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.
"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
"Gill Rapley's work is amazing and makes so much sense. I recommend
this groundbreaking book to every new mother I know. Read it. It
will forever change the way you think about feeding your baby."
--Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, PhD, IBCLC, clinical associate
professor of pediatrics, Texas Tech University School of Medicine,
and coauthor of Breastfeeding Made Simple
STARRED REVIEW--"Nurse Rapley and freelance writer 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, e.g., the need for
iron-fortified cereal at six months. Some parents will be concerned
about their lax approach to the order of allowable foods and
especially their lack of concern about nuts, but allergic warnings
are given where necessary. 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
"The benefits are great"
--Independent
"Sharing food with Mirah has turned out to be one of the great joys
of parenting. Watching her 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 about how various substances respond to being crumbled or
dropped or mushed. She seems to really like that she is eating the
same foods as we are, and since we are generally sharing the same
meal, I am more likely to make us all something healthy."
--Aimee Pohl, Babble.com
"I see many happy children, who chose their own food independently
and eat at their own pace."
--Stefan Kleintjes, pediatric dietitian
"It's been wonderful, and very funny, watching her discover food,
her great concentration in navigating new textures and exploring
new tastes... One of our favourite things about BLW is its emphasis
on families eating together."
--Nicola Kent, The Guardian
"You just hand them the food in a suitably-sized piece and if they
like it they eat it and if they don't they won't... That's the
essence of Baby Led Weaning. No purees, no ice cube trays, no food
processor, no potato masher . . . just you and your child, eating
food that you enjoy with you and your family . . . My baby is
nearly seven months old and . . . 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
"As a child psychiatrist, I have worked on a team for children with
feeding difficulties... One of the main things I would recommend to
these families is giving the child control, and allowing them to
have small successes to build on rather than pushing food on them
and ending up in a battle . . . I believe strongly in baby led play
(again, something I would teach at work) and baby led routines
rather than routines being forced on babies to suit parents'
lifestyles (as suggested by at least one popular parenting book).
So this intuitively makes sense to me."
--Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist
(psychiatristparent.wordpress.com)
"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."
--The Guardian
"[Baby-led weaning] makes life so much easier."
--The Times, London
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