The Future of Baby-Led Weaning with its Founding Philosopher Gill Rapley, PhD (Part 2)

In Part 2 of this conversation with Gill Rapley, PhD, the founding philosopher of the baby-led weaning approach, we look ahead at the future of baby-led weaning. Gill shares where she hopes the research will go, how social media has both helped and complicated the conversation around baby-led weaning, and why trust, respect, and shared family meals remain at the heart of the philosophy. We also explore how healthcare providers, therapists, and parents can better support your baby’s ability to self-feed, while rethinking outdated ideas about spoon-feeding, oral skill development, and how babies learn to eat. Listen to this episode to learn: 1. How parents can step back from controlling feeding and start trusting your baby’s natural ability to self-feed from 6 months on 2. Why Gill Rapley challenges the idea of repeatedly pushing foods until a baby “accepts” them, and how that changes the way we think about starting solid foods 3. What role social media has played in shaping the future of baby-led weaning, for better and for worse, and why Gill chooses not to police online baby-led weaning conversations Shownotes for this episode can be found here: Links from This Episode: • Listen to part 1 of this interview with Gill Rapley in episode 100 “The History of Baby-Led Weaning with its Founding Philosopher Gill Rapley, PhD” (Part 1) here • The original BLW book “Baby-Led Weaning: The Essential Guide” that Gill Rapley co-authored has been completely overhauled and updated for its 10th anniversary edition and is available here • 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. • Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro program with the 100 First Foods™ Daily Meal Plan, join here: and use the code BLWPOD50 to save $50 when you sign up. • Baby-Led Weaning for Beginners free online workshop with 100 First Foods™ list to all attendees, register here: 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 Not sure about which foods to offer your baby next? Get your copy of my original 100 FIRST FOODS list on my free online video workshop called BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS. 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 Want guided help on how to make all of the 100 FIRST FOODS™ safely for your baby? My program BABY-LED WEANING WITH KATIE FERRARO has a 100 FIRST FOODS daily meal plan and everything else you need to start solid foods safely with baby-led weaning. CLICK HERE TO JOIN and use the code BLWPOD50 to save $50 when you sign up. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 Be sure to follow @babyledweanteam on Instagram and our Baby-Led Weaning YouTube channel for more information about helping your baby transition to solid foods safely. 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 🙏 If you learned something from this episode and like this podcast, your review means the WORLD to us and helps other parents find this important evidence-based infant feeding info. Click here to leave a review on Apple podcasts or rate this show on Spotify podcasts and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive baby-led weaning community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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The Future of Baby-Led Weaning with its Founding Philosopher Gill Rapley, PhD (Part 2) is an episode from Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy by Katie Ferraro.

This episode is 32:58 long.

This episode was published on Mar 19, 2026.

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