Baby-Led Feeding: A Natural Way to Raise Happy, Independent Eaters by Jenna Helwig is a non-fiction book about one way to approach introducing solids to your baby.
This easy-to-follow introduction to baby-led feeding (aka baby-led weaning), includes more than 100 ideas and recipes, with bright, photos. The book includes chapters on the “benefits of this approach, when and how to get started, essential safety and nutrition guidelines, frequently asked questions, basic fruit and vegetable prep, more complex finger foods, and family meals.”
I know, this is not one of my normal reads. I don’t usually review a lot of non-fiction, mostly because I don’t usually make it through a whole book unless it is a biography or written more like a story. I tend to browse. But I have a 6month old who has a voracious appetite and a friend recommended me this one as something to consider.
I personally, am too nervous to go the whole BLW method when with comes to introducing solids. The gagging is just too much for me and I am a ball full of nerves every second of the way. So with my first child, we went totally puree and waits quite a while to introduce anything more. But my second pretty much drools whenever anyone eats or drinks around her, so we are doing a hybrid approach this time.
This is a very forgiving book. I love that the writer is totally on the side of the caregiver and promotes a “you do you” approach. She recognizes the struggles with both methods and urges patience and… basically not killing yourself to conform to one approach or another.
The recipes she includes are great. Some seem a bit much for little ones, but then again, I want to make all of these for myself–sorry baby, these are for mama!
Overall, this is a nice middle of the road book, with easy tips and easy to read and understand. This one gets 4.5 stars from me.
That’s all for now!
-M-