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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Annabel karmel - I'm annoyed by her advice as it's WRONG!

29 replies

lovely74 · 29/04/2010 10:57

A friend has kindly lent me one of AK's puree books (Top 100 Baby Purees) for inspiration. I'm doing BLW for my DS but am not a great cook so am looking in lots of places (including Aitch's blog which is great!) for ideas of what to cook for us all (my normal diet is rubbish so needs a good healthy shake up!)
Anyways - I read the intro to the book last might and it states;

"Signs your baby is ready:
-still hungry after a full milk feed
-demands feeds more frequently
-wakes at night after a feed having previously slept through"

The NHS / Unicef leaflet I have states;

"It is normal for babies aged three to five months to begin waking in the night when they have previously slept through. It is not necesserily a sign of hunger and starting solids will not make your baby more likely to sleep through the night again"

and....

"If your baby seems hungrier any time before six months, it may be a growth spurt and extra breast milk or formula will be enough to meet their needs"

I did loads or research about weaning, particularly as I have chosen to do BLW, and as most of my friends started way before 6 months, and am positive AK is just plain wrong. My DS had a huge growth spurt (I think!) at four months and was waking every 1.5 hours to feed for 3 weeks. It was horrid, the HV suggested solids, but we got through it and he settled back into his usual routine.

How does AK, "baby feeding expert", get away with putting advice into her book that is completely the opposite to that if the NHS / UNICEF (and by the NHS I mean the well researched leaflet, not the dodgy advice doled out by HV's). I know she's out to sell as many books as possible, and succeeds hugely, but what is the point????

And I know she does relay the advice that solids should be started at six months, but the issues above come up before then and that is why people start to wean early, and she knows this.

Oh this has really irritated me!!!!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
lovely74 · 29/04/2010 10:59

And thr first recipe for carrot puree is basically cook carrots, squish them!

OP posts:
jmc112 · 29/04/2010 13:47

She is wrong (or differing from NHS guidelines) on lots of things.

I went right off her when she told me I had to rinse bottles that had been sterlised in Milton, despite it saying in big letters on the box 'DO NOT RINSE'. Rinsing would make them non-sterile.

Spidermama · 29/04/2010 13:50

I remember her squirming when faced with difficult questions during her Panorama appearance.

McDreamy · 29/04/2010 13:51

I listened/read her every word when my PFB was young. I still rate some of her recipes but no longer follow her advice! I would never buy her ready made food as it contains salt!

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 29/04/2010 13:56

She will cheerfully claim in interviews that she knows more than any official body. She also believes that BLW is dangerous and borderline crazy, IIRC.

Original poster
lovely74 · 29/04/2010 16:16

Is BLW dangerous as you won't require "Top 100 baby purees"?!

OP posts:
ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 29/04/2010 16:52

Or, indeed, Annabel Karmel-branded ice cube trays and feeding paraphernalia.

I'm sure that that could not possibly in any way have anything to do with her motivation.

Original poster
lovely74 · 29/04/2010 18:06

I think I'm getting a bit obsessed now! I've just listened to the Womans Hour interview with her and Gill Rapley (of BLW fame). She is worried that babies not given puree may choke and die,and she did use the word die - mentions a lychee stone incident. Her attitude is one that assumes no common sense on the part of the parent as to what they will give thier baby to eat. Also keeps mentioning jars of baby food and how bad they are obviously to reinforce our need to buy her books and follow her recipes.
And her voice irritates me too!

AK ice cube trays? Do people really buy this stuff??????

OP posts:
StrikeUpTheBand · 30/04/2010 14:39

I especially went off her when she was going on about jars being bad...and then when I went into Boots a few weeks later lo and behold what do I see but a whole range of AK jars and packets!!!

I am ashamed to admit I bought her baby and toddler meal planner, and found it incredibly hard to keep up with all the different things (and then turned to BLW). I also whispers bought her ice cube trays. Yes, lovely, it was me . I was young and foolish and hadn't discovered BLW....!

goes off to wash self again and again and again

Original poster
lovely74 · 30/04/2010 16:57

But at least you see the error of your ways! I see that no AK lovers have come here to defend her...

OP posts:
jaggythistle · 30/04/2010 22:01

We have just been bought the AK baby and toddler one as a present from MIL, as she heard it was good.

I was quite grumpy when DH came home with it (how rude of me to be grumpy at a gift!) as we were happy just muddling along making our own stuff for DS, I suppose I can use some of the recipes for a bit of inspiration if I'm bored. I thought she was rubbish in the Panorama interview too.

I was annoyed to see the 'Readiness for solid foods' bit that you quoted too lovely74, but it is amazing how often the same stuff is repeated.

It is no wonder that it is commonly believed that if your baby starts waking at night solids will be a miracle cure, it is in loads of books. (I read too much).

"My DS had a huge growth spurt (I think!) at four months and was waking every 1.5 hours to feed for 3 weeks. "

We were the exact same - it seemed to coincide with him learning to roll and stuff, he was up at all hours for weeks, but it went away by itself before he was 6 months.

I got slightly scared by a lady at our local baby and toddler group who described shoving spoonfuls of baby rice into her 4 month old's mouth in between screams. :O He loved it and was ready for it apparently.

bunnyfrance · 01/05/2010 19:28

I'll come to her defense and say that her recipes have helped me for getting proportions right - before, when I made my own purees, they would either come out too liquid or too solid. And DS does love the pumpkin, leek and chicken mixture. Hated the cauliflower cheese, though.

But I find her meal planners useless - there's no way my DS (7.5 months) would be able to eat that amount of solids along with all those milk feeds. I'd have to be feeding him every 2 hours and he's just not hungry enough.

BertieBotts · 01/05/2010 19:33

I love that interview from R4. PMSL at the lychee stone comment, wasn't it something like "But they might CHOKE, on a... a... a LYCHEE STONE!!" in a hysterical tone of voice. And you could hear Gill Rapley trying very hard not to sigh.

Have you seen her Spoon and Foon set? Designed, apparently, to aid transition to a fork.

RubyBuckleberry · 01/05/2010 19:46

can anyone link to the interview - i am really interested but can't seem to play it on my computer!

TIA x

CaptainNancy · 01/05/2010 19:46

Aw Bertie- that looks like a spatula from a dolls house!

BertieBotts · 01/05/2010 20:59

You need to download something that plays realplayer files, Ruby. Realplayer is a bit useless, try this program instead: VLC

Haliborange · 01/05/2010 21:07

@ Annabel Karmel branded ice cube trays. I may have fallen for these when I had DD1...

They have a lid so are not too bad. But I distinctly recall one of her books telling my to sterilise virtually everything you use to feed your baby. Unfortunately her own trays cannot be sterilised (not that I was going to do it anyway, as DD1 was frequently eating dirt off the floor by this stage), and that made me wonder about the whole thing.

RubyBuckleberry · 02/05/2010 07:09

thanks bertie, appreciated

TheJollyPirate · 02/05/2010 07:17

I quite like the friendly layout many of her books have but only ever had one when DS was small - we did BLW and it was fine - no he didn't choke and die.

I looked up a recipe for flapjacks yesterday to see if I could jazz mine up a bit and one of the first to come up was an AK recipe which contained half a teaspoon of salt (which is roughly 2.5gms). Okay so I know a child will not eat the whole thing in one sitting but tbh I would NEVER add salt to any flapjack recipe - just plain unneccessary imo (and would ruin the taste of all the sugar ).

multimummy · 02/05/2010 07:24

I think the AK books on puree are outdated. That advice was current when my eldest dc was a baby (now almost 18y). Back then health visitors advised you to stop bf at 6m and switch to follow on milk (a "new" iron enriched product which btw boots did their own chocolate or strawberry version of!). This was because it was thought bf babies would otherwise be lacking iron.

RubyBuckleberry · 02/05/2010 07:44

boo won't work - i've donwloaded it - the little window is open saying radio 4 etc and i've pressed play but nothing is happening!!!

lucky1979 · 03/05/2010 12:16

We've been following the baby meal planner and it's been going brilliantly DD is eating full portions and has really enjoyed everything so far. I have two of the ice cube trays as well, filled with all her meals for the next week or so. Its really about what works for you and I liked the style and layout of the books. As long as you don't take it all as gospel and focus on the menus and the planners rather than the rest of it they can be great tools for mums lie me who don't have a clue where to start with weaning

Rosebud05 · 03/05/2010 20:12

Someone kindly gave us a copy of one of her books when dd was little and it was BONKERS. Page after page of recipes for "Vegetable Medley" that said steam then blend vegetables. I took it back and got a Rose Eliot one, which I found pretty useful. I do know people that rate some of her recipes but her 'one size fits all' approach to weaning is a long way off the mark, IMHO.
Both my dc have had their worse patch of sleep between 4-6 months and it was definitely a developmental thing rather than being hungry.

Original poster
lovely74 · 03/05/2010 23:12

WTH is the "foon"???? that is HILARIOUS!!!! As the very astute Amazon reviewer said, it's a spoon with holes in it, pointless! (and there's a pun, sorry!)
I'm sad as another book I have (First Time Parents - Lucy Atkins) gives EXACTLY the same advice, and she's actually pretty sensible with all the other stuff she discusses, Why is weaning such a misunderstood area?

The Foon thing really gets my goat actually as this woman is just making shed loads of cash out of parents who think they need these things (and to be told how to mush carrots) to do their best for their children.

BertieBots - I think the hysterical tone when she talks about the lychee stone is not the risk to the child but the risk that her kingdom will be overthrown by common sense of babies eating - shock horror - real food!

Mind you, a few weeks into BLW I can see why loads of people would choose not to do it this way as the mess is something else!!!

OP posts:
lucky1979 · 04/05/2010 08:58

It's fine to be patronising about people who "need to be told how to mush carrots" but if, like me, you have never owned a food processor or cooked anything more adventurous than toast then you do need help on the basics like how long to steam something, or should you boil it? Should you add water, or milk? What else can babies eat other than carrots? Should you combine fruit and veg and if so what?

Am sure there are lots of other books that do the same thing as well but I think there is a definite place for books which do handhold people through the basics.