WEANING MADE EASY Paperback – 21 October 2011

I wish every mother out there would have a chance to read this book, and i would offer it as a gift to new mothers whenever possible. It is completely science based and empowers you to make the most informative decisions that is suitable for your baby and family.

If you are looking for a weaning book that is written by a self-styled celebrity cook, which strongly pushes a particular weaning method and disregards all others, and focuses on weird combinations of food that the rest of the family would not dream of eating..... then this book is NOT for you!!!I cannot rate this book highly enough. I was looking for a book about weaning that explained traditional (puree-based) and baby-led weaning so that I could choose the best way to wean my first child (now seven months). This book starts off by explaining both methods, the research behind them and the pros and cons of each (for example, that research clearly shows that using BLW alone can cause nutritional deficiencies or that puree-based weaning alone can lead to a lack of independence at meal times). It goes on to suggest how the two methods can be successfully combined in order to overcome the disadvantages of each method. The book is written by a qualified nutritionist with over 18 years of experience, who has established herself as an expert in nutrition for pregnancy and childhood, and has carried out nutrition research at leading universities. She also has three children. It's your choice, but I felt much more comfortable following advice from someone with these credentials, who backs up all her suggestions with proof from controlled scientific studies, rather than someone like Annabel Karmel who is a bit of a celebrity but has no actual nutrition qualifications as far as I can find out. Also, this book has only just been published and so the research quoted is recent and relevant.There are comprehensive explanations at the start of all the different nutrients required and how to incorporate them, which foods to avoid and how to spot hidden "dangers" such as high salt, sugar etc. She also discusses what "organic food" actually means and gives advice on deciding whether this is for you or not, how to avoid being "taken in" by the baby food industry and buying baby foods you don't actually need, and when to start weaning (based on scientific research). Surprisingly for some perhaps, the advice is that it has not healthy to start weaning before four months of age but that it should be started before six months to avoid your child becoming anaemic. The advice of many health visitors to start after six months is actually outdated, and Dr Conway explains the research which backs up her advice regarding this matter.There are then chapters according to age of baby (4-6 months, 7-9 months, 9-12 months, toddlers and beyond) with advice for each stage, sample meal plans and recipes. There are comments throughout from parents about their own experiences of weaning. The recipes are extremely tasty in my opinion and introduce the baby to a wide variety of healthy flavourings (e.g. lemon juice, herbs, garlic, black pepper, etc.) Overall, the emphasis is on encouraging your baby to eat a completely balanced diet, gradually gaining experience of finger foods whilst being supplemented with pureed or mashed food to ensure all nutrients are provided, gradually learning to eat more and more "chunky" food rather than purees, and teaching your baby to (a) eat similar meals to those that he or she will be expected to share with the family later on (although without added salt etc.) and (b) eat with other members of the family to learn about the social aspect of eating. I think this is much more sensible than finding ingenious ways to disguise certain foods within other foods, as some other weaning books advise, because the child will still need to learn to eat normal food combinations later on.At every stage, the author advises how many breast-feeds per day or how much formula per day is required for optimum nutrition so that you know when to start dropping milk feeds and replacing them with food and water.The final chapters are dedicated to combating fussy eating (including babies that aren't keen to drink water), food allergies and intolerances, other dietary problems, premature babies and vegetarian babies.As a result of this book, I have a seven month old baby boy who loves meal times, eats a wide variety of foods (including many fruits and vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, dairy foods, etc, in fact the only thing he is not keen on so far is extra-mature cheddar cheese!), eats very lumpy textures with no problems, drinks plain water happily from a cup, and is rapidly gaining confidence with finger foods. I am sorry to have wittered on so extensively about this book but I am so thrilled with how weaning is progressing that I feel the need to share this book with everyone else.

From deciding to wean at 6 months and sticking to paediatrician vs dietician advice to wean from 5 months (which he will be in three days), we, well, HE, decided today is the day!!!!!I have been offering him everything I eat and safely to offer for a week now, he never opened his mouth to any. I wanted everything to be easy without me running out of time and panicking that he's still not eating, given that he is 6 weeks early I wasn't sure which advice to stick to (paediatrician or dietician)? After reading the first chapter and the one on premature baby's of Rana Conway's book, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.She explained that premature baby while they need more nutrients as they are low on reserve, their organs also mature faster than if they were on the womb, so their organs do catch up with full terms. Then to my surprise she quoted a study where preterms were weaned either (early 3 months), or on time. The early weaning group also had nutrient dense diet as veg and fruit alone can fill them with lower calories.Armed with evidence (although I haven't checked the strength of the study), I was happy to follow his dietician advice, after all she is more specialised on the subject.We are having some of his relatives staying with us next week, so I thought I'll start when they leave. .Meantime I continued offering food to his mouth. Today was a piece of bread and then carrot, he didn't open his mouth to either, so they went into mummy's tummy.Then after a reading breaks rom this book I had a nectarine. Offered the soft side after I bit it, and he sucked on it. ! He then started to really enjoy it with all these num num voices he was making! It was so unreal!Drank some mummy's milk afterwards then I put him in his bouncer dancing around in delight while preparing his dinner now (sweet potato carrot thinned with breast milk) and ours (spaghetti Bolognese). I cannot remember seeing him that happy on his own for this long!Never thought his first bite was going to be today, or was going to be nectarin, or was going to be a more of a blw (nectarin wasn't puréed), but thanks to Rana's book, it gave me the confidence to allow him to pick it all.Very happy mummy. X

This book explains the pros and cons of puree feeding and baby-led-weaning and let's you decide (without guilt) what you think is best for your baby. It was helpful for me to understand, so I could explain my final decision better to friends and family. I have decided to do baby-led weaning and no purees, but if I was somewhere where all I had was purees, I wouldn't have a problem feeding those to him too. I think the author did a good job to present both sides and help fight against the mommy wars. I read "Baby Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett after I read this one, and I don't think it really gave a guilt trip, but it was nice to understand both options first.Yes it's written by the British and they call doctors "healthcare visitors," but I don't think that took away from the content. "Baby Led Weaning" does the same thing. In fact, we call it "Baby Led Solids" in the U.S. to avoid confusion with stopping breastfeeding. You keep breastfeeding while letting baby slowly learn to eat solids on his own.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to start solids with my babe. I bought this book because I heard a lot about Baby Led Weaning but the pediatrician suggested rice cereal and purées. This gave me the information I was looking for without being biased. I appreciate that it gives pros and cons for both methods. We decided to use a combination approach. It seems silly to say but I didn't really realize that it didn't have to be one way or the other. We just do what works in the moment and my 5 month old is loving it.