Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby & Toddler Meal Planner - 4th Edition

I bought this book when I had my second child, having weaned my first child purely on tins and jars of baby food. I so wanted to avoid the multitude of nasty looking baby food in the supermarket with a shelf life of 25 years but really didn't know where to start because I was confused about what vitamins and nutrients were important for my baby's healthy development. This book, together with the Baby Meal Planner by Nicola Graimes, showed me the way and gave me the confidence to prepare lovely food for my babies. I am surprised by the amount of reviews that comment negatively on the huge variety of fruit and vegetables in these books. For me and my family it paved the way to much improved, healthier more interesting mealtimes and has given me the confidence to try all kinds of foods I would never have bothered with in the past. As for cooking just for the children, this never happened in my house because all of the recipes are easily adapted for the whole family. I agree that for more accomplished cooks these books may seem a little basic and boring, however, if you are lacking in confidence and a bit confused about what kind of foods you can give your baby and when, then I would suggest you give this book a go. I am now the confident, proud mother of four beautiful boys who all have very healthy appetites. As for the dreaded sugar and salt, I would say everything in moderation and use your common sense. I omitted the salt from most recipes and used low-salt stock cubes. In my experience children who are never allowed anything sweet or salty are always the ones shoving handfuls of sweets and goodies in their mouths at parties - forbidden fruit? And how will they ever learn about self-control if you don't allow them to have anything other than a carrot stick?

Used this book for weaning my daughter with natural healthy food, still using it 18 years later as great family recipes included! Recommend for every family.

This is the only book any first time or experienced mother will need for weaning their baby. There are some wonderful, easy to follow day by day charts to guide you on how to wean and when to feed the food you'll be making. Easy to follow recipes included as well as guidance on utensils etc you'll need. This is my fourth child and I bought this now that he's four months old in time for weaning at six months. The book has helped me prepare and now I feel confident and ready to wean when the time comes.

I had this for my sons and have bought for my DIL and new Granddaughter. The recipes have stood the test of time and my Granddaughter daughter is loving them as did my sons. My sons grew up to embrace a healthy diet with lots of fruit and veg and this was the foundation.

The book has a general introduction, then sections on first stage and second stage weaning, 9-12 months, and toddlers. In the first stage weaning section there are 4 seven day meal planners. In subsequent sections there are seven day meal planners. There is also general information in each section. I found the general information useful and interesting. But - to my own surprise - despite this I am not very keen on the book and would not recommend it as "the only weaning book you will ever need". I see it more as being a useful back-up. There are three reasons for this. First, I didn't find that the section on first stage weaning provided me with enough information and guidance. I was very nervous about weaning, and really wanted something which gave much more information about suggested feeding amounts. As a result I tended to rely much more on Gina Ford's weaning book. Second, I don't feel entirely confident about the protein content in some of the main meal recipes. My understanding is that a baby aged between 9 and 12 months needs about 50g animal protein a day - but the meat and fish meal servings here just don't seem to me to provide anything like this amount. Maybe I'm missing something - but I don't want to have to worry about this. Third - I found that my baby absolutely refused to eat a very high proportion of Annabel's recipes, particularly the vegetable ones. I don't think this is just because he is a fussy eater - because he really isn't. He just gobbles up the recipes from other books without any complaints. But Annabel's are surprisingly unpopular. I'm not sure why this might be. The only thing I can think of is that many of the recipes are very simple - perhaps they have been over-simplified? Or perhaps my baby is just an odd-ball! Anyway, the end result is that I used the Gina Ford weaning book as my weaning bible, and flicked through this one a bit for fruit and breakfast recipes. The fruit recipes I must say are delicious. But I'm not so keen on the rest of it.

I purchased this book as a present for a new mum with a note saying 'I know its abit boring and practical but it will give you a chance to flick through, before you need it!' I first purchased this book when I had my first child in 2003. I wish someone had purchased it for me as a new mum book! It really helped getting ideas of foods which can be pureed together and then how to tempt them on to lumpier food. My son eat liver, chicken, lamb all recipes in the book! I still use recipes for both my sons still, especially the fish in orange and pineapple muffins! They still ask for the wholemeal rusks! I was proud that i never used a shop jar of baby food for my kids, even when we went away! Great for batch cooking and freezing. You'll also need a few ice cube trays for first stage weaning and small plastic storage containers suitable for freezer and microwave.

Found this book so good I used nothing else to get my son onto solids. Plenty of variety in the purees and there were very few that my son didn't like. There are plenty of the first stage weaning recipes which give you good ideas for older children (eg I sneak courgettes into mashed potato thanks to the excellent courgette gratin) I started using lots more recipe books as we moved from baby to toddler, as I find most of the toddler recipes in this one are a bit bland for my husband and I. I'd say it's not to be considered a family recipe book (I don't think it intends to be either as Annabel has a separate family recipe book out!) Baby 2 is on the way and I will be relying on this book again.

I bought this 19 years ago when I had my daughter and I’m still using some of the recipes in it. Loved it

Il libro e arrivato in ottime condizioni! Molto utile!

II am the mother of a one year old, who I did not have a clue how to feed. I know that a balanced diet with plenty of meat or fish, fruits and vegetables is a healthy one, but I did not know that babies do not benefit from low-fat products, can eat garlic, etc. My daughter eats most things, and I put a lot of that down to this book. There is a trial period of introducing foods, but all with delicious recipes to combine the foods that baby has tasted. There is a real emphasis on preparing baby for being less picky in later childhood, and letting youngsters enjoy more adult meals instead of the sausage and chips offered on restaurant menus. It has a lot of easy to follow recipes, some of which are easy to prepare, some of which take a lot longer. The beauty is that you can take or leave each one. Each recipe comes with an asterisk to indicate that you can freeze the meals (totally necessary unless you want to be making purees every day for the younger babies), and each chapter, based on age and development, begins with nutritional information appropriate to each age group. I found this useful for creating my own recipes. I found some of the ingredients to be a little pricey or difficult to find, as I live in Japan, but I assume if you live in the U.K. that might not be much of a problem. The meal planners also gave you an idea of the quantity to give your child, which I was also very unsure about. On the negative side, I found a lot of the recipes included her own recipe for home made stock. This can be refrigerated for 3 days, so every week, you have to make two lots of stock. This is very fiddly and impossible if you don't have access to whole chickens. A lot of the recipes included cheese too. Although my daughter has come to really like cheese..not sure if that is a good thing or not. On the whole I thought it was a very good buy. A lot of the toddler recipes can be used to make meals for the whole family, reducing the amount of seperate meals you have to make. I would definitely recommend it, especially to new parents, because it really does take you by the hand and tell you what to do.

Great when I was a first time mum and then again when my ideas were waning for healthy, dinners for my picky 13 month old. Sent a copy yo a friend who also loved it.

Das Kochbuch ist übersichtlich aufgebaut. Super leckere und einfache Rezepte für Babys, zum Entwöhnen, bis Desserts und Snacks für Ältere.

Loved this book. As my baby started solids, although I did my research online I wanted more meal ideas and recipes of how to prepare the food according to age. I love that this is more than just a recipe book but she explains each weaning stage and the benefit of introducing specific foods as they get older. She also has meal planners which I don't always follow but is good to use as a guide to what my baby should be saying and when.