Gill Rapley 💙

Pioneer of baby-led weaning (BLW). Writer and author. Ex health visitor, midwife, LC, breastfeeding counsellor. PhD. Mother and grandmother. She/her.

[The Grocer @TheGrocer]

Experts have called for the government to “step up” and take action over the “unacceptable” marketing of all baby and toddler food
https://t.co/Xbeuj5ggZ9

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

I just asked my MP to stand up for healthier baby food. You can too. #KidsAreSweetEnough @childrensfood @uksustain @OHAupdates 

Link: https://t.co/QYMDfg9Rn5

Facebook: https://t.co/QYMDfg9Rn5

[Dayna Brackley @DaynaBrackley]

If you’re angry after watching #Panorama, you’re right to be.

But there’s action you can take: email your MP and demand change on baby food standards.

It only takes a minute — details here: https://t.co/dKWezFzsoH
#BabyFood #ChildHealth #BBCPanorama

[Sue Atkins 👶🏽👧📱🎧📚 @SueAtkins]

#Baby #foodpouches from six of the UK's leading brands are failing to meet key nutritional needs of #babies and #toddlers - with #parents being "misled" by their marketing - #BBC #Panorama has been told.

Laboratory testing of 18 pouches made by Ella's Kitchen, Heinz, Piccolo, Little Freddie, Aldi and Lidl found many to be low in vitamin C and iron, while some contained more sugar in a single pouch than a one-year-old should have in a day.

There are more than 250 of these products on the multi-million pound baby pouch market - they have become a staple for many households with babies and children up to the age of two or three. They are convenient and have long shelf lives.

Experts have told the BBC the products should only be used sparingly, are not replacements for homemade meals, and can cause children health problems if used as their main source of nutrition.

When we put this to the brands, the market leader Ella's Kitchen said it agreed with all three points.

All of the brands said their products were intended as a complementary part of a child's varied weaning diet.

A laboratory approved by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service was commissioned by Panorama to independently test the nutritional value of a fruit, yoghurt and savoury pouch from each of the six leading brands.

The investigation found:

Savoury pouches, used by some families as replacements for main meals, containing less than 5% of the key nutrient, iron, that an infant needs each day

A fruit pouch in which virtually all the vitamin C had been lost during the manufacturing process

Fruit pouches marketed as having "no added sugar" containing about four teaspoons of so-called "free sugars" (created when fruit is blended)

'Misleading' nutrition claims

"You think they are going to be nutritionally good for your child," said one parent, Hazel

"You trust the brands… it's really, really concerning."

The nutritional claims of baby food pouches are misleading, according to Dr Alison Tedstone, who spent nine years as chief nutritionist to the UK government.

"You think as a parent it is a healthy product & it just isn't," she said.

Savoury pouches are often used by parents as a main meal - but of the six such products sent for laboratory testing, none could provide a significant contribution to the 7.8mg of iron an infant needs in a day.

Alongside savoury products, companies also sell pouches containing only fruit, which are leaving dentists concerned about the potential for tooth decay.

Panorama: The Truth about Baby Food Pouches

Catrin Nye reports on how some baby food in plastic pouches are worryingly low in essential vitamins and minerals, while others contain more sugar than the NHS recommends for infants.

Watch on iPlayer now - or on BBC One on Monday 28 April at 22:00 (22:40 in Northern Ireland and 23:10 in Wales)

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

Great #Panorama tonight on the excess sugars and lack of key nutrients (iron, vit C) in commercial baby food #pouches. Pity, though, that they didn't explore why the emphasis is still on purees! Most babies of 6 months are ready to chew. #BLW has loads of benefits!

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

Better still, try waiting until six months, then offering the baby a piece of cooked broccoli to pick up! Eating isn't only about the food, it's also about the experience. It's driven by natural curiosity and the desire to act autonomously. #BLW

[Dan Wuori @DanWuori]

Want your baby to embrace eating vegetables as part of a healthy long-term diet?

One key is eating them yourself - both early and often.

That’s because science traces some of our earliest taste preferences back to the womb (where our taste buds begin developing as early as 8 weeks).

As babies gestate they are exposed to the flavors of the foods their mothers eat, which transfer initially into the amniotic fluid - and, after birth, into breast milk.

That’s right. Your baby is subtly tasting a wide variety of foods long before you ever introduce them by spoon.

And this initial exposure can contribute mightily to future receptivity.

Research suggests that babies whose mothers regularly consumed carrot juice, for example, during (and immediately following) pregnancy show a greater receptivity to carrot upon the initiation of solid foods.

I love this video, shared to TT by lanazimet, of her 5 month old’s early experience with broccoli.

Recognize that eating something directly is a far more intense experience - and one that activates the senses in different ways (think of smell and consistency) - but all told it appears that the verdict on broccoli was a positive one, likely undergirded by early exposure to the flavor.

It’s another example of how our earliest experiences shape us in powerful ways.

[Carlos A. Monteiro @CMonteiro_USP]

A first-of-its-kind lawsuit against 11 UPF industries alleging they engineer their UPF products to be addictive with details on the actions taken to target children including internal memos, meetings & the research conducted to create addictive substances.
https://t.co/oT3EcfNbGq

[Hospice UK @hospiceuk]

300 hospice beds in England are closed due to critical funding and staffing pressures - 14% of total capacity.

That’s 110,000 days and nights of care lost for those who need it.

We’re calling on the government to act now.

https://t.co/I1o6PWE1Dj

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

@EM_RESUS I love your posts but am about to leave X (for the same reasons as others). Are you in the bluespace?

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

@DadswithKidsUk It was perfect!

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

Beautifully said.

[Ash @ash63bmax]

@helenatvnews Well said. Palliative care is the way to go.

[Diana Finch @DianaJFinch]

Tonight I'll be at @StaraniseCafe in #Stroud, talking with @LowimpactOrg about alternative approaches to our economic system. https://t.co/VgOzDzTgLu @arkbounduk @EllyDonovanPR @stroudlife #polycrisis #ValueBeyondMoney #doughnuteconomics #alteconomics #degrowth

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

It was fab -a real tonic, and great exercise, to boot. @bellowheaduk rock. And @TheLongestJohns were the ideal support act. Amazing evening!

[Lucy Strange @theLucyStrange]

Dazzling musicianship, extraordinary energy and much giddy jigging about. Pretty sure this stuff should be available on prescription. Thank you @bellowheaduk and @TheLongestJohns for a fantastic show at the Brighton Dome 🎻🌟

[First Steps Nutrition Trust @1stepsnutrition]

Hot off the press. The prevalence of obesity in reception aged children has INCREASED from 9.2% to 9.6%, 2022/23 to 2023/24 - WAKE UP Govt please, & take action to enable babies to eat well from the start of life https://t.co/epT1j0xFbz @OHA_updates @Childrensfood @wesstreeting @GwynneMP

[Sarah Ziman/BardyMum - 'Brain' out now! @BardyMum]

On #NationalPoetryDay, let’s celebrate the one-and-only @PoetryZone, a very funny man who also gives countless children the opportunity to have their own poems published at https://t.co/rDn9oXv83c

His latest book Razzmatazz, is an absolute cracker #childrenspoetry

[Action on Salt and Sugar @ActionSaltSugar]

NEW research links sugar in first 1,000 days to poor health later
So many infant foods contain high and unnecessary levels of sugars, and all have misleading marketing claims on them. Gov's long overdue baby food guidelines need to be released ASAP
https://t.co/f6vYiTzeFJ

[Gill Rapley 💙 @gillrap]

"Sales of baby food pouches have increased by 900 percent. Experts are concerned." Not clear how much sales of jarred food have decreased in the same timescale (so overall shift to purees may not be this huge) but there's acknowledgement that chewing matters. #BLW

[First Steps Nutrition Trust @1stepsnutrition]

US data but would put money on the same picture in UK. We URGENTLY need progress on commercial baby & toddler food regulation to address issues with inappropriate composition & marketing @GwynneMP @Childrensfood @OHA_updates

Sales of baby food pouches have increased by 900 percent. Experts are concerned https://t.co/BiVOTlCwQP

[Dan Wuori @DanWuori]

Like beauty, toddler behaviors are often “in the eye of the beholder.”

Toddlers get a bad rap.

Consider the label “the terrible twos,” for example.

Yes, toddlers can be busy, messy, and moody, but they aren’t just agents of chaos.

And it’s amazing how far a little knowledge of child development can go in helping to shift how we interpret their behaviors as adults.

Consider, first, that your baby has just spent the better part of a year immobile and highly dependent - only to begin mastering new ways of transporting themself (crawling, walking).

Are toddlers busy? Do they want to get into everything?

Of course!

They have a whole world to explore and the newfound motor skills to match their curiosity.

Can their moods shift on a dime? Well, yes. But imagine being driven to participate in the world of adults and older siblings/playmates at a time that your emerging abilities still don’t always align with your goals (and the models being set in front of you). That’s the story of toddlerhood.

Now imagine lacking the communication skills to fully express your needs and desires. They’re developing rapidly, for sure, but still far from where they will be just a few months from now.

Finally, look at all they’re trying to learn - often through trial and error - about how the world works.

Long story short: many toddler “misbehaviors” are actually a reflection on their developmental stage - and are better understood than extinguished/punished.

Want a perfect example?

Take this little one - shared with me by X user rens_di.

You might know that I often refer to the young subjects of these videos as “our hero” - but today the hero in question is definitely Mom.

Just watch what she does as her little one repeatedly throws a towel onto the floor from his high chair.

Recognizing his curious demeanor and repeated visual tracking of the towel as it falls to the floor, she leans into the activity and makes it a game.

Where she might have responded by scolding or removing the opportunity by taking the towel away, she recognizes the activity for what it is: a first lesson in the laws of gravity.

Does that mean that anything goes and that she will tolerate endless throwing into adolescence? Of course not.

But here, she recognizes her son’s behavior both for what it is (a rich learning opportunity) and what it isn’t (misbehavior) and reacts accordingly.

That’s some A+ “momming” in my book - and a lovely example of how attunement with your child’s developmental stage can shift one’s own understanding of their behavior.

Well done, Mom!

[First Steps Nutrition Trust @1stepsnutrition]

Great to hear @ClareGerada (ex @rcgp chair) highlight on @BBCr4today just now that tackling obesity needs to start in infancy, addressing what children eat & why @OHA_updates @Childrensfood @GwynneMP @wesstreeting

[The Magpie Project @magpieprojectuk]

We agree unfortunately thousands of children in the UK are having to wean on to solids in homes with no access to a kitchen. If you agree this is not right, please support our campaign:
https://t.co/bvCvdPI8xZ