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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Gill Rapley should be knighted?

116 replies

Happydutchmummy · 07/04/2014 12:39

Ok, so I'm not sure if women can be knighted, maybe she should be Lady-ed, Dame-d or whatever the correct term is...

My second dc has just started weaning and I'm experiencing the joys of blw again. It's just so awesome. I know she didn't 'invent' it, but she did the research, wrote an amazingly clear book and has changed the way that a lot of parents wean their child. Due to her the nhs has changed its guidelines on weaning to be more finger foods rather than purée and many health care professionals now recommend it.

On top of that she hasn't cashed in with a whole range of blw merchandise, there is no official blw high chair, you can't buy Gill Raply branded bread sticks, etc. it's just her book and recipe book but that's it.

Surely she deserves some official recognition for services to babies, and mums who are too lazy to purée

OP posts:

HopeClearwater · 07/04/2014 12:44

Is there any evidence that this is in fact 'better' in the long run for children? All the adults I know can eat...

DrankSangriaInThePark · 07/04/2014 12:50

She's hardly invented the wheel.

And babies have sucked on things like bits of bread, and got their hands in their dinner since time immemorial.

Original poster

Happydutchmummy · 07/04/2014 12:55

But do all the adults you know eat wisely? or do any of them tend to comfort eat, dislike a wide range of foods, etc?

I believe blw encourages healthy eating habits, which they will hopefully take into adulthood. You let the baby choose how much or little they want to eat, thereby giving them controll of their own appetite rather than force feeding them the rest of the jar of purée even when they are already full up.

My daughter (4) eats a really healthy, well balanced, varied range of foods and I do think this is partially due to getting used to eating them as a baby who did blw.

Plus it's made our whole family meals healthier (no salt in my cooking anymore, etc).

OP posts:

Original poster

Happydutchmummy · 07/04/2014 13:02

drankSangria yes, the need to purée and spoon feed is a relatively modern thing, and she didn't invent blw.

What she did is question the need for puréed foods etc (which was the nhs guidance at the time)as part of her Masters research at university and then wrote a book for parents explaining the findings, the benefits, the reasoning behind her belief that there was another way of weaning babies. This in turn has led to a change in the nhs guidance on weaning.

OP posts:

Floggingmolly · 07/04/2014 13:04

Giving babies finger food to chew on has been done since time immemorial. . It's like attachment parenting and all that other claptrap; give it a name and they'll think you invented it...

Fakebook · 07/04/2014 13:12

...I should be knighted/lady-ed too then because I let my babies eat by themselves and gave them whatever we were eating without the help of any books/websites/strange people telling me how to raise my children.

StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2014 13:33

"HopeClearwaterMon 07-Apr-14 12:44:25

Is there any evidence that this is in fact 'better' in the long run for children? All the adults I know can eat..."

According to a recent thread, if you blend a load of fruit and veg they only couod for one of your 5 a day, even if individully theyd have counted as more. Biggest argument against puree and for blw ever imo. So portiin of carrot plus portion of broccoli is 2. Pureed becomes only one. Ditto for anything else. It doesnt seem logical tome at all but apparently its the case. So babies weaned on puree only ever have one portionof fruit and veg per day.

Paintingrainbowskies · 07/04/2014 14:01

The book was fabulous, the one main benefit I got from it was helping me to be really relaxed over her eating and how much or what she eats.

I have never puréed a thing, it was all so easy!

I agree Gill Rapley made it understandable and have me massive confidence.

HopeClearwater · 07/04/2014 15:00

It's a good point, Stealth; it's just that only time will tell if BLW has long-lasting positive effects on those who grow up with it.

WorraLiberty · 07/04/2014 15:07

She wrote a book stating the friggin obvious and you thinks she should get a Damehood?

dietcokeandwine · 07/04/2014 15:10

Book might be great, and I'm sure many parents have enjoyed the more relaxed and less faffy approach to weaning.

As Hope says, though, only time will tell whether the BLW brigade have long-lasting positive effects, and continue to 'eat a really healthy, well balanced, varied range of foods' (to quote the OP). I know several older children who were enthusiastic BLWer's but are now fussy as hell. And plenty of puree-weaned ones whose eating habits are excellent.

So no knighthood from me, sorry OP. It's just another one of millions of 'how to' parenting books IMO and I don't think she's any better or worse than any of the rest of them...

StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2014 15:12

But in the meantime those children are eating more portions of fruit and veg which has to be good for all the usual reasons

thebody · 07/04/2014 15:13

Sweetheart am really pleased you are happy but let me break it to you gently, most of us were doing that years ago.

I did it in 1989 with my pfb on the advice of my mum who did it in the 60s and do it goes on.

People write parenting books to make money. Most are stating the bloody obvious and some of them are so ridiculous they are laughable.

Knighted my arse.

StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2014 15:14

So do mosy people not do puree? All my friends seemed to.

WorraLiberty · 07/04/2014 15:16

Also in the real world, if you have to feed the baby quickly to get to an appointment/school run...shoving a jar of pureed food down the baby has been a godsend

It doesn't have to be either/or.

Parents have done both since time began really.

BackforGood · 07/04/2014 15:16

What thebody said

She put it so much better than I what was going to say

ithaka · 07/04/2014 15:17

My daughter (4) eats a really healthy, well balanced, varied range of foods and I do think this is partially due to getting used to eating them as a baby who did blw.

Snigger, sorry OP, but I could have written that smugfest when my children were wee - wait til they are teenagers.

KatherinaMinola · 07/04/2014 15:19

It's not evidence-based at all. And her 'research' IIRC consisted of a small sample and a lot of anecdote - even for an MA it looked pretty poor.

WorraLiberty · 07/04/2014 15:20

Surely that depends on what they're being weaned on?

StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2014 15:22

But if you care about five (or seven) a day it means they can get it. With purees they can only ever have one.

Chippednailvarnish · 07/04/2014 15:23

Knighted my arse

Floralnomad · 07/04/2014 15:25

I can't recall ever force feeding mine puree ,they eat until they stop and you threw the rest away . I have a 21 yr old who eats a healthy ,varied diet and a 14 yr old who eats no vegetables at all ( eats fruit) ,both weaned the same way , its luck IMO if you end up with a good eater or a picky one .

thebody · 07/04/2014 15:26

Sorry in a mood

StealthPolarBear · 07/04/2014 15:27

But surely good eater when older idnt the onlu issue - oris it, maybe if theyre having milk as well 5 a day doesnt really matter

Jonash · 07/04/2014 15:28

It is indeed a return to the old but is also the single welcome antidote to a commercial onslaught from Heinz, Cow and Gate, Karmel and all the other purveyors of jars from 4 months. I do think it is a fair point that she shares info and knowledge rather than flogs a shed load of related products with scant respect for weaning guidelines unlike most other baby food manufacturers.

Mums can find weaning overwhelming and her book is a decent reminder that it doesn't need to be a time for target setting and measuring.

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