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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:

blackandwhiteandredallover · 07/04/2014 17:18

I have no problem with the book... when DD was born Annabel Karmel was all the rage and she was much more annoying.

I DO have a problem with the smug parents who broadcast loudly about BLW to anyone who will listen, boasting about how their DC will eat a full roast dinner and his favourite food is kumquat. I even know someone who started a BLW blog complete with detailed descriptions of what her dc had eaten each day, and linked to on FB of course. It's all just so... dull.

JuniperTisane · 07/04/2014 17:21

My 3yr old was weaned in this fashion and eats bugger all now Some kids just dont do eating.

NiMhurchu · 07/04/2014 17:25

Blackandwhite I agree with you about the boasting side, and those blogs sound very annoying. I used to take pics of DS eating at the start, it was exciting seeing him holding a piece of steak, my family asking 'are you actually giving him that'. But that dies down, I can't remember the last time I took pictures of him eating, we're used to it now.

I do talk about it to some friends with babies, just to let them know that spoonfeeding isn't the way. They don't have to do exactly what the HV tells them. BUT I don't push it on them, I tell them the name the basics and tell them to look into it if they want

NiMhurchu · 07/04/2014 17:26

Should be spoonfeeding isn't the ONLY way..

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/04/2014 17:31

There's a big difference between chatting about different approaches amongst friends and running a blog, I agree.

I do wonder if the marketing thing has got worse and worse since my DCs were babies, there is a much bigger selection of pouches and ready made meals for babies out there nowadays, and relentless marketing by the likes of Bounty. It was a choice between Heinz or Hipp Organic jars back then and they were all pretty grim, the stuff on the shelves nowadays does look more attractive.

captainbarnacle · 07/04/2014 17:35

To all the BLWing naysayers - you do know that Baby Led Weaning is not the same as giving finger foods, yes? Because some of you are looking pretty ignorant as to what BLW actually is.

NiMhurchu · 07/04/2014 17:42

summary leaflet

Cookethenook · 07/04/2014 17:51

Don't agree at all OP, sorry. I really don't think she deserves honors seeing as the concept is just common sense to most people. I'm glad it worked for you, but my 10 month old is a fantastic eater on a combi of purees (lumpy since 7 month, now it's just chopped up) and finger foods from 7m, as is my 8 year old who was weaned in the same way.

DS2 has a very sensitive gag reflex and just gaged and vomited up finger foods until about 7 and a half months. Poor sausage.

Preciousbane · 07/04/2014 17:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 17:57

From the leaflet linked to. ." Choose foods that are easy to cut into sticks or large strips when your baby is starting."

So what is the difference between that and giving finger foods?

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/04/2014 18:01

So the only difference is that you don't spoon feed it? A bit of a technicality really then, it's all the same food. I'm sure the people who used a spoon weren't force feeding their babies, I think we did a combination. I agree with what the leaflet says that the biggest change is that the recommended weaning age is now 6 months instead of 4, and that didn't come from Gill Rapley AFAIK?

captainbarnacle · 07/04/2014 18:07

It's not a technicality. BLW is giving proper family foods from the very start. No purees or spoon feeding at all. Just sharing what the family is eating. No special meals for baby, no rusks etc. You cannot mix BLW and traditional weaning or finger foods if you want to do BLW - traditional weaning is purees and finger foods. BLW puts baby in control of their own intake of food from the start. And yes, it is totally anti commercial (unlike Annabelle Karmel). No kitchen utensils or machines needed, no branded foods.

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 18:16

Why would you want to follow so many "rules". Be a bit more relaxed. As I said, after reading that leaflet BLW it states use food which can be cut into strips- that's what a finger food is you numpty.

My DDs would have some puree(as weening guidelines were 4 months then) but they'd also be nibbling on something- not a risk or comercial food, but a bit of apple/carrot etc. by 6 months they would just be eating home cooked food.

You do have a very strange idea of what people do if they aren't doing BLW

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 18:16

rusk or commercial food

captainbarnacle · 07/04/2014 18:19

If you aren't doing BLW then you are pureeing the food or mashing or using jars or any combination of the above.

The only rules are baby eats what you eat, when you eat it, with the exception of Honey, excessive salt and whole nuts before 1yr. Those aren't a lot of rules.

Sure, many did BLW befor Gill Rapely came along with her study, but she did much to promote it. It should be the norm, not something to brag about.

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 18:22

Not necessarily. You are probably giving them finger foods also. You keep forgetting that bit.

captainbarnacle · 07/04/2014 18:26

BLW isn't just finger foods. It is more than that. people giving finger foods and also spoon feeding are not doing BLW. It is much more than finger foods.

monicalewinski · 07/04/2014 18:29

Blw is exactly the same as 'finger foods', just a different name!

Ignorant?!

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 18:30

I do realise that Captain.

I'm just trying to make you appreciate that those who don't follow BLw aren't meanly shoving spoons of purée into their babies mouths.

Personally I like to tread the middle ground, so I'm glad my DDs were brought up with purees AND "normal foods". They weren't forced to do one thing or the other.

ExcuseTypos · 07/04/2014 18:31

Mainly- sorry fat fingers today.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 07/04/2014 18:31

So you spoon feed once, and that means you didn't do BLW, even though your baby sat at the table with the rest of the family for meals, chose the bits they wanted to eat from the same foods as the adults (cooked minus salt etc), but possibly mushed up a bit with a fork? Not that I ever said I did do BLW, but this thread has done nothing to make me wish I had, that's for sure.

WorraLiberty · 07/04/2014 18:31

It's still finger foods without the odd pureed meal

NiMhurchu · 07/04/2014 18:33

BLW doesn't equal finger foods. BLW is a whole way of thinking. You put any food down in front of baby, they decide whether to eat it or push it up their nose. It doesn't matter what they do with it, you trust them to eat what they want to, and leave or throw away what they don't want. BLW babies have been know to avoid certain foods which they later turn out to be allergic/have intolerance to. Babies tend to only eat certain food groups for a phase, carbs and proteins during a growth spurt, fruit with vitamin c during illness for example. You trust them to stop eating when they are full. You don't push or encourage 'just one more bite'. You give them the chance to learn to chew before swallowing. You trust them to manage gagging for themselves..

Blueberrybaby · 07/04/2014 18:34

No I'm not just puréeing or mashing. Take yesterday for example. DD 11 months had porridge for breakfast which she was spoonfed and she also tried feeding herself, plus some poached pear which was cut into largish cubes which she fed herself. Lunch was a sardine and tomato sandwich - filling was mashed but then I would mash it for myself as well. Sandwich cut into fingers and she fed herself. She had grapes too which were also cut into halves - again she fed herself. Dinner was chicken and vegetable soup - basically a broth with diced veg, chicken, barley etc and she was spoonfed or she tried to do it. Mango for pudding cut into strips which she fed herself and some plain yoghurt which I fed her. I don't use jars, she eats the same evening meals as us and depending on what it is she is spoonfed sometimes or I give her a loaded fork/spoon or she eats it herself. I read the BLW book and I like some of the recipes, but I find it very prescriptive, and frankly I just can't be arsed to make sure I'm following the rules all the time. I also have several purée books including AK, and I liked some of her recipes too. I'm happy to be neither one nor the other, I don't feel it benefits me or DD to be fixated on one approach. I try to be as flexible as possible.

avocadogreen · 07/04/2014 18:40

^^ this, what Blueberrybaby says, is what I would call normal common sense weaning. I find BLW to be one extreme and the people who are still feeding Ella's Kitchen pouches to a 1yo the other extreme. In between there is a HUGE range of ways to feed a baby. Tbh as long as it's not quavers and coke what does it matter?

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