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Baby-Led Weaning, Completely Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary Edition: The Essential Guide—How to Introduce Solid Foods and Help Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater by [Gill Rapley PhD, Tracey Murkett]

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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 Up a Happy and Confident Eater Kindle Edition

by Gill Rapley PhD (Author), Tracey Murkett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

1,362 ratings

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From the founders of Baby-Led Weaning: This is the authoritative guide to starting solid foods at your child’s pace—as they start the transition away from breastmilk or formula as early as 6 months—with no stress, no fuss, and no mush!

Ten years ago, Baby-Led Weaning ended the myth that babies need to be spoon-fed purées. In fact, at about six months, most babies are ready to discover solid food for themselves. Today, baby-led weaning (BLW) is a global phenomenon—and this tenth anniversary edition of the definitive guide explains all its benefits:

Baby participates in family meals right from the start, and learns to love a variety of foods.
Nutritious milk feedings continue while Baby transitions to solids at his or her own pace.
By self-feeding, Baby develops hand-eye coordination, chewing skills—and confidence!

Plus, this edition is updated with the latest research on allergy prevention and feeding Baby safely, a guide to using BLW at daycare, and much more. Here is everything you need to know about teaching your child healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

Print length

256 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

The Experiment
Publication date

July 23, 2019
File size

10610 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of the National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) Honors Award, 2011

“Baby-led weaning . . . might be the best thing to happen in the high chair since the invention of the bib.”—Parents

“[Rapley and Murkett] encourage parents to forgo the usual baby puree and move straight to whole foods while continuing to breastfeed primarily after a baby is six months old. Their arguments are scientifically sound, especially when it comes to muscle development in the mouth, and they address the anticipated counterarguments. . . . If mine were little again, I would definitely try this. As long as mom is nursing, who says baby can’t eat lamb chops?”—Library Journal

“It sounds like common sense: After all, would you want to be strapped into a high chair and force-fed spoon after spoon of bland vegetables? It’s surely much more exciting to be able to exercise a bit of control over your diet.”—Guardian

“I’ve been telling mothers for years that when babies start grabbing food from the table, they are ready for solids. I had the pleasure of observing this with my own children. What I love about this book is the joy and zest the authors put into parenting, their commonsense approach, and their faith that babies will do the right things for themselves when the time is right. Baby-led weaning is easy, and it makes parenting fun!”—Nikki Lee, RN, MS, IBCLC

“Watching [baby Mirah] respond to the pleasures of ripe tomatoes, curried rice noodles, and all kinds of meats and vegetables has made mealtime a much more enjoyable experience for all three of us. We can tell she is learning through all of her senses. . . . and since we are generally sharing the same meal, I am more likely to make us all something healthy.”—Aimee Pohl, Babble.com

“No purees, no ice cube trays, no food processor, no potato masher . . . just you and your child, eating food that you enjoy . . . [My baby] adored feeding herself while her parents ate their own meals. I can’t even begin to tell you how pleasant it is to eat in a restaurant with your Baby Led Weaning child chomping on a piece of bread and butter or a chunk of cucumber from your salad beside you.”—Aitch, founder of Babyledweaning.com

About the Author

Gill Rapley, PhD, has studied infant feeding and child development for many years. She worked as a public health nurse for over twenty years and has also been a midwife and a voluntary breastfeeding counselor. She developed the theory of baby-led weaning while studying babies’ developmental readiness for solids as part of her master’s degree and has since been awarded a PhD for research comparing spoon-feeding with self-feeding. Gill lives in Kent, England, with her husband and has three grown children, all of whom tried their best to show her that they didn’t need any help with solid foods.

Tracey Murkett is a writer, journalist, and breastfeeding peer supporter. After following baby-led weaning with her own daughter, she wanted to let other parents know how enjoyable and stress-free mealtimes with babies and young children can be. She lives in London with her partner and their daughter.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07H3GS91K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Experiment; Updated, Expanded, Anniversary edition (July 23, 2019)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 23, 2019
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 10610 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #166,646 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #7 in Breastfeeding
- #16 in Baby Food
- #62 in Baby Food Cooking

Customer Reviews:
1,362 ratings

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Gill Rapley

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Gill Rapley is the pioneering champion of baby-led weaning. She has studied infant feeding and child development for many years, gaining a Masters degree in 2005 and a PhD in 2015. She worked as a health visitor (public health nurse) for more than 20 years, and has also been a midwife, lactation consultant, and breastfeeding counselor. She lives in Kent, England, with her husband, and has three grown-up children, all of whom tried their best to show her that they didn’t need any help with solid foods.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

1,362 global ratings

5 star		78%
4 star		12%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Zetta

Good concept, book is a little long and drawn out

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

One of my cousins has recently had a baby, and I was very impressed with how my cousin's baby was handling food. My cousin recommended this book as of one that got her started on baby led weaning.
I appreciate the book explaining their theories behind it, and why it works, and why the period that and baby food methods may not be the best idea.
The book made enough sense that I'm giving my copy to my mom to read that message she will be a regular babysitter, I want her to understand and tomorrow along with ideas.
That said, this was not a book I feel the need to keep and reread. It explained the concept and then the rest of the book seem to just be repetitions of the same idea.
I do intend to follow this method for my child in the future, However, that will more be because I've seen a child trying food this way and succeeding, than because of this book.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 19, 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a great introduction to baby-led weaning. To the reviewers who say this book is biased, well DUH. These are the authors who came up with the term BLW, what did they expect...And even though the book says NOT to do purees with BLW, parents can literally feed their kids the way they want. UGH, no one's holding a gun to their head to do "BLW or nothing"...

3 people found this helpful

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kaleb yoebstl

Down the rabbit hole

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 30, 2022

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This book was the beginning in a long journey for me and my wife into led weaning for our daughter

One person found this helpful

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J. C.

Not preachy just inconvenient truth

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 16, 2021

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People posting saying this is biased or preachy are the same folks who think facts are subjective when those facts don't conform to the narrative they prefer. Spoon feeding isn't ideal and this book spells out why. I enjoyed it and I'm glad I got it before attempting spoon feeding. If you're trying to decide which method is for you- this book is a good counter to the pro-spoon feeding side.

3 people found this helpful

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Brandon & Isabelle

Eyes Opened!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2020

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Love, love, love this book! I spoon fed my three older children and had no idea there was another way! We are very excited to try this "system/method" when our little man reaches 6 months.

The book itself is a nice easy quick read. I finished it within a couple of days. The chapters are well organized and easy quick reads. The author covers everything from foods to avoid, how to prepare foods so your baby will be able to "eat" them easier, how your baby should be seated for safe eating and so much more!

I highly recommend to all new parents!

8 people found this helpful

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KDCAP

Good if you’re still deciding if you want to try BLW

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 16, 2021

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I enjoyed the book but a lot of it is convincing you to try BLW. By the time I decided to purchase the book I had already decided to do BLW. I was hoping this would be more of a guide with tips. Although this information is provided in the book the point of the book seems to be more focused on convincing the reader to do baby led weaning.

One person found this helpful

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Fallon

Informative but biased

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 21, 2020

Verified Purchase

I found this book informative about BLW. I found out about BLW after I already started purees so I wanted to do some research and this book was recommended to me. It's very informative and helps parents learn the ins and outs of BLW. Unfortunately like most parenting advice books, it's an all or nothing approach. There was a section in the book that addresses using BLW after already being on purees for a few months and the response was basically "well, I mean your baby COULD benefit from it... But their chance to learn about different textures is already gone so I guess you could still use BLW if you wanted but you will have a hard time". I found this response strange as humans are capable of learning new things and acquiring new skills well into our 90s and beyond, but for some reason babies are only capable of learning about new textures and a new way of eating at EXACTLY 6 months and no later. So if your goal is to learn about BLW I would suggest this book, but don't make it your Bible. Take the info that works for you and your baby and don't be mislead by the all or nothingness approach. Btw, I tried BLW for the first time today and my daughter loved it. She really enjoyed discovering her avocado unmashed and her omelette. My dog enjoyed the dropped pieces too 😆. BLW really beings the ENTIRE family to the table haha

56 people found this helpful

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travelgirl_eu

Yuck!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 17, 2020

Verified Purchase

I am the proud mama of twin girls, who are babies #3 and 4. In the past, I made 90% of my baby food from scratch but was now hoping to find something easier since I now have four kids, two of them infants, and homeschool. I had dismissed baby led weaning in the past because of my fear of the oft-mentioned gagging, but a podcast that I follow convinced me to give this book a try. Ugh. I've read a lot of parenting books in my time, and this one ranks at the bottom. No parenting book should ever guilt-trip you into following their method, but this one sure tries. The authors definitely have an agenda, and it's baby led weaning (BLW) or nothing. Ever spoon-fed your child a puree? You were doing it WRONG! And your child will PROBABLY or POSSIBLY turn into an overweight picky eater who demonstrates traumatic reactions to food as a toddler because you did it for them at six months old. Of course the authors have to use "probably" and "possibly" a lot when advocating for their method because it doesn't seem lack any actual research backs them up -- at least they don't cite any. Hmm... Supposedly this is easy, but get ready to invent an entirely new meal plan/recipe system because you can't really just give your baby everything you're having unless you cook perfectly whole foods from scratch (anything not 100% homemade is going to have too much sodium and added sugar). I try, I really try, but I was looking for something easier, so this caveat is not helpful. We all need to use a jar of store-bought spaghetti sauce every once in a while. Oh, and be ready to give your baby lots of time (45 minutes is suggested) to explore and play with their food. Hold up. And of course it's food, so they could choke, so never walk away. Wasn't this supposed to be easier. They also bang over and over on their drum that any extra foods besides mama's milk or formula are really unnecessary nutrition-wise. I've heard numerous pediatricians say otherwise, particularly in regards to iron. Having had a child who had to have iron supplements in addition to the intentional, high-iron diet that I was already providing, just letting your baby play with their food up until they are 12 months does not seem like nutritionally sound advice. We have two weeks to go until my twins hit six months and we need to start solids. Unfortunately, I didn't gain much from this book except a guilt-trip.

P.S. Someone should tell the authors that hundreds of anecdotes (that continually only repeat the latest assertion made by the authors) a sound argument do not make. Spare time is not something that I have in great quantities, but this book was so dogmatic yet without sound research that I've been mad enough to come and write a review.

156 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

AEC

Not as helpful as expected

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 9, 2020

Verified Purchase

I thought this would contain recipes and actual practical feeding advice such as when to introduce each type of food, but it seems mostly to be about the idea of baby-led weaning. Probably my fault for not researching properly but I was hoping for a guide on what to actually give my baby, rather than a book about why the author thinks baby led weaning is best

18 people found this helpful

Anneka

Read this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

This book is brilliant. I read it 9 years ago with my daughter and have suggested it to everyone since. I bought a copy specifically to lend out! If you read any baby book make it this one, baby led weaning, in my experience, is the best.

3 people found this helpful