Book Review: Baby Led Weaning by Gil Rapley and Tracey Murkett

Now, I am not a big fan of books that call themselves the essential anything, since the world and its people are too vast and different to have just one standard for for all. And indeed, little to my surprise, for people — like my family — who are on the paleo diet, lots of the dietary information is wrong. With our daughter, we did a kind of baby led weaning, before we knew such a thing existed, and we were planning on doing the same for our upcoming little one, so I was exited to read the book and maybe find out things I didn’t know yet.

Since I was already familiar with Baby Led Weaning, and have read and written about the topic extensively, many of the concepts in the book (subtitled The Essential Guide to Introducing Solid Foods - and Helping Your Baby to Grow Up a Happy and Confident Eater) were already familiar to me. The authors keep rehashing the same concepts, which at times, makes it somewhat redundant.

However, for someone who is new to the concept, this is a very thorough book, that explains in depth everything you ever needed to know about baby led weaning. There are even real-life stories, to help you see how it spins out in daily life, and how people handle a self-feeding baby.

The book guides the novice through the theory and the benefits of the practice, gives some guidelines and tips and tackles frequently asked questions. The theory of Baby Led Weaning was laid out by author Gill Rapley, a public health nurse, but has been in use for ages, in some form or other, and in many culture. If you are not familiar with the approach, I suggest you pick up a copy. The baby led method is truly the best way to avoid food struggles and set your child on a healthy dietary path for the rest of his life.

(You can find more information about the book by visiting www.babyledweaning.theexperimentpublishing.com.)

Article Author: Laura Schuerwegen

Laura Schuerwegen is an expat wife, mother, writer and blogger, she is Belgian, but currently living DR Congo after experiencing lots of other countries. She studied Communication Sciences at the VUB (Brussels) but decided to follow her interests.

Visit Laura Schuerwegen's author page — Laura Schuerwegen's Blog