Hello and welcome to the Get Your Glow Back podcast, a podcast that helps you get your glow back. I'm joined today by the Queen of Weaning Annabel Carmar with over five million cookbooks sold worldwide and almost 30 years of expertise. Annabel has guided countless parents through their weaning journey and I'm so excited

to be speaking with her today. We spoke all about where her love of weaning comes from and why

she created her business, how to feel confident while weaning and some incredibly inspiring

words about being a working mother. I hope you love this episode as much as I did. Let's bring on

the incredible Annabel. Welcome Annabelle to the podcast. Lovely to be here. Thank you so much.

You've been publishing books for over 30 years now, is that right? Almost 30 years. Yes, that's right. My son is 30, so yes,

I wrote the book really because of him because he was literally the world's worst eater.

Had he been a good eater, I don't suppose I'd have a career. Well, there you go. There was a

blessing in disguise. What made you so passionate about weaning? Was it the fact that you couldn't get food

into him and you just had to figure out a way and you wanted to share how? It was that, but it was

actually a tragedy in my life that got me into my career. It had taken me a few years to get

pregnant. Then I gave birth a little girl called Natasha. I was literally over the moon having a

child. I was so happy. And then at three months, she didn't look quite right. And after quite a lot of persuasion, I took her to see a doctor. It was the evening. He wasn't really keen to see her, but he did. And he said that, you know, first time mothers worry about their children. They're more robust and you think they are, and she was fine. Next morning, she didn't look right at all, and I took her see another doctor, and he went out the room and said he'd go and see another patient, but actually, when he came back, he said there was something seriously wrong with her, and potentially something wrong with her brain. And he hadn't gone to see another patient, he'd gone to see if she could get her bed at Great Ormond Street, but there was nowhere for her. So I took her to St. Mary's. And after a while, several hours of tests, they did a cat scan. And they called me into a room. And they put a cat scan up on this light box, and they told me that she had never be normal again. In fact, they said they couldn't treat her there. And they had to then then transfer to Great Ormond Street. And I stayed with her for five days and five nights and on the fifth day, they said they wanted to meet with us and they told us that the thinking part of her brain had gone and what they want us to do. And well, they took her off the ventilator and put her in my arms and after a few hours, she died. And it was just, it was just devastating. I really didn't know what to do with myself.

It's just so unexpected to lose a child when she was so wanted. And it was really that losing

Natasha that changed my life, because I was a musician. And then I took a drug called Clomid

because I didn't think I could wait two years to get pregnant. And I thought, how can I speed up

the process? I thought the only thing is going to help me get over this terrible tragedy was having another child. And it was a fertility drug, and the doctor said, you sure, you want to take this. You could have multiple children. And at the last day, I just said, like, anything that will give me a child, I'll be so happy. And I got pregnant, thank goodness, within four months. and it wasn't all clear sailing because when I called my doctor say I was in labour, he said I was in early stages, but how wrong he was. And I went upstairs, my water's broke, the head came out, and the baby was born on the staircase to live by my husband. I always had pretty bad luck with doctors. No one came for two and a half hours, and that was the birth of Nicholas. I was still attached by the cord until somebody came two and a half hours later. And Nicholas was really the catalyst that changed my life. He was, literally the world's worth eater, a world's worth sleeper. The child was really very difficult. But of course, I loved him. I wanted him. And I was determined to get him to eat,

having lost my daughter. And it was Nicholas, a change my life, really. And now he's 30. And yes,

so it was 30 years ago. I think my first book came out. And it was really my own journey through

trying to get Nicholas to eat and running a play group with lots of moms and talking to them

that made me realize that, wow, how difficult it is to get small children to eat? I never realized that until I became my mum. And is he a good eater now? He's an amazing eater now. Honestly, so adventurous, a wonderful cook and obsessed with food. Like all my children, I'm now very blessed to have a son and two daughters, one of whom works with me, and my daughter works with me, which is so lovely. I have seen her in some of your videos. Yes, we're very close. She's with me today. We're doing a photo shoot today, and working with one of your children is just so lovely. And I think as a mum per now, you do have to make certain sacrifices, but it pays back because now I have all with me like every

day in the office which I love I hope she loves it too I think she does. Of course she does.

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