Charlotte Stirling-Reed - How to Wean Your Baby: The Step-by-Step Plan to Help Your Baby Love Their Broccoli as Much as Their Cake

Charlotte Stirling-Reed is a leading nutritionist based in the UK. She has a first class degree in Human Biology and Nutrition (BSc), a Masters (MSc) in Nutrition and Public Health, and is Registered with the Association for Nutrition.

Founder of her successful consultancy practice SR Nutrition Charlotte works with a variety of clients including global brands and celebrities. Charlotte is the nutritionist who worked with Joe Wicks on his Wean in 15 book and has a strong social media platform with nearly 200k followers on Instagram (@SR_Nutrition).

Charlotte started her career working for the NHS and has since spent many years working with families. Charlotte's own little foodie, Raffy, is three years old and still loves his broccoli.

I have spent so many years talking about the topic of weaning its something I speak about, think about and answer questions on every single day. You could say I live and breathe weaning!

I realised one thing from my experience of weaning my son, Raffy, as well as from talking to hundreds of parents every day: confidence is everything! So, Ive made it my mission to try to boost parental confidence in feeding babies and young children.

I always feel that weaning comes at a time when, as parents, we could really do without it. At six months were just beginning to feel weve come to terms with the lack of sleep, and feeding is often a little more structured, and finally we start to feel human again. Suddenly BAM! we must start considering mealtimes for babies, too.

This book aims to make this process easy and fun for new parents, so that we can enjoy raising the next generation of foodies; babies and children who are not only good little eaters, but who love food, mealtimes and eating!

Ive tried to make this book as practical as possible; Im a time-poor mum of two who is trying to juggle family life while running my own business. I dont have time to spend hours preparing gourmet recipes for my children lets be real. Thats exactly what my guide and my recipes are about being realistic, while still raising healthy children.

In todays connected, digital world, there are countless online experts sharing information about weaning and nutrition for children and babies; however, research or an understanding of the science of food does not always underpin their ideas.

As a registered nutritionist with a degree in Human Biology and Nutrition and a Masters in Nutrition and Public Health I aim to provide simple, realistic and practical advice, based on the most up-to-date research. I started my career with the UKs NHS, supporting new parents on their weaning journeys. Having since supported countless parents and having had two babies myself, I now have a real desire to share my knowledge and experience to help as many parents as possible.

Throughout this book Ive used my years of first-hand practical experience, alongside my scientific understanding of child nutrition, to help you overcome the uncertainties of weaning and make your journey as enjoyable as possible. There will always be bumps along the way, but by following my advice, each step of your weaning journey will be less scary and will help set your child up for a healthy relationship with food for life.

If youve followed me on social media (@SR_Nutrition) for any length of time, youll see that Im a big advocate of kicking off your babys weaning journey with vegetables.

Traditionally, babies tend to be weaned on more of the sweet stuff think fruit purees, semolina and baby rice. However, a great deal of research suggests that starting weaning by introducing vegetables first, frequently and in variety, might be a better way to go. Weaning with vegetables, and offering them in variety early on, can help to encourage an acceptance of these foods later on in life and, lets face it, many of us need all the help we can get to encourage kids to eat up their veggies!

Weaning is about learning to taste new foods and enjoy new flavours. Babies are born with a preference for sweet foods, and breast and formula milk are both fairly sweet. However, I like to encourage people to think about weaning as a process of exploring the new, not simply reinforcing existing preferences. A baby will readily accept and gobble up the sweet stuff, certainly; but the bitter, sour and savoury tastes? They need a little help to enjoy those tastes initially, and one of the ways this works is by offering them regularly and building familiarity with those flavours early on during weaning.