higher in sugar, posing a risk for tooth decay and encouraging a liking for extra sweet flavors (32)

Coughing vs. gagging vs. choking
- Coughing- airway is open and object is propelled forward by a sharp blast of air from the lungs, not the tongue (64)
- Gagging- retching movement from the tongue which is triggered farther forward on the tongue of a baby than an adult, which means a gagging baby is rarely in danger of choking; if baby gags, stay calm and be reassuring (63, 94)
- Choking- choking baby is silent and needs someone to dislodge the lump for him using first aid measures; four major risks of choking include: 1) offering choking risk foods; 2) someone else putting food in the baby’s mouth; 3) being distracted or hurried while eating; 4) leaning-back position, which includes eating in a reclining chair, stroller, or car seat; if he needs extra support, use your hands to keep him stable on your lap or tuck a small rolled-up towel around his hips (65-66, 81)

Best practices
- Offer 3-4 different things to start with (e.g., carrot, broccoli, large strip of meat) (89)
- Make sure the tray is not too high in relation to the seat; if baby’s chest is level with the tray, he won’t be able to reach food easily (104)
- Eat with your baby whenever possible because they learn by copying (92)
- At the end of the meal, make a game of asking him to open his mouth wide (or getting him to copy you) to check for food that he tucked away for later (92)
- Offer food as meals or snacks about 6+ times per day for several years (170)

What NOT to do
- Don’t praise baby when he gets it right (93)
- Don’t try to help or guide, which can be distracting (93)
- Don’t pay too much attention to your baby while he’s eating (96)
- If early days and baby is hungry, he wants milk; he has no idea that other foods can fill him up and won’t enjoy being put in a high chair and given pieces of food to play with (167)

Foods to avoid
- Added salt is the single most important ingredient to avoid; babies under 1 year should have no more than 1 gram of salt; a good rule is don’t offer your baby more than 1 salty food per day; multiplying the amount of sodium by 2.5 will tell you the equivalent milligrams of salt (120, 122)
- Avoid added sugar; try mashed banana, dried fruit, or molasses instead (120, 123)
- Avoid low fat versions of milk, cheese, or yogurt; do the full fat version because babies burn up energy easily (124)
- No more than 1 portion of oily fish (sardines, trout, mackerel, salmon) per week because of concerns about mercury; avoid swordfish at all (120, 126)
- Avoid honey before age one (120)
- Avoid rice milk (which contains arsenic) and soy milk (high levels of aluminum and plant estrogens) (120)
- Avoid grapes and cherry tomatoes (unless cut into halves or quarters); cherries, olives or plums with pits; coin shaped pieces of carrot; whole nuts until age three (135)
- Too much insoluble fiber (whole wheat bread and pasta, wheat bran) is bad for babies; soluble fiber (oats, fruit, peas, lentils, chickpeas, brown rice) is okay (194)

Food ideas
- Meat is an important first food because it contains iron and zinc; try chicken legs, ground meat in patties, or stewed meat; cut pork, beef, and lamb across fibers but cut poultry along the fibers otherwise it is too crumbly to hold (129)
- Also try strips of firm omelet, roasted vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, eggplant, rutabaga, zucchini), steamed vegetables (green beans, baby corn, snow peas, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, broccoli), fruits in wedges (melon, papaya, apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, mangos, avocados), plain rice cakes or fingers of toast, fish fingers, falafel or lentil patties (132)

Drinking
- Milk should be treated as food, not a drink, and only used in cooking or with breakfast cereals until age one (139)
- Take out any small pieces of food he may have dropped in his cup before he drinks to minimize risk of choking (174)
- Sippy cups are okay for travel but let your baby practice with a real cup at home, which is better for teeth and development of his mouth (175)
- Choose a cup that is the size of a shot glass or espresso cup (175)
- Easier to manage a full cup than a half-full cup because it doesn’t need to be tipped as far (175)

Bumps in the road
- Fairly common for babies to go through a lull between 7 and 9 months (149)
- Some babies go days without apparently eating much at all and then switch to eating everything in sight (157)
- May go through a fad where baby only wants bananas (163)

[Adina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea of the book appeals to me. I went for a mixt approach on weaning which for the BLW "faithfuls" is a capital sin. This cult feeling of BLW adopters is one of the reason I only give the book 3 stars. No approach to weaning or to other aspects of motherhood is black or white. However, with BLW you either leave the child to completely feed herself or it is cheating an you not a real BLW-er. In my opinion, each child is different and a parent should listen to his needs. I was very sad that my daughter did not accept anything more than a very smooth puree although i offered her alternatives almost from the beginning. Guess what, now at 9 months she suddenly decided she only wants to eat by herself, no more purees. Yes to omelettes, muffins, no to old favourites such as yogurt with fruits. The other one does not want to eat by himself but will eat everything. The book is also too long, it repeats itself endlessly.

As a result, it is a good idea but one should also listen to their baby.

[Tatevik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite informative and useful for a beginner. It contained everything I googled and watched on YouTube, plus more. So, if you are lazy to check everything, this is just for you. I don't think I had any questions left! However, the same information was repeated over and over again (not complaining though, I always forget what I read and usually go back to check☺️).
Also, sometimes I thought it was artificially prolonged. With all the information included it might be a good long article.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did help with my confidence in introducing solids to baby. However, about 50% of the book is “quotes” and “stories” from parents. This is not helpful to introducing solids and is just filler to add pages to the book.
Also, the amount of times over-eating is brought up is a little ridiculous as well. Once, maybe twice, is enough to get the picture. But it’s mentioned in almost every paragraph.

That’s not to say I didn’t take away anything from this book, but my rating went from 4 to 3 stars because of the recommendation to wait to introduce nuts until 2-3 years old. Maybe I’m reading an older version of the book (borrowed from the library), but it’s outdated and (in my opinion) harmful advice.

[Julia Tulloh Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basic premise of this book is good - let your baby feed themselves, feed them what you eat (as opposed to preparing special 'baby foods', like purees). I think you could get the actual practical info online though without going through this whole book which is pretty repetitive and self-righteous.
The tone of this book is annoying- the author is also extremely dogmatic for someone who has very little science to back up their claims ('Baby led weaning' seems based on her masters degree research, which, as far as I could see online, had a sample size of five - FIVE - infants). I'm not saying the actual info in the book is wrong - most of it seems to be good common sense (for example: baby eating is messy so don't stress about it, feed them a wide variety of healthy foods, don't let your baby choke). But the relentless way in which the writer basically shames parents who puree-feed their babies is pretty tiring, especially when her claims about purees aren't even accurate in my experience. In the book purees are consistently presented as a way of 'force feeding' your child (whereas my baby loves them, can't get enough -AND she likes finger foods too, one doesn't have to cancel out the other!) and purees are also presented as a time-consuming evil (but really, blending veggies is a thousand times faster than preparing dinner for my husband and myself). The author also presents BLW as the panacea to a range of ills (BLW and your baby will never overeat! They will never be fussy about their food! They will have a better digestive tract! They will have more developed fine-motor skills!) again with no evidence (literally no citations in the whole book). What is most worrying are the repetitive claims that breast milk is enough for your child even if they don't eat solids till 10 months or later, which is untrue - babies can develop a serious iron deficiency if iron-rich foods aren't introduced from around 6 months.
Again, the basic premise is great - but I don't think you need the book. I think getting the practical info from the website, as well as discussing eating solids with your doctor and maternal/child health nurse, and getting practical tips from other mums, would be more productive.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leave it to me to think I need to read a book about introducing solids to my THIRD child. It's not like I haven't done this before. But with my first two, it was frustrating, stressful, and many times not fun. I'm hoping to change all of that this go-around.

While I liked the subject and totally agree with the premise, the execution was highly repetitive (how many times can you say "trust your baby and let him eat as his own pace"?)and aggravatingly simplistic (do you really think I need you to tell me that if I want to cut down on the mess, a bib is quite useful?). My very favorite want-to-poke-my-eyes-out-because-I-can't-believe-you're-telling-me-this sentence was about introducing drinks: "As long as you aren't using something that could break if she bit it (such as a wineglass), or drinking something unsuitable (such as alcohol), just let her try." Thank you SO MUCH for the clarifications.

Also, in some ways this book stressed me out less (because I think introducing food, as well as mealtimes, will be so much easier), but in other ways it stressed me out more (because so much of the book focused on nutritious food and watching the salt and sugar content in what we normally think of as "healthy" foods).

So the long and short of it is this gets four stars for the subject, but said subject could have been contained in its entirety in a pamphlet instead of 226 pages.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading this book concurrently with Child of Mine and Parents Need to Eat Too, and there was a lot of similar information - babies can eat a lot of the things parents eat, there's no need to rush solids, meals should be enjoyable. Baby-Led Weaning had a lot of good suggestions for potential foods as well, but it was a bit extremist in some respects. The authors's take was that if the baby can't feed it to himself he doesn't need to be eating it. No purees or mesh feeders. In my (admittedly extremely limited) experience those tools allow a baby to enjoy some foods that would otherwise be really frustrating. He won't be using the mesh feeder to eat bananas a year from now, but for now banana is awesome and extremely slippery, a problem solved by the feeder. Anyway, like most parenting advice books , some helpful bits and some bits I'll just ignore.

[Desiree · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly referenced , some good ideas but very militant in pushing her view point which is largely based on her experiment with a small group of families that she used as part of her masters degree in nursing. The information about diet could be well researched but there is no documentation to support her claims. The reference page is terribly short and includes two dictionaries. I think this falls under the "reader beware": when read with common sense and paired with good instincts and other research it can be helpful. The problem is that this, as with many other parenting books, is written as more of a gospel than an idea.

[Callie Hornbuckle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the idea of food as sensory play, and not obsessing over how much the baby eats at first. There was a whiff of "your baby will be ruined if you don't do it this way," which I took with a big grain of salt. And the book was quite repetitive - the key concepts could easily be reduced to key points on a single sheet of paper. Despite all that, I found the arguments for waiting until 6 months and avoiding purees to be compelling enough that I will strongly consider following this method.

[Tatiana Le Feuvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am convinced to try the approach. To update later on how it went!

The book is purely anecdote and common sense based. Unfortunately there is still no science on baby-led weaning since it exists since some 2010. 3 stars because I prefer more “dense” books, all the repetitions could be cut out. Still useful if you are doubting if you want to try BLW and prepare the arguments “to fight” grandparents and other doubters.

[Aja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on how to do babyled weaning properly. After reading this book, I’ve learned that most parents I’ve talked to who thought they did babyled weaning actually did not. What I really like about babyled weaning is essentially you are allowing the innate abilities that God instills in babies to lead the way. It seems that most interventions that occur when a child learns to eat have unintended consequences down the line such as picky eating habits, choking hazards, temper tantrums at mealtimes, etc. It makes sense when I evaluate my own strange eating habits! Why do I have issues with certain textures? Why don’t I like my food touching? Why does the look of some foods just give me the ick? The way children are fed young can affect them throughout childhood and even into adulthood, and I hope my children will be much better eaters than I. All in all the book was very informative, simple to do, and explains a method that supports the way babies were intended to start eating.

[Samantha Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used this book in conjunction with Solid Starts and babyledweanteam (Katie something) to introduce solids to our baby and it has been wonderful. This book really helped build my confidence when I was prepping to start solids and feeling nervous about how to go about it safely. I think some of the nutritional advice is outdated imho but you can make it work for your family and what your family eats which is another positive of baby led weaning. Our baby eats what we eat at the table with us (I just modify her food to be safe for her age like if I’m eating blueberries, I squish hers first and then hand them to her) and it’s really been fairly hassle free and enjoyable. She has gotten good at different textures and sizes of foods and picks up and tries the things she wants. I’m really glad I was led to these resources.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overloaded and expanded with topics that are not directly related to BLW. Very repetetive (we get it - stop persuading your babies to eat more - no need to say it 25 more times). However, BLW-related chapters were useful (gagging and choking reflexes explained, food preparation for a baby to be able to grasp, etc).

[Sam Kwiatkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have done without the anecdotes. I don’t feel like they added anything. And wish the book shared a bit more about what to serve babies and how, instead of just saying they can eat what you eat!

[Rachel Segerstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

About what you would expect - an educational book that could’ve been read in 40 pages rather than 200+. Biased / contradicted perspective at times. I would’ve appreciated more food ideas / lists / safety

[Kristen Clayton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have liked more references and fewer anecdotes, 2.5

[Adrienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concept is fantastic, but it’s very repetitive.