How to Prepare for Baby-Led Weaning: A Guide for Parents & Caregivers

#427: Baby-led weaning does not mean skipping purees. In this episode I’ll help you bridge your baby’s transition from an infant milk liquid diet to soft solid strips of food using my unique Purees for a Few Days™ approach to starting solid foods with baby-led weaning.  Listen to this episode to learn: Why combo feeding finger foods + adult-led spoon feeding is not baby-led weaning How you can honor the self-feeding principles of baby-led weaning and still do purees How to safely sequence 3 textures of the same food in one meal for early eaters Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/5 Links from this episode: Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro program with the 100 First Foods™ Daily Meal Plan, join here: https://babyledweaning.co/program  Baby-Led Weaning for Beginners free online workshop with 100 First Foods™ list to all attendees, register here: https://workshop.babyledweaning.co  Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 64 - How to Pre-Load A BLW Spoon Self-Feeding Technique with Dawn Winkelmann, MS, CCC-SLP Episode 109 - I Started Purees Too Early: Should I Stop Before Switching to BLW? Episode 200 - Combo Feeding: Can I Do BLW + Traditional Spoon-Feeding Together? with Gill Rapley, PhD Episode 236 - Positive Tilt: Get Permission from Your Baby with Marsha Dunn Klein, OTR/L, MEd, FAOTA 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 426: Is it safe for your dog to eat food your baby drops on the floor? Should the dog even be around your baby in a high chair? In this episode certified dog trainer Jake Schneider from @ondogtrainingacademy shares tips on establishing boundaries and rules for your dog when your baby starts eating solid food.  Check out Jake’s On Dog Training Academy, listen to his podcast Learn, Laugh, Bark and follow him on Instagram @ondogtrainingacademy.  Shownotes for this episode are here: https://blwpodcast.com/426  🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 Other podcast episodes related to this topic: Episode 332 - Baby Foods Your Dog Should Never Eat with @dogmeets_baby Dominika Knossalla-Pado Episode 56 - Dog Meets Baby: BLW Do's + Don'ts For The Whole (Furry) Family with Alexandra Parry, DVM 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#425: What if my baby gags on food? And how is gagging different than choking? In this episode we cover why gagging is a good thing when your baby is learning to eat and what to do if your baby chokes on food. Listen to this episode to learn: Which foods are choking risks and how to modify them to make them safe for your baby Why it is important not to intervene during a gag…and how to react when your baby gags What to do if your baby chokes on food  Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/425 Links from this episode: Take a refresher infant CPR course before your baby starts solid food. Use affiliate discount code KATIE10 for $10 off lifetime access to the online course I take each quarter here: https://courses.thrivetraininginstitute.com/pages/babyledweanteam Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 221 - Gagging: What do I do if My Baby Gags on Food? Episode 390 - Back Blows for Babies: When Do I Administer CPR? with @thrivetraininginstitute Brandon Doerksen 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#424: How often should you breastfeed once your baby starts solid foods? And what if your milk supply drops off once your baby starts eating? Jessica Smith, MSN, RN, IBCLC joins me to explain how you can succeed at continued and extended breastfeeding after 6 months of age and even past age 1. Listen to this episode to learn: When is the ideal time to drop a milk feed…and which one goes first? How to handle declining milk supply after your baby starts solid foods Why breastfeeding beyond 1 year has benefits most moms don’t know about Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/424 Links from this episode: Jessica’s website https://blueridgelactation.wixsite.com/ibclc  Kelly Mom https://kellymom.com/  IBL: The Institute for the Advancement of Breastfeeding & Lactation Education: https://lacted.org/  Infant Risk Center MommyMed for Moms: https://www.infantrisk.com/infantrisk-center-resources  Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 55 - How to Drop a Milk Feed Episode 235 - When to Move Milk Behind Food with Nicole Boehm Episode 404 - Storing Breastmilk Safely with Lara Vu, MPH, CLES @milaskeeper 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#423: What can you do to help your baby get ready to start solid foods safely? From picking out the best high chair to knowing how to introduce allergenic foods like peanut, here are 5 things parents and caregivers can do to get prepared for baby-led weaning. Listen to this episode to learn: What the most important safety feature on your high chair should be…and why most high chairs don’t have this What to do if your baby chokes on food and how to administer back blows if your baby does choke How to safely introduce peanut…and which babies should consider peanut even before 6 months of age Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/423 Links from this episode: Online Infant Refresher CPR Course - use affiliate code KATIE10 for an additional $10 off lifetime access to this online CPR class High Chair recommendations - look for an adjustable footrest…the Stokke Tripp Trapp is my favorite but here are some other high chairs that also have footrests. Puffworks Baby Peanut puffs for introducing peanut protein: affiliate code BLWPOD for discount ezpz First Foods Set for suction mat, baby-led weaning spoons and open cup: affiliate code KATIE10 for discount Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 132 - CPR Skills that can Save Your Baby's Life when Choking with Brandon Doersken Episode 227 - When Does the Food Allergy Prevention Window Close? with @allergykidsdoc David Stukus, MD Episode 290 - Pre-Feeding Skills: What Can My Baby Do Before Beginning Solid Foods? with Marsha Dunn Klein OTR/L, MEd, FAOTA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#422: What if you don’t love cooking new foods, prepping food for your baby or your other kids…or even just being in charge of food in general? So much of what moms are tasked with falls under this banner of the “invisible load” that you’re probably hearing more mental health people in the parenting space talk about. Erica Djossa from @momwell is here to talk about HOW MUCH WORK being a mom is, and how we can set more realistic expectations to get food on the table without killing ourselves over it. Listen to this episode to learn: Why you are putting unreasonable expectations on yourself and how to STOP If your parenting partner is deploying “weaponized incompetence” and how to handle that How to sort the most important values to you right now (...and effectively ignore the rest) Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/422 Links from this episode: Check out Erica and Momwell’s website: https://www.momwell.com/ and follow Momwell on Instagram @momwell  Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 372 - Mom's Mental Health: Strengthening Parenthood Through Therapy with @momwell Erica Djossa, PHM-C 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#421: Is your baby developmentally ready to safely start solids? Learn why the 6-month mark is pivotal, the significance of independent sitting, and why the disappearance of the tongue thrust reflex isn't the only readiness to eat signal to begin the weaning process. Listen to this episode to learn: Unveiling the significance of the 6-month mark for a safe baby-led weaning start, emphasizing exclusive infant milk feeding for younger babies as their primary source of nutrition. Exploring the developmental stages of independent sitting after 6 months and its correlation with enhanced head control in babies. Debunking myths surrounding the disappearance of the extrusion or tongue thrust reflex as the sole indicator of readiness for solid foods. Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://www.babyledweaning.co/podcast/2 Links from this episode: Episode 119 - Premature Babies: How to Estimate & Adjust Age for Starting Solids https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/119  Episode 158 - How Premature Babies Can Succeed with BLW with @doctorterrimd Terri Major-Kincade, MD https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/158  Episode 110 - Catch-Up Weight: Why Starting Solids Early Will Not Help Your Baby Gain Weight with Rosan Meyer, PhD, RD https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/110  Episode 144 - What Did Babies Eat Before Baby Food was Invented? with Amy Bentley, PhD https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/144  Other Episodes Related to this Topic Episode 109 - I Started Purees Too Early: Should I Stop Before Switching to BLW? at https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/109  Episode 141 - BLW Basics: Is My Baby Ready to Start Solid Foods? at https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/141  Episode 147 - BLW Basics: Help! Nobody Around Me Understands Baby-Led Weaning at https://babyledweaning.co/podcast//147  Episode 172 - High Chair Positioning: Reduce Choking Risk Using This One Simple Move with Jeff Durkee of Nomi High Chair at https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/172  Episode 199 - Beginner's Guide to Baby-Led Weaning: Starting Solid Foods Safely with BLW at https://babyledweaning.co/podcast/199 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#420: Do you feel anxious about your baby starting solid foods? Nervous that your baby will choke on food? Raising babies is stressful…and we don’t always get the support we need as new moms. Today I’m joined by someone who thinks we should be doing things - and supporting new moms differently Her name is Andrea Niles, she’s a clinical psychologist and mom of 2. Andrea is the founder of Prospera Mental Health and Wellness, which provides one on one weekly sessions with perinatal certified mental health coaches.  …and in this interview she shares how she herself had a traumatic birth experience and recognized that even as a clinical psychologist she needed to ask for help in the post partum period Andrea’s website for Prospera Women’s Mental Health is here and you can follow her @prosperamhw on Instagram Shownotes for this episode are here: https://blwpodcast.com/420  🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 Other podcast episodes related to this topic: Episode 292 - Holiday Food Stress Stuff: Coping Tips from @diaryofanhonestmom Libby Ward Episode 214 - Overcoming Anxiety in the Feeding Relationship with Jo Cormack, PhD Episode 32 - Post-Partum Depression: How a BLW Plan Helped This Mom 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#419: Discover the ins and outs of baby-led weaning versus traditional spoon feeding, how it differs from parent-led feeding, and expert tips (pioneered by Gill Rapley, PhD) on safely introducing solid foods to your baby in this episode. Join me as I demystify baby-led weaning as a more developmentally appropriate introduction to solid foods and empower parents to make informed choices for your baby's nutrition journey. Listen to this episode to learn: How baby-led weaning is different from spoon-feeding and what research supports it Who started baby-led weaning and why you should read the original book by Gill Rapley What benefits your baby (and you!) get from taking this natural approach Shownotes for this episode can be found here: https://blwpodcast.com/419  Link from this episode: Gill Rapley’s Baby-Led Weaning book: Baby-Led Weaning The Essential Guide (get the 2019 revised 10th anniversary edition - linking on amazon here, this is an affiliate link). 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

#418: What causes food allergies and can introducing certain foods early to your baby help prevent food allergy? Food allergy guidance and recommendations seems to be changing quite regularly and figuring out the best way to safely introduce allergenic foods is confusing.  In this episode dietitian Bob Earl from Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) at foodallergy.org updates us on everything new and notable in food allergies including allergen labeling for the newest allergen on the Top 9 which is sesame. Learn more about Bob’s work at FARE on the Food Allergy Research and Education website here: https://www.foodallergy.org/  Shownotes for this episode are here: https://blwpodcast.com/418  🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 Other podcast episodes related to this topic: Episode 401 - Does the Order of Allergenic Food Introduction Matter? Episode 380 - Why Doctors STILL Aren't Talking About Introducing Allergenic Foods with Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH Episode 227 - When Does the Food Allergy Prevention Window Close? with @allergykidsdoc David Stukus, MD 🌱 🌱🌱🌱 🌱 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. 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 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 and thanks for being a part of this amazing and supportive BLW community! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices