World's First Crowd-sourced Weaning Guide to end Weaning Confusion

LONDON, November 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

54% of mums confused by current advice and guidelines

Plum launches The Weaning of Life guide in partnership with the industry's most experienced academics and mummy bloggers to help decide what's best for their baby

New research commissioned by organic baby food brand Plum has found that 54% of mums are confused by the advice and guidelines on when to start weaning.  Some babies are being introduced to solid food as young as four months, against the advice of the World Health Organisation, which recommends exclusively breast feeding until six months.  

As a result, today Plum is launching The Weaning of Life e-magazine - the world's first crowd-sourced weaning guide, which has gathered the opinion of over 180 of the top mummy bloggers and academics to provide hints, tips and stories to help new mums make up their own minds on what's best for their baby. 

Author Keris Stainton, in her baby weaning 'Slopsville' column for award-winning blog LittleStuff.co.uk, said: "Babies aren't exactly known for their table manners anyway, are they? But (my baby) Joe takes messy eating to the next level. He dials messy eating up to 11. He laughs in the face of messy eating and then hurls it down the front of my top."

Maggy Woodley, who writes the leading mummy blog RedTedArt, added: "If your child doesn't want to eat - really don't worry. Look at your child's food intake over the course of a week and not a day. Some days they eat more and other days less."

The Weaning of Life e-magazine is available at weaningoflife.co.uk and will be published three times a year.  Each edition will include fresh stories, tips and advice provided by bloggers and members of Plum's Facebook community through facebook.com/plumbaby.

The Weaning of Life was created by Plum Baby after it commissioned a Weaning Study with one of the country's leading experts in the subject, Dr Pauline Emmett, a senior research fellow at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health in Bristol. The study found that mums are confused by weaning and tend to trust their instincts when it comes to introducing solid food to their baby's diet.  

The Weaning of Life will use social media to collect the instincts of hundreds of mums, and enable them to share their experiences with parents who are new to this incredibly confusing subject.

Nigel White from Plum Baby, which publishes the e-magazine said: "Weaning can be very confusing for mums - there's a lot of contradictory information available and not all of it necessarily correct.

"That's why Plum decided to invest in research to help mums see through the myths and old wives' tales. The Weaning of Life™ is written by mums for mums, and doesn't dictate but tells the facts as they really are, with humour so mums can make up their own minds on what's best for baby."

Contact Greg Felgate at greg.felgate@finncomms.com or on +44(0)113-394-4333 for more information.