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Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food - Gill Rapley
by brokenangel As a first-time mother much of my current to-read pile consists of books about child development and various aspects of parenting. As my son (somewhat unbelievably to me) approached four months old I wanted to learn more about weaning. After hearing about baby led weaning from a health visitor at my local sure start centre I was keen to ... find out more about it. This specific book was recommended and lent to me by the leader of my postnatal NCT course. ** What is baby led weaning? ** Weaning is the gradual transition a baby makes from living on an entirely milk based diet to eating a typical diet based on solid food. Like most other topics surrounding babies and childcare, there is a great deal of debate between parents and experts over when and how this process should begin, develop and be completed. Essentially, baby led weaning happens when your baby is given solid food in a grab-able form (not purées) from 6 months and is allowed to gum / play with / eat as much or as little of it as they want. The idea is that they will gradually eat more and more but will remain 'in control' of their food and will eat to suit their appetite while experiencing a range of textures and tastes. This differs from the 'usual' approach of parents spoon-feeding their babies puréed foods alongside selected finger foods. In 'conventional' weaning parents decide when the baby is ready for solid food and which solid foods they are ready for. In baby led weaning the baby 'decides' (although of course the parents still provide the options). The key difference between this approach and a more conventional one is that Rapley and Murkett advocate avoiding purées entirely. In fact, they are rather evangelical about it, suggesting that baby-led weaning has myriad benefits and no real flaws while stating that purées have numerous flaws and scarcely any benefits. It is a shame that their approach is so strict as it seems very likely to alienate some readers in its totalitarian approach and exaggeration of the benefits (of finger foods) and flaws (of purées). After all, given that most adults alive today will have been weaned using some puréed food it seems exaggerated to claim, as these authors do, that feeding these to babies increases the risk of diabetes, obesity and fussy eating. ** Why the change of strategy? ** The authors argue that conventional weaning methods are the result of babies being weaned too early in recent decades. They give a short history of official advice from the 1900's to now with some explanation of how and why the advice has changed. I found the history very interesting and it helped me to understand why some people say that you can wean from four months old and others say you shouldn't start weaning until six months old. The current advice from the Department of Health and the World Health Organisation is that all babies should be fed on an exclusively milk diet until they are six months old. This is because milk is specially formulated to provide babies with all their nutritional needs up til this point and their developing reflexes and gut may not be quite ready to handle solid food until this time. The authors of this book state that if you are feeding a baby solid food from six months rather than four months, they should be physically developed enough to start handling it themselves, rather than needing it to be mashed up. Rapley and Murkett also claim a wide range of benefits from using baby-led weaning, although some of these are a little dubious. For instance, they insist that baby-led weaning is less time consuming for parents because, rather than spending 'hours' creating purées they can simply feed the baby the same food they are eating. This sounds quite reasonable, until you think it through. My diet isn't perfect and although I enjoy cooking I do make frequent use of ready made sauces, pies and filled pastas. In order to minimise a baby's exposure to salt, all these kinds of foods should be home-made and any salt added at the table. Less time-consuming? Similarly, the authors state that eating out in restaurants will be easier because, rather than asking the restaurant to heat up jars of baby food, you can just feed the baby from your plate or even order them a small dish or let them share some tapas style dishes with you. Again, this seems disingenuous. How difficult is it to ask a restaurant to heat up a jar? How difficult might it be to order a baby friendly meal with no salt, limited sugar and food cut into appropriate shapes for the baby to grip? By insisting so hard on these kinds of advantages the authors actually undermine their own argument, which is a shame. There are definite advantages to baby-led weaning, not least the fact that it might make parents eat more healthily and enjoy more fresh fruit and vegetables, but there are also some difficulties and it would be better to acknowledge and address these. Instead, they create multiple 'benefits' by stating that (a) families can enjoy eating together and that (b) babies won't have to eat alone. Spot the difference? The demonisation of spoon-feeding is also problematic. The authors equate spoon-feeding with force-feeding and are insistent that it leads to unhappy babies and stressful mealtimes. I am sure that this can be the case, and equally sure that it is not always the case. Parents who have previously spoon-fed children may justly feel offended by the implication that they were in some way harming their children. Perhaps to mitigate such feelings, there are many statements throughout the book from parents who struggled with spoon-feeding. Does anyone really need this book? You may be wondering whether this approach is really so new and unique that a book is required to discuss it. This is a worthwhile question and, if you've already happily weaned children using purées or a mixture of purées and finger foods then you may feel you have very little to gain from reading this. However, if you are a first time parent considering your options or an experienced parent who would like to consider a change in strategy then this book may be of use to you. Personally I found it very interesting reading and I found that it seemed to involve a lot of common sense. For instance, babies love to copy their parents, so surely they would rather copy how and what their parents are eating. However, I would question the length of the book. The basic principles are easy to grasp and I quickly became impatient with the endless repetition of the basic points re-worded and explained under slightly different subheadings. There are only 256 pages, but this is about 200 pages more than necessary. Once you grasp the idea that babies can be fed almost everything you eat if it is suitably presented and prepared, you only really need a bit of guidance regarding preparation. Presumably the reader is already interested in the concept of baby-led weaning or they would never have picked up a book with this title, so it seems rather pointless to repeatedly oversell the benefits of this way of feeding. There are a few Q and A sections and a final troubleshooting chapter which constantly refer to earlier parts of the book. This is because the vast majority of the answers involve repetition of earlier chunks of the book. This is not surprising since the questions are the same throughout. In fact, I can sum up all these exchanges as follows: Q: "My _ month old is playing with her food / not eating a lot. I / my partner / my parents (in law) are worried that s/he may not be getting enough nutrition." A: "Milk is a baby's primary food until they are 1 year old. They go through phases and may eat less food at times. You need to trust them to eat what they need." After a while this becomes rather boring and I skimmed the trouble shooting section in seconds rather than minutes, learning little that was new. I did appreciate the BLW stories interspersed throughout the book. These are anecdotes from a variety of parents who have tried this method of feeding and found it worked well for them (unsurprisingly, given the focus of this book). I found the anecdotes reassuring as there were clearly a number of people other than the rather insistent authors who had found this a viable and indeed positive way to feed their children. It is important to note that this is a guide to the theory and practice of weaning and not a recipe book. Rapley has subsequently published a baby led weaning cookbook which can be purchased separately. (I find this interesting since Rapley and Murkett insist in this book that special recipes are not required...) ** My baby is precious... Can I trust the advice this book gives? ** The only difference between this book and the department of health advice is the embargo on purées. I do not believe there is anything dangerous being advised here and the authors are clear that, if you have any concerns about your child's eating or weight then you should see your child's GP. Although I feel that the benefits of this way of weaning are over stressed and the possible difficulties minimised, the advice given is largely common sense and would be safe to follow. I was a little disappointed by the lack of references and research based information in the book. While I found that almost everything the authors wrote appealed to my common sense, I was conscious throughout that nothing they say has been independently, scientifically verified and tested. In fact, the 'references' section of the book is laughably short, containing a mere nine references, two of which are to Rapley's previous publications on this topic and one of which is a dictionary definition. In an attempt to gain credibility, there is a short section titled 'the history of baby-led weaning' which explains that this theory essentially arose from Rapley's work as a health visitor for twenty years and her research for her masters dissertation. Clearly she has a lot of practical knowledge in this field, which I found reassuring, but there is rather a lot of guesswork. Baby led weaning may / could / might / possibly / seems to have certain effects and strengths, (these words are used exhaustively throughout the book,) but in the end this is an anecdotal and theoretical book rather than one based on solid research and data. If that makes you uncomfortable then this isn't the book for you. ** Is it worth buying? ** £10.99 feels costly for a paperback, especially one that's so repetitive. However, it is comprehensive and offers a great deal of reassurance to parents trying this way of weaning. If you think baby-led weaning might suit you then this is probably the best book on the topic to read, written as it is by the lady who developed the theory behind the practice, but I would advise borrowing this from a library or buying a cheaper copy, perhaps second-hand, to check that you find this useful enough to invest in. There are lists of suitable first foods and there is clear advice about allergies and nutrition. Overall, this is a thorough guide to the topic and nothing has been left out. I am planning to try baby led weaning myself, although I do not intend to religiously avoid pureed food, and I am seriously considering buying a copy of this - although not for nearly £11! Read this if: - you are keen to try baby-led weaning and would like to know what it's all about; - you are happy to adopt a common sense approach that is logical but has only anecdotal evidence to support it; - you have a grandchild / nephew / godchild whose parents are following baby-led weaning and you are concerned about their development / nutrition. Avoid this if: - you find yourself irritated by repetition and bias; - you prefer to choose parenting strategies that are supported by scientific data and widely published research; - you find yourself irritated by repetition and bias. Read the complete review |
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Wahaca - Mexican Food at Home - Thomasina Miers
by Northern At Christmas I was given the "Wahaca Mexican food at home" cookery book. This was written by Thomasina Miers who won Masterchef 2005. She's a bit of an expert on Mexican food. She spent several years in Mexico travelling, working with chefs and running a cocktail bar in Mexico City. Now she runs the Wahaca chain of restaurants ... in London. So her credentials on Mexican food are pretty good I think. The book starts by explaining the variety of Mexican ingredients, that Mexican food is not the same as TexMex, and a little bit too about how the Wahaca chain came to be set up. Next is a section about the Mexican store cupboard. This explains the essentials for this type of food. It mentions a range of ingredients including dried chillis, tomatoes, avocados and limes. It also covers shortcuts such as how to freeze chillis (I had no idea I could do this) and what to do if I have spare tortillas go stale (make deep fried tortilla chips apparently). Then there's a section on chillies. This is really useful as I had no idea of really hot varieties and which were not. Seven varieties are described, what they are used for, and what substitutions you can make if you can't get hold of a particular one for a recipe. The recipes are next. They start with breakfast recipes. I'll be honest - I haven't tried any of these actually for breakfast. While I love Mexican food and spices, putting them together and having them for breakfast feels a bit too much for me in the morning. In the breakfast section there's a great recipe for real Mexican hot chocolate. This is so, so lovely. It's made with dark chocolate, almonds, sugar and cinnamon. Also in this section there are some juices, breads, corn pancakes, huevo recipes (eggs!) and breakfast burritos. In total in this section there are 12 recipes. Next there is a section on market food. This starts with a bit about different types of wraps - tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taquitos and tostadas. There are several recipes with different fillings. There are 14 recipes in this section but this isn't my favourite part of the book and I haven't actually made any of them. The next section is called 'In the cantina' and this focuses what the book calls lunch recipes (though there's no reason why you can't have them at any other time!). In this section there are mostly soups and salads. In amongst the recipes are some hints and tips. I thought the tips on how to use dried chillies were good as it also explains how not to burn them too. There are 12 recipes in this section. Then the book moves on to light dishes. This has a variety of recipes and some of them are meal items such as the queso fundido (cheese fondue Mexican style) and some are snacks. In this section there are 12 recipes. The main items are next. These are larger meat, fish and vegetarian recipes. It includes my absolute favourite of the whole book - "grilled salmon in sweet, smoky tamarind sauce". This is so delicious - I think I'm addicted to it. The salmon is marinaded in the sauce. The marinade ingredients get chucked in the blender then spooned onto the fish. The fish soaks most of it up, then the salmon gets cooked by a combination of griddling and grilling, and the remaining marinade gets boiled down to a sticky sauce. There's a whole chipotle chilli in this. Initially I was worried about where to find a chipotle chilli but I found my Tesco actually sells them along with other dried chillies such as ancho. This feels like a healthy dish and it doesn't take long to do the cooking bit of it. In this section there are 13 recipes which we're steadily working our way through Next up is a section on side dishes. This isn't a very big section but I've tried a couple of the recipes such as Mexican green rice. These would go well with some of the main items but I can only cope with one recipe at a time unless I have someone helping me in the kitchen! There are 8 dishes in this section. After the savoury dishes are puddings and cakes. These include caramelised fruit and chocolate dessert recipes. I'd love to try some of these but I'm not good at making sweet things. I plan to give them a go if I ever do a special birthday meal or something like that at home. There are 14 sweet recipes here. Next there is a 'fiesta' section. This is sort of nibbles to go with drinks I suppose. It has stuff like guacamole, stuffed chillies and pork scratchings (which are apparently very popular in Mexico but spicier than those over here). There is some really good advice too on how to choose a ripe avocado. This section has 11 recipes. The fiesta section leads into drink recipes. If you've ever wanted to know about margaritas and tequilas then there's advice on those. There are soft drinks like horchata (an almond milk) in here as well. There are 20 drinks recipes. At the end of the recipes is information on growing your own chillis (very easy apparently) and tips on how to make killer salsas. This section had 14 recipes of salsas. At the very back of the book there's a list of suppliers of Mexican ingredients. They look useful but so far I've found all I needed in large branches of Tesco and Sainsburys. The book is hardback with a nice solid cover. It has 256 pages (including the index and acknowledgements at the back). It's nicely laid out with lots of pictures. The list price is £20 but I think it's selling at £12.80 on Amazon at the moment. In summary, this is a great book. I've become confident enough to try many of the recipes because the instructions are straightforward. And these recipes that are a really tasty change from my usual cookery staples. Read the complete review |
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Jamie's 15-Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver
by haybel19 I brought this book on the back of watching the TV show. I was inspired by how Jamie managed to make quick, healthy appetizing food so quickly and wanted to have a go myself. There are so many recipes to choose from, and they really are quick to make. (Although i've yet to manage 15 minutes!). There are chapters to cover chicken, beef, ... pork, lamb, fish, pasta, soups and sarnies and veggie. As well as sections on breakfast and nutrition. Jamie advises to prepare and get everything out before starting as it saves time. However if you consider the preparation time too, these meals whilst quick to make are not made within 15 minutes. Each recipe includes an ingredients list, clear, easy to follow instructions as well as the equipment required. Jamie also indicates alongside each recipe the calories of the dish and how many it serves. There are beautiful mouthwatering pictures and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. The only downside ive found is that quite a few of the recipes require ingredients you wouldnt find in the average householders store cupboard and sometimes these have not been easy to get hold of. Equally needing to buy these more specialist ingredients doesnt make some of the meals cheap to make. Read the complete review |
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