Baby-Led Feeding: A Natural Way to Raise Happy, Independent Eaters

by Jenna Helwig

Overview

The popular and trusted guide to starting your baby on solid foods, newly revised with the most up-to-date information for today’s new parents.

What if you could skip the tiny jars and pouches of bland baby food in favor of a more natural, flavor-filled, and family-friendly transition to solid foods? Baby-led feeding (also known as baby-led weaning) is just that. Feeding your baby a variety of healthy, wholesome solid foods, rather than relying solely on purees, is thought to promote motor skills and establish lifelong healthy eating habits.

Author, food director at Real Simple magazine, and former food editor at Parents and Health Jenna Helwig gives parents easy-to-follow introductions for this popular feeding method. With more than 100 ideas and recipes, this bright, photo-driven 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. The newly revised edition contains updated information regarding common allergens and substitutions, helpful new content like sample menus, and new recipes featuring a wider range of flavors. All recipes have been reviewed by a registered dietitian and include nutrition information to ensure a healthy mealtime.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544963405
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/13/2018
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	166,995
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

JENNA HELWIG is the food director at Real Simple and former food editor at Parents magazine, as well as a freelance writer, culinary instructor, and personal chef. She also founded Rosaberry, a culinary services company devoted to helping families eat better.

Editorial Reviews

If the ultimate goal is to create a positive food environment for your baby, and ultimately for your whole family, I can’t think of a more clear roadmap for parents than Jenna Helwig’s book. Clear, approachable, and, most important, fun, it’s the kind of manual that is destined to be the most sauce-stained and dog-eared in your kitchen.” — Jenny Rosenstratch, author of Dinner, a Love Story  

“It starts with food—real food—and Baby-Led Feeding lays the foundation for a healthy relationship with food that lasts a lifetime. Jenna Helwig has written a comprehensive guide to baby-led feeding that is smart, approachable, and fun. From first bites to family dinner, this book equips parents to confidently feed their children as well as nurture a wholesome approach to eating.”  — Aimée Wimbush-Bourque, SimpleBites.net

From the Publisher

It starts with food—real food—and Baby-Led Feeding lays the foundation for a healthy relationship with food that lasts a lifetime. Jenna Helwig has written a comprehensive guide to baby-led feeding that is smart, approachable, and fun. From first bites to family dinner, this book equips parents to confidently feed their children as well as nurture a wholesome approach to eating.”

SimpleBites.net Aimée Wimbush-Bourque

If the ultimate goal is to create a positive food environment for your baby, and ultimately for your whole family, I can’t think of a more clear roadmap for parents than Jenna Helwig’s book. Clear, approachable, and, most important, fun, it’s the kind of manual that is destined to be the most sauce-stained and dog-eared in your kitchen.”

Jenny Rosenstratch

02/15/2018
After the success of Real Baby Food, Helwig explores the perspective of infant-led eating, as recent changes in the philosophy of feeding babies advocate for the "promotion of early self-feeding" and "early exposure to a variety of tastes." To get started, there is a helpful daily meal schedule with suggested portion sizes that is also categorized by age (i.e., four to six months, etc). Kitchen tools and allergy rules are discussed along with food safety basics. Featured recipes include kale and white bean mash, cauliflower-kale tots, and teff porridge, with nutrition per serving noted alongside each. Other highlights are sesame-soba noodles and fruity pops. In promoting that the baby opt for themselves (with supervision), conflict over food can be reduced and dexterity and independence developed. VERDICT The baby gets to choose (and have more variety) in this easy-to-use guide.—Barbara Kundanis, Longmont P.L., CO

Library Journal