BLW book

[ScaryFairy28]

Trying to decide if i should do blw. Are there any good books? Interested to hear others opinions as to whether I should do BLW or purees.

Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning - get it from the library as you'll only need to read it the once. Also this is a good site.

I did BLW with DD with no issues (she's now 18mo). Dead easy - no arsing about with pureeing and trying a different veg every day and mush everywhere.

You can't do BLW and purees though, that's just normal weaning BLW is entirely self-feeding (before someone comes on and says do a mix!)

I know the book will probably tell me but what age can I start?

Since it's baby led you can start whenever the baby is 'ready' and he'll tell you. The signs are being able to sit unaided (or more accurately not slumped in a bumbo or high chair), and be able to put food in his mouth. This is usually around 6mo, but could be earlier or later. If the baby is too young, he simply won't be able to pick the food up from the high chair tray and aim accurately into his mouth, iyswim. Therefore, you can always try just giving him some food and see if he's ready.

I quite like the BLW recipe book. TBH i'm not that interested in the theory, more the practical side. I'm not made any of the recipe's yet though so I can't comment on their success.

The river cottage baby cookbook refers to both puree's and BLW so could be a good book to get/borrow to compare the two methods. Again i'm early down the line so haven't read it cover to cover or used any of the recipes.

Yes - as lilham says - around 6mo, when your baby can sit unaided and can pick the food up and get it in their mouth!

I second getting the BLW recipe book. It tells you all you need to know and is much easier to browse than the main book.
Plus it has lots of recipes for things that you probably know how to cook anyway, but give good inspiration.

The River Cottage Baby & Toddler book has information on BLW, and some great recipes/ideas.

I'd vote for the river cottage book too, tried a few recipes and they've gone down a treat! The Gill Rapley BLW book I got from amazon fairly cheaply but they also have lots on ebay. Good luck!

Thanks I've got the book from the library but will buy if I do carry on down the BLW route as doubt the library will take it back after I mess it up by cooking over it.