EPISODE OUT ON YOUR FAVORITE PLATFORM
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The Tiny Big Joys Podcast | Guest: Charlotte Stirling-Reed | Host: Olivia Parker
Part 1 is the beginning. Not the fears, not the allergens, not the lists of what to avoid — those come next week. This half is about the part that comes first: working out whether your baby is ready, what you actually put in front of them, and why the broccoli comes before the banana. Charlotte Stirling-Reed is the nutritionist who put vegetables first on the map for a generation of parents, and she is clear that the whole thing rests on one word — confidence. She takes us through the three signs of readiness and why the calendar isn’t one of them, what to do when the guidance where you live says four months rather than six, and exactly what the first meal looks like: one meal a day, one single vegetable, no expectation that much of it goes in. Then the heart of it — why babies arrive pre-programmed to love sweet, what that means for the apple purée that was everyone’s instinct a decade ago, and the research behind starting with the flavours that are hardest to love. She is honest about her own two, Raffy the broccoli boy and Ada who refused almost everything he loved, and about being nervous to offer finger foods herself despite years of telling other parents it was fine. This episode covers confidence and the five principles, weaning two very different babies, signs of readiness, international guidance, the first meal in practice, veg-led weaning and the evidence behind it, familiarisation and repeated exposure, what to do if you’ve already started with fruit, purées versus baby-led weaning, textures and why purée is a short stage, what to do when most of it ends up on the floor, eating together, and letting your baby eat off your plate.
Instagram @thetinybigjoys
Charlotte Stirling-Reed is “The Baby & Child Nutritionist” — a Registered Nutritionist with the Association for Nutrition, and the author of the Sunday Times bestseller How to Wean Your Baby, the UK’s number one weaning book. She began her working life in the NHS after a first-class degree in nutrition and human biology and a postgraduate degree in nutrition and public health from Bristol, and has worked in pregnancy nutrition, with weight loss clinics and with older adults at Age UK — but always came back to feeding children. She has since written How to Feed Your Toddler, How to Feed Your Family and The Ultimate Weaning and Toddler Cookbook, was the nutritionist behind Joe Wicks’ Wean in 15, hosts the How To Feed podcast, and supports around 370,000 parents on Instagram. She is mum to Raffy and Ada, the two very different eaters who appear throughout this conversation.
Instagram @sr_nutrition
Key Takeaways
Confidence is everything, and it’s learnable We live in a world of constantly questioning whether we’re doing it right, and that anxiety travels straight to the high chair. A little reading, a little preparation, and the whole thing changes shape.
Three signs of readiness, and the calendar isn’t one Sitting up with head and neck steady; seeing food, picking it up and getting it to their mouth; and swallowing rather than pushing it all back out. They tend to arrive together around six months.
The tongue thrust reflex is the one to watch Between four and six months a baby automatically pushes anything on their lip straight back out. As it fades, they can start exploring food with their tongue instead.
When your country’s guidance says four months Foods to avoid and choking lists differ country to country too. Charlotte’s answer is to look at the three signs of readiness rather than the number, wherever you live.
Start with one meal a day It gives a brand new digestive system time to get used to this brand new thing called food.
Babies are born preferring sweet Breast milk is sweet, formula is sweet, and in the womb babies swallow more of a sweet fluid than a bitter one. Starting with apple purée reinforces a preference that’s already there.
Veg-led, in one sentence Start with single savoury and bitter vegetables, so that the first thing a baby learns isn’t that food is supposed to taste easy.
It isn’t a fail-safe, and variety matters more Starting with veg doesn’t guarantee a vegetable-loving child. What it does is familiarise — and alongside it, allergens and iron-rich foods still need to come in early.
The face they pull is not a no A different texture, a different flavour, nothing like it before. Surprise looks a lot like rejection, and it isn’t the same thing.
Familiarisation leads to acceptance A food can take 10, 15, 20 goes or more. If we dropped every food they frowned at, their diet would be tiny.
Already weeks into fruit? Nothing is lost Don’t stop the fruit. Build variety, gently raise the savoury, and try mixing the two — apple with something savoury, or her plum and chickpeas.
Purées versus baby-led is a false choice The NHS has recommended a combined approach for years. The purists are wrong, including about choking.
What a good finger food looks like Roughly the size and shape of an adult finger, so they can grip it and munch the top, and soft enough to squash between your finger and thumb.
Purée is a short stage, not a year Smooth purée teaches a baby to suck, not to eat. Research suggests babies not offered lumps before nine months can end up a little delayed in their eating development.
Most of it ending up on the floor is the job Learning to eat takes practice, like learning to walk. Most of their energy still comes from milk at this stage.
The step most parents miss: eat with them Babies learn to bite, chew and swallow by watching you, the same way they learn to talk. When weaning isn’t going well, this is Charlotte’s first suggestion.
Let them eat off your plate It’s role modelling working exactly as it should. Plate up with the swap in mind — or put big plates in the middle and share.
Go in with no expectations Raffy ate portions bigger than his mother’s. Ada ate like a bird and refused breakfast until she was over one. Same house, same advice, two completely different babies.
Part 2 coming next.
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