Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro
Is your baby ready to start solid foods but you’re feeling overwhelmed or confused about baby-led weaning? Babies can eat so many more foods than we give them credit for and you don’t have to force-feed or spoon-feed to get them to eat real food!
I’m Katie Ferraro, Registered Dietitian specializing in infant feeding and baby-led weaning. I’m a college nutrition professor and mom of 7, and my goal is to help you start solid foods safely using baby-led weaning.
On this podcast I share practical tips on safe food preparation and starting solid foods, as well as in-depth interviews with other feeding experts. Listen to learn how you can get your baby to safely enjoy real food so that you can start enjoying mealtimes again too!
226
Top 5 BLW Questions Answered
If you’re feeling STUCK about starting solid foods, I’m answering some of the most common questions about baby-led weaning in this episode. From what to do if your baby breaks off a piece of food in their mouth to when they’re not eating and you feel like you’ve tried everything, this episode covers five frequently asked baby-led weaning questions I’m hearing right now from parents of babies who are just starting solid foods.
17 min
227
Baby Feeding Milestones, Floor Seats and Hip Dy...
Hip dysplasia requires 23 hours per day bracing and can interfere with safe seating in a high chair. In this episode KC Rickerd, PT, DPT from @milestones.and.motherhood is sharing tons of advice about baby milestones, safe high chair positioning as well as the signs of readiness to eat your baby should be exhibiting before you start solid foods.
33 min
228
Asparagus: How to Offer This Food Safely to You...
Has your baby tried asparagus yet? In this episode I’m teaching about a few ways to make asparagus safe for your baby to eat…including why the smaller, dantier stalks of asparagus actually aren’t the most tender, plus a tip for increasing tenderness before cooking asparagus.
9 min
229
Your Food Allergy Questions Answered with Ron S...
Introducing allergenic food to your baby early and often can help lower the risk of food allergy. In this episode pediatrician Dr. Ron Sunog is answering some common questions about allergenic foods. What causes an allergic reaction? What do allergic reactions look like? How much of an allergenic food “counts” and how often do we have to feed these foods?
22 min
230
Vitamin D Drops: Does My Baby Still Need Vitami...
If you’re exclusively breastfeeding your baby then you’re likely giving 400 IUs of vitamin D supplement drops each day. In this episode we explore when it’s ok to stop the vitamin D drops, whether you’re switching to formula or if your baby has started eating foods that are either natural sources of vitamin D or those foods that are vitamin D fortified.
13 min
231
Baby Foods Your Dog Should Never Eat with @dogm...
Dog people: do you let your dog clean up after your baby eats solid food? Dominika from @dogmeets_baby helps family dogs get integrated into growing families. She’s sharing four different categories of foods babies eat that dogs should not.
19 min
232
Interviewing my Mom: How She Didn’t Like BLW at...
Ever been told by your mom, “Well, you were spoon-fed and you turned out just fine?!” SAME. It took my mom a LONG time to come around to baby-led weaning. In this special Mother’s Day episode I’m interviewing my own mom, Mary Clark, RD - aka Granny. We’re chatting about how she introduced solids with me, how that changed for her next 5 kids and what she REALLY thinks about baby-led weaning 20 grandkids later.
19 min
233
Brain-Heart-Body Connections When Feeding Babie...
Do you feel like your brain has changed since you had your baby or started having kids? It has! Chelsea Conaboy is a journalist and author of the book Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood. In this interview Chelsea explains what scientists know about how our brain changes when we have children, and how to handle feelings of anxiety and fear when you are starting solid foods with your baby.
35 min
234
Nitrates in My Baby's Food: Do I Need to Worry?
Nitrates and nitrites are all around us in our environment, food and water supply. But are they something worth worrying about when it comes to your baby ingesting nitrates? In this episode we’re exploring what nitrates are, where they come from, what they can do to babies in high quantities and what precautions can be taken to minimize risk of nitrates in your baby’s food.
12 min
235
Managing Blood Sugar + Gestational Diabetes wit...
Do you remember that gross sugary drink you had to swallow when you were pregnant to screen for gestational diabetes? My guest is Casey Seiden, a dietitian and diabetes educator who works with women who have and previously had gestational diabetes. She is going to be teaching about how to manage blood sugar levels, choose carbohydrate foods and how to space those carbohydrates throughout the day for optimal glycemic control.
26 min
236
BLW on the Go: How to Pack a Feeding Bag for Tr...
Taking baby-led weaning babies on the road! In this episode I walk you through my essentials for feeding babies outside of the house. These are my favorite pieces of feeding gear and foods to take to-go, plus I’m giving you my best tips to reduce the travel stress. Whether you’re going on a long trip or just over to the grandparents’ for dinner, your baby can still explore food!
11 min
237
Pediatric Feeding Disorder: A History with Shan...
This is Part 2 of an interview with Shannon Goldwater, founder of Feeding Matters. In this interview Shannon explains the origins of her organization, how Pediatric Feeding Disorder came to be a universally recognized diagnosis and the work that Feeding Matters is doing to improve the system of care for children with pediatric feeding disorder.
30 min
238
Whole Foods: 10 BLW Foods to Buy from Whole Foods
Bring this grocery list if you’re headed to Whole Foods Market. In this episode we’re going through ten foods from Whole Foods that you can buy for your baby to try this week. There are some surprising food finds at Whole Foods - some that are even pretty affordable - and they come from all over the grocery store.
17 min
239
When Your Babies Won't Eat with Shannon Goldwat...
Shannon Goldwater was a first time mom with micro preemie triplets who would not - and could not eat. She spent years with her babies getting bumped around various inpatient feeding programs while getting increasingly frustrated with their fractured care. All of this led her to found Feeding Matters, the first organization in the world uniting families and healthcare professionals to improve the system of care for children with pediatric feeding disorder. In this first of two episodes, Shannon shares her personal story and immense feeding challenges that she experienced with her own children.
35 min
240
Walmart: 10 BLW Foods to Buy from Walmart
Say what you will about Walmart…there ARE a lot of affordable foods there your baby can safely learn how to eat. In this episode I’m walking you through a grocery list of 10 foods you can buy from Walmart that your baby can safely learn how to eat now.
16 min
241
3 Easy Ways to Connect with Your Baby at Mealti...
By the time you get food on the table, is connecting with your baby top of mind? Mealtimes can be mayhem, and it’s easy to get distracted or disconnected from what our babies are experiencing when they are learning to eat. In this episode I’m interviewing Anna Lutz, MPH, RD, LDN, CEDRD-S about some easy ways to stay connected with your baby at mealtimes…and why the total amount of food your baby is or isn’t eating doesn’t really matter!
20 min
242
Sprouts Farmer's Market: 10 BLW Foods to Buy fr...
Do you have a Sprouts Farmer’s Market in your town? If so, you probably know that Sprouts is a pretty affordable place to pick up some produce. And there are lots of other ideal infant foods at Sprouts too. In this episode I’m sharing a grocery list of 10 foods to buy from Sprouts that your baby can safely eat.
22 min
243
Supporting Your Baby: Empathy, Readiness and Co...
How do we support our baby’s internal motivation to feed themself? In this interview Marsha Dunn Klein shares some very practical tips for connecting with your baby at mealtimes, especially when your baby is hesitant or appears worried when trying new foods.
26 min
244
Costco: 10 BLW Foods to Buy from Costco
If you’re a Costco fan, there are some great food finds in there that your baby can start eating today. In this episode I’m sharing 10 Costco foods that babies can safely learn how to eat.
17 min
245
Mom Has Food Allergies: How Can Her Baby Eat Th...
What if an adult in the house has a food allergy? Can babies learn to eat the same foods their parents or caregivers are allergic to? In this episode I’m interviewing two baby-led weaning moms who figured out how to safely introduce their babies to some of the same foods they are allergic to. Special thanks to Deena Neuman and Talia Emm-Goodall for sharing their stories and experiences with food allergies in this episode.
35 min
246
Trader Joe's: 10 BLW Foods to Buy from Trader J...
Don’t go to Trader Joe’s without this baby-led weaning shopping list! I’m sharing 5 new foods you can safely feed your baby from Trader Joe’s this week along with 5 other grab bag ingredients I always like to have on hand when I am grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s.
25 min
247
Taste Preferences in Babies: When and How do Th...
When do babies start learning about taste? And how can I help my baby learn to like a wide variety of foods? In this episode I interview Alison Ventura, PhD a researcher who worked at the Monnell Center and studied how taste preferences develop in infancy. We cover some of the research that studies fetal learning when babies react to their pregnant mom’s diet as well as the transfer of flavor compounds through breastmilk.
34 min
248
Poaching Foods: Make These 5 Foods Safer for Yo...
Poaching is a moist-heat cooking method that can be your secret weapon in the kitchen for making foods safer for your baby to self-feed. In this episode I’m sharing 5 of my favorite foods that I regularly poach as part of basic baby-led weaning food preparation.
12 min
249
Montessori Weaning Table Explained by Jeanne-Ma...
What’s the deal with the Montessori weaning table? Is it just a glorified kids’ table or are there real benefits from having your child eat at a small table from a small chair? I’ve always been curious about this idea of the weaning table…because there are a lot of overlaps with the baby-led weaning approach and the Montessori methods - so I wanted to speak with a Montessori specialist and my guest today is Jeanne-Marie Paynel…she is a Montesorri parenting mentor with a Masters Degree in Montessori education and she’s going to break down the basic arrangement of the Montessori feeding area of the house with or without use of the weaning table.
24 min
250
Dietitian vs. Nutritionist: Where Should I Get ...
Do you know the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian? In this episode I’m sharing about the dietitian career path and why it’s important to get feeding info for your baby from a credentialed feeding expert.
14 min