Rana Conway - Weaning Made Easy: All You Need to Know About Spoon Feeding and Baby-led Weaning – Get the Best of Both Worlds

Weaning
Made
Easy

All you need to know about spoon-feeding
and baby-led weaning get the best of
both worlds

Dr Rana Conway (PhD, RPHNutr)

Important note

The information in this book is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Neither the author nor White Ladder can accept any responsibility for any injuries, damages or losses suffered as a result of following the information herein.

Weaning Made Easy

Dr Rana Conway (PhD, RPHNutr)

This second edition is published in 2011 by Crimson Publishing

Crimson Publishing, Westminster House, Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 2ND

Rana Conway 2011

Epub edition 2011 ISBN: 978-1-90828-124-1

The author Dr Rana Conway has asserted her moral rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Rana Conway is a Registered Public Health Nutritionist and a member of the Nutrition Society. Over the past 18 years she has established herself as an expert in nutrition for pregnancy and childhood. She has carried out nutrition research at leading universities and her work with pregnant women earned her a PhD in 1997.

Rana has also lectured on a wide range of undergraduate courses and has taught nutrition to medical students, midwives and trainee dietitians. As well as writing books and research papers, Rana is the nutrition expert for Practical Parenting & Pregnancy magazine and writes for the NCT.

She lives in London with her husband and their three children.

Thank you to Beth Bishop at Crimson Publishing for all her ideas and enthusiasm. Also to Jane Graham Maw and Jennifer Christie at Graham Maw Christie for all their help. A big thank you to all the mums and dads who talked to me about weaning their babies. Their honesty has really helped to show how feeding a baby can be fun and rewarding but also stressful and emotional, in a way I could never have explained. Also thank you to Jenny Gordon from the Royal College of Nursing, Su Taylor from the Vegetarian Society, Kate Newman and Nicola Walpole from Coeliac UK, and Reagan Chambers from Allergy UK. Thank you too to Jenny Luigs for taking a flattering photo of me for the cover. And lastly, thank you to my husband Olly for all his help and support.

Weaning should be an enjoyable time for both you and your baby, and should start your child on the road to a lifetime of healthy eating. But starting your child on solids can seem very daunting, especially if youre a first-time parent.

Over the past few years there have been plenty of stories in the press, all giving different advice about the best time to start weaning and which method to use. It may have left you wondering how on earth you, a busy parent, are supposed to decide, when even the experts cant agree. In fact, professional opinion isnt as divided as the media makes out, and the guidelines dont really keep changing.

One of the biggest choices youll face when starting to wean your baby is deciding which method to use. Perhaps youre surprised to hear that theres more than one way of doing it, or perhaps youre well versed in the debates that go on in many online parenting forums and among your friends.

The big question is: do you give your baby pures and follow a traditional weaning approach, or do you try baby-led weaning and let her feed herself from the word go? This can be a confusing and controversial subject, and perhaps your friends and family are all asking you what youre going to do. Do you know what your answer is?

Ill guide you through this decision and present to you all the things you need to consider. Well look at the pros and cons of both the traditional and baby-led weaning methods, the thinking behind them and the experiences of parents who have been through it. Youll also see that it is possible to have the best of both worlds.

Weaning made easy is designed to bring you practical, realistic advice and all the facts you need to make an informed decision. There are down-to-earth suggestions to take you through all the stages of weaning, from your babys very first meal to the time when she can eat the same as you, and all your potential weaning worries will be answered from fear of choking to how to stop your child becoming a fussy eater.

While weaning can be a stressful time, it doesnt have to be. Remember, your baby is unique, and, above all, you know whats right for your baby. So take the advice, but listen to your instincts as a parent too.

I wish you every weaning success!

Rana

Authors note

For consistency and ease of reading I have referred to all babies as girls throughout. All the information applies equally to boys and no difference between boys and girls is implied.

In Part one, we bring you the basics of weaning. Youll find out when to start your baby on solids and what you can and cant give her to eat. Well also look at how to wean your baby, and cover the two different approaches to weaning: spoon-feeding with pures and baby-led weaning (BLW) in detail.

Armed with the facts, you can work out which method suits your baby best. Well also consider how a mixed approach can work, and what may be right for your baby.

To start with, lets look at the basics of weaning. This chapter contains the essential information youll need to know to start introducing solids, regardless of the method you decide to use, or whether you are breastfeeding or giving your baby formula milk.

I was a bit apprehensive about starting solids. It seemed a big deal to be putting anything in my babys mouth, other than milk. I started when she was exactly six months old and I followed all the advice, because I didnt have the confidence to do anything else. She was definitely ready she was having six full (240ml) bottles of milk a day!

Sophie, mum to Ruby, 23 months

Knowing how to go about weaning and understanding what foods to offer your baby will help make the introduction of solids as stress-free as possible for you both. You will be able to feel confident that what youre doing now will bring your baby a host of benefits. Having a good diet right from the start brings immediate health advantages and will help protect your child from the most common diet-related problems such as anaemia, vitamin D deficiency and tooth decay, which are all too common in the first couple of years of life.

As well as affecting her immediate health, what your baby eats in these early years will also have an impact on her well-being for years to come. An increasing amount of evidence is emerging about the long-term effects of early diet. What a baby or young child eats influences her chances of suffering from obesity, raised blood pressure and heart disease in later life. Well be looking at this in more detail later, but were going to start with a much simpler question