Episode
The History of Baby-Led Weaning with its Founding Philosopher Gill Rapley, PhD (Part 1)
- Published
- Mar 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2697
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://blwpodcast.com/100
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Summary
#100: Gill Rapley, PhD helped give baby-led weaning its name, and more importantly, its philosophy: feeding led by your baby, not done to your baby. In Part 1 of our interview, Gill shares how baby-led weaning took shape, why waiting until babies are truly ready matters, and what she says to the skeptics who still doubt a baby’s ability to self-feed. Listen to this episode to learn: 1. How Gill’s work as a UK health visitor led her to a simple insight: many babies aren’t refusing food, they’re resisting being fed 2. Why baby-led weaning challenged the “normal” approach to starting solid foods, and what Gill says to the skeptics 3. How she and Tracey Murkett turned parent questions and real-life feeding observations into Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide This interview is part of a 2-part series with Gill Rapley, PhD. In this episode (100) we cover the history of baby-led weaning with its founding philosopher. In the next interview with Gill (102) we will talk about her ideas for the future of BLW and where she sees the movement going and what she would like to see more of (and less of) when it comes to promoting self-feeding from baby’s first bites. Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/100 Links from This Episode: • Gill Rapley’s book “Baby-Led Weaning: Completely Updated and Expanded Tenth Anniversary” edition available on Amazon here (this is an affiliate link). • Her website is rapleyweaning.com. • She spoke at length about the importance of Amy Brown’s research on baby-led weaning. My podcast interview with her “The Evidence Behind Baby-Led Weaning with Amy Brown, PhD” is available here. • Listen to part 2 of this interview with Gill Rapley in episode 102, “The Future of BLW with its Founding Philosopher Gill Rapl…