Best BLW Gear Recommendations with @babylist Jennifer LaBracio
- How gear is selected to be featured on the Babylist product guides for parents to learn more about baby products.
- Convenient highchair choices that provide babies a safe feeding seat for baby-led weaning.
- The more affordable and effective feeding gear that can work for babies are starting to learn how to self-feed.

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE
Episode Description
Wondering what the best baby-led weaning gear is for your baby? When it comes to baby gadgets or feeding essentials there are endless possibilities to choose from. To avoid unnecessary purchases, Jennifer LaBracio who is the expert and baby gear editor at Babylist joins me to talk about the must-have baby-led weaning gear for parents whose babies are transitioning to solid foods.
About the Guest
- Jennifer LaBracio is the baby gear editor at Babylist which is a universal baby registry for expectant moms.
- Her job is to test and write about different baby gear, she covers everything from strollers and car seats to feeding gear.
- Jennifer is a mom of two boys, an eight year old and a 9 month old baby who is currently doing baby-led weaning.
Links from This Episode
Read Babylist article with suggestions from Katie Ferraro & Jennifer LaBracio:
Visit Babylist.com
BEST BLW GEAR RECOMMENDATIONS
- High Chairs
- Nomi High Chair
- Stokke Tripp Trapp
- Bibs
- Bapron baby bib (use my affiliate code KATIE10 for 10% off at bapronbaby.com )
- Lalo silicone bib
- Bumpkin bib
- Bowls
- ezpz first foods gift set (use my affiliate code KATIE10 for 10% off at ezpzfun.com)
- Utensils
- ezpz tiny spoon (use my affiliate code KATIE10 for 10% off at ezpzfun.com)
- Gootensils from NumNum
- Cups
- ezpz tiny cup (use my affiliate code KATIE10 for 10% off at ezpzfun.com)
- ezpz mini cup (use my affiliate code KATIE10 for 10% off at ezpzfun.com)
Click here to shop best gear for Baby-Led Weaning
- 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://babyledweaning.co/baby-led-weaning-for-beginners
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Jennifer LaBracio (1m 57s):
But in terms of high chairs, I could not agree more. I think the high chair is the thing you should focus on for baby led weaning enter, just feeding your baby in general. A good high chair will last you from six months until some of them lasts until an adult. If an adult wants to sit in the chair, they can,
Katie Ferraro (2m 12s):
Hey there I'm Katie Ferraro, Registered Dietitian, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in baby led weaning here on the baby led weaning made easy podcast. I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leading you with the competence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby led weaning. All right, what sort of gear or gadgets should you buy for your baby? When you're getting ready to make the transition to solid foods around six months of age, I, as a mom of seven I'm along the frugal side, and I'm a dietitian food first approach, baby led weaning expert.
Katie Ferraro (2m 52s):
And I'm a huge proponent of not needing to buy a bunch of junk to give your baby a safe start solid foods. Having said that there are definitely a few pieces of gear that I do recommend having they're not only practical, but they also promote independent feeding. They're developmentally appropriate for your baby, and they're going to make your life a little bit easier. So I share a lot of my favorite picks, but like that's not my full-time job. There is the one though who has a full-time job of picking baby gear and her name is Jen LaBracio and Jen is the baby gear editor at baby list. And she's also a mom of two and she's doing baby led weaning right now with her second baby.
Katie Ferraro (3m 32s):
She's going to tell you guys a little bit about it, but she basically has like an eight year old, huge gap baby doing baby LED WEANING looks at, picks out selects gear all day long for baby list, but she's going to be sharing her absolute favorite. Baby led weaning gear picks as both the expert, but also a baby-led weaning mom. And again, the gear editor for baby list. So baby list, like I think I knew what baby list was, but I don't think it was around when I was doing registries or at least for my first child, but every single person whose registry I look at, they always have a baby list registry. So you basically can put anything onto your baby registry from any store. I just buy all of my friends ezpz FIRST FOODS sets for their baby showers, but I know a lot of you guys know Babylist.
Katie Ferraro (4m 13s):
So you're probably familiar with Jen's work. She's like a huge gear nerd, and I just love the way she breaks down the different episodes. I feel like I can call her a nerd. At this point, we had such a fun conversation and I just love hearing her expertise. I hope you guys like her picks. This is gender ratio from baby. Let's talking about the best baby led weaning gear that you might consider. If you are making the transition to solid foods with your baby.
Jennifer LaBracio (4m 39s):
Thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.
Katie Ferraro (4m 41s):
Before we get going deep on the specific gear recommendations for baby-led weaning, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at baby list?
Jennifer LaBracio (4m 48s):
So my name is Jen LaBracio and I am the gear editor at baby lists, which basically means I get to test out and write about baby gear for a living. It's pretty amazing. I cover all types of baby gear, everything from strollers and car seats to feeding gear, which is how we met. We did an article on baby led, weaning and a guide to our favorite baby led weaning products. And I wanted to talk with you because you are the feeding expert. And I'm so glad I'm here to just talk about like combining your expertise in that area with the gear expert. And do you want to know a little bit about how
Katie Ferraro (5m 23s):
I want to know about your personal life too? I'm going to ask you very specific questions, but I think it it's so cool that you like actually use these products in your real life too.
Jennifer LaBracio (5m 32s):
I've been doing, I've been in the baby space for about six or seven years now and I have two kids of my own. I actually have an eight year old boy and then I have a nine month old boy. So I have the experience of a very older child and then now a new baby. And I live in New Jersey with my family. And that's about one.
Katie Ferraro (5m 51s):
I feel like for other parents, if you had a seven year gap between kids, they'd be like, oh my gosh, the baby world has changed much. Like what's this $1,500 new and why is everyone buying a $1,200 stroller? But you were like in it through the time when your older son was growing up. So, but when you went to go have a second, baby, I mean, you essentially had to go get everything from scratch again, right?
Jennifer LaBracio (6m 11s):
Yes. I basically had to get everything from scratch, thankfully because of my wonderful job at baby list, I get to test out a lot of things. I get things sent to me and I also buy things on my own because I would just want to test them out. But yeah, I'd say when I had my older son, it was the world of baby gear was obviously changing and starting to pick up steam and starting to get more like tech savvy and all those things. But now in the, I'd say in the years that he's gotten older and now that I have a new little one, I think it's really, it's really changed. Like you said, like there's now like this new and there's, you know, there's all these different highchairs and there's, there's also so much more information available to parents. So there were podcasts and Instagram when I had my first son, but they weren't as popular as they are now.
Jennifer LaBracio (6m 54s):
So the fact that now parents have the resources to turn to, I think, is a game changer. Like, you know, I mean, I, I was a fan of you before doing this interview just because I saw you on Instagram and I followed your information. And I, I learned a lot from you. So having those resources, like that has been a big change. That was not really as prevalent as it is now. You know, when I had my, my first little guy
Katie Ferraro (7m 19s):
And I knew what babylist was, but I never used it because I feel like you guys have gotten so big and might my youngest are twins. I had seven kids in three years. Like it was intense. And so there was lots of like, just hand me downs and reusing. And then once I got into feeding, everything is gifted, which was fabulous to try stuff out. And then, you know, the more kids, you have no offense to baby lists, but you realize the less stuff you need. And then when I met you, I was like, oh my gosh, baby list is massive. So we worked on that. BLW baby gear recommendation for baby list together. And I know you share that. I love it. Cause you're like, I'm actually doing baby led weaning as a second time mom. So curious, how's that going for you? And is this like a different approach than you did with your older child? Tell us where you're at in the baby led weaning space as a mom.
Jennifer LaBracio (8m 0s):
Yeah. So with my first son, he was a preemie and he had some feeding issues in the beginning and he like wouldn't breastfeed and I had to pump and you know, he took a bottle fine, but he never really never really nursed that. Well. So when solids rolled around, I was pretty nervous overall. I was very nervous about the quantity of food he was taking in because he was so small and because I always had such an eye on his weight and because I was a first time parent who was super nervous about everything. So, and I did know about baby-led weaning. Then I believe at that point I read like the book, like the actual book about it. And there was a little information online, but not a ton. So what I kind of did the first time was a hybrid approach.
Jennifer LaBracio (8m 41s):
I did some purees. I did some like thicker periods as he got a little more advanced and then I did some larger chunks of food. And then as we did progress pretty quickly through periods, he actually was a really good, solid seater, much better than he was with a bottle. So we, once he was showing signs of readiness, we sort of moved through their periods pretty quickly, but I wasn't all in. I was, as I said, at first time, parent nervous and the weight thing got me, I was very focused on like, how much is he getting? Is he eating enough? Is he gaining enough weight? Fast forward to the second child was full term. Couldn't be more different, had no feeding issues. Nurse's fine.
Jennifer LaBracio (9m 21s):
I waited until the absolute last second to start solids because I was like, it's messy and I don't need another thing to deal with. So he was, he was ready. I mean, he was sitting up well before six months, but I waited until six, a little after six months to start. And I'm doing just baby led weaning this time. So he's nine months now. And I love, love, love, love it. There are money more resources, which is how I found you in the first place. I've learned a lot of stuff, you know, from being in the industry. I talked to a lot of professional people in the baby industry anyway. So I kind of knew more going in. I'm so much more relaxed this time. I feel more comfortable. I feel more confident as a parent and we he's never really had a puree, not because I'm against them.
Jennifer LaBracio (10m 5s):
Like, I'm one of those parents. Who's like you do what works for you and more power to you. And we've I take that back. He's had pouches and, you know, occasionally and stuff like that, but I tried to pretty much say pretty pure into baby led weaning and he's doing great. He loves it. He is like I said, nine and a half months old. He ate what we ate for dinner last night, he's having leftovers for lunch. It's great. I can't say enough good things about it. Huh?
Katie Ferraro (10m 27s):
I love that. I was talking to a mom yesterday who was like, what does he did daycare now? Cause they used to only want to do purees and she's nine months and he's doing great to be able to, and she's like, oh, I just send them leftovers. Like it was no big deal. I was like, well, listen to what you just said. Like you just said, you sent them with salmon and mashed potatoes and green beans. Like how cool is that, that your baby at nine months of age, again, you're not forcing anything he's developmentally capable of doing it already. You don't have to call, make all these special foods or buy these special foods for your babies. So I love the simplicity.
Jennifer LaBracio (10m 53s):
The other thing is that now that, so when we had, we're a family who like my husband and I like to cook and we, you know, we certainly order out sometimes. But for the most part we cook every night when I had my first son, I had to get used to that mindset of like, oh, we're going to eat as a family because we were, you know, living in a city and working late and eating at like nine o'clock at night. And then we have this baby and we're like, oh, I have to like make a family dinner. And so that was a little harder to get your head around now, you know, I have an eight year old who comes home from school and wants to eat dinner at like five fifteen because he, we have sports or we have whatever. So to be able to make that one family meal is key. Like I don't have time to make separate things for the baby. So that part of it, the ease and simplicity when you're all, you know, I'm already in there cooking anyway.
Jennifer LaBracio (11m 37s):
So like you can just eat like the pesto pasta that you know, and the chicken that we ate last night. So it's been great.
Katie Ferraro (11m 43s):
I love it. I'm just real curious. Is your husband on board with it?
Jennifer LaBracio (11m 46s):
He is. He's totally on board with that. He definitely knows a little less about it. I have sent him things, you know, sites to follow and read and information. And he, at first he was a little like, you know, there was a little, a little gagging, but I was explaining like, this is the difference between a gag and a choke and like, see what he's doing. And he's actually teaching himself to like move the food forward. And it's not often, he was, he was pretty quick to take, you know, to catch on. And yeah, my husband is now like, he loves it because again, it's easy and he can just, he doesn't have to worry about like, do I have to make special food for the baby? He just feeds whatever, you know, whatever we're having.
Katie Ferraro (12m 21s):
Jen, can you tell us a little bit about the gear selection process at baby list? I was always curious, like, do companies pay you guys to be featured in your articles in, in content or is it truly organic selections or a combo and also do just feature us products or products that are internationally available? How does the whole system work at baby lists?
Jennifer LaBracio (12m 38s):
Sure. So baby list in general, I don't know if we covered exactly what we are, but we are a universal baby registry sites. So you can make a registry say you want to add things from your baby registry, from some of the bigger box stores, like a target or an Amazon, but you also want something from Etsy or a smaller site. You can add any product from any website that comes on one universal registry. It's so much easier. It's so wonderful. I can't believe it. Wasn't thought of sooner. And I know so many people who've used it. I use it. So that's our one side. We have the registry side. We also have a store where you can buy products right from the baby list store online. And then there's my side of it. So I'm on the editorial side, the content side.
Jennifer LaBracio (13m 19s):
So to answer your question, no, we, I do not get paid. I do not. No one sponsors me. My picks are truly organic. All the products that I choose are either we kind of get to it. We choose the products in a few different ways. Some of them are products that me as the baby gear expert loves have most of them I've used myself and test it out. We also have a team on our editorial team who helps contribute. You know, if there's something that I haven't tested or something that they're loving, that they're using as real parents that you know, that plays into the selections as well. And then we also do surveys to our baby list users. So we'll survey, thousands of parents will ask, what are your favorite car seats?
Jennifer LaBracio (14m 1s):
What are your favorite highchairs? What play arts do you like and why? And then we take all that information kind of triangulate, all those different data points. And then that's how I make my picks. Nothing is ever branded or sponsored on my end. We do actually have a branded content studio that is for brands. If they're interested in doing sponsored content with us, but that's totally separate from what I do on the like product guide side of things.
Katie Ferraro (14m 28s):
Okay. So the product guides are your objective experience and opinion, and you can't pay to be placed in a product guide.
Jennifer LaBracio (14m 34s):
No you can't. Well, you can, but it will be a sponsored guide. So it will say sponsored and it will say brought to you by,
Katie Ferraro (14m 40s):
Okay. So it's clearly disclosed.
Jennifer LaBracio (14m 42s):
Yes. It's clear as close. Yeah. Yeah, no, we are. We always say we're not our side of it is very pure and objective. And like, we don't want to recommend a product to someone that we don't like. And we would never, we would never do that. And now, listen, there are things that like, maybe don't work for me, but it worked for you. And I will say that in my review, I will say, you know, this stroller doesn't really meet my needs and maybe it didn't, I wouldn't say I wouldn't like it, but I, it wasn't for me, but I could see why it could be, you know, for someone else living in a different area or with a different hat, you know, different number of children or at a different price point. So we always try to be really careful about not ever saying this is the best thing, but more, this is the best product for you.
Jennifer LaBracio (15m 25s):
And here's why
Katie Ferraro (15m 26s):
Love it When it comes to baby led weaning gear. So I'm not a big advocate for having to spend a lot of money. I mean, we are trying to help your child learn how to eat real food. It shouldn't be a whole thing as far as spending money goes. However, I know there are parents who do like to spend money, but if people are like, okay, what's the one thing I need to spend money on. I do think that having a safe seat for your baby to eat in is a worthwhile investment. So let's start with high chairs. What high chair do you have at home? And then which high chairs do you recommend and why?
Jennifer LaBracio (15m 53s):
Totally. So I completely agree with you. And I kind of, even though I do work in the baby care industry, I do agree that a lot of the times less is more. You don't have to spend a ton of money on baby gear. If you don't want to, you certainly can. There's plenty of places to spend it, but in terms of high chairs, I could not agree more. I think the high chair is the thing you should focus on for baby led, weaning enter, just feeding your baby in general. A good high chair will last you from six months until some of them lasts until an adult. If an adult wants to sit in the chair, they can. So the high chair I have at home is the Sto truck trap. I am a huge, huge, huge fan of the soaker trip trap. It's been around since the early seventies. It's a classic design. There are several things I really like about it. Obviously. I like the look of it, but when it comes to high chairs, I don't think the look is really the first thing you should go for.
Jennifer LaBracio (16m 38s):
I think you should make sure it fits your child well, and it functions well. And I think the stokke does that. It's super ergonomic. There's tons of custom adjustments. You can adjust the seat depth, you can adjust the foot rest. So basically you're making sure your child is in the correct position, which you can talk about for eating. And then I love that it pulls right up to the table. So we have the tray attachment and the infant insert for ours, which is the infant insert. It's just like a little extra seat that goes in. It helps support the baby when they're younger and the tray we bought, because sometimes we like to pull him right up to the table and use it with a bowl on our table, but we have a wooden table and the plates don't stick to it very well. So at this age, it's tricky for him to be at the table because he likes to fling everything off the table.
Jennifer LaBracio (17m 21s):
So sometimes I will use the tray and I'll still, you're still able to get the chair pretty close to the table, but I love that the tray can pop off and you can just bring the baby right to the family dinner table or breakfast table or whatever, and then cleaning wise. That's my other thing that I look for. It's so easy to clean. If you have the infant insert, it's made of like a, really, a really easy to clean, like pard plastic. If you don't, they're just sitting on a plane, wouldn't see it also super easy to wipe down. The tray is easy to clean and manageable, not huge, not too small. It's a good size. And the chair holds up to 242 pounds, which is crazy.
Katie Ferraro (17m 58s):
It's like my step stool in my kitchen.
Jennifer LaBracio (17m 60s):
I know, you know what I will say? I didn't quite realize how important that was. And I'm sure you could speak to the fact that a baby should have when they're eating their feet should be supported, right? They shouldn't have dangling feet. So when my older son, I use it, the tripp trapp with him and when he was about probably four, almost five, I thought, okay, well, he's probably old enough to sit at the kitchen chair. Like, I'll take this, I'll take it away. I switched him to a kitchen seat. His feet were not touching the ground. And I cannot tell you how much it impacted his eating. He was getting up more. He
Katie Ferraro (18m 31s):
Couldn't,
Jennifer LaBracio (18m 32s):
It was so, so fidgety. And as soon as I moved him back, it went away and it was all because he just, he was seated properly in the stokke. So we will not be making that mistake.
Katie Ferraro (18m 43s):
No, and that's such an important point is that you're not just choosing a high chair with the stokke. And then also I use the Nomi, which was designed by Peter Opsvik, the same designer, just to kind of a newer variation of it, but they grow with your child into adolescents. And so for homework, having your kid's feet sitting flat on that adjustable foot plate is huge for helping them concentrate and focus. And safety is a concern with regards to choking for older children as well. And so I think sometimes parents go into like, oh, I'm buying a high chair for six months. No, you're not. If you do it right, you can buy a chair for at least the next decade. My oldest is seven and we have seven of the Nomi tripp trapps. And I like that chair too, because it has been around since 1972. So there's a good number of them on the used market. So yes, while they are on the pricier side, they're certainly not the most expensive high chair, but you can find them used.
Katie Ferraro (19m 27s):
I want to ask you a question because all of mine are used and they're now more than like five or six years old at this point. So as I understand it, Stokke only sells the high chair with the, like, you can buy the chair, but you can also buy it as a high chair, which comes with the baby guard and the straps in my version of it, I can not remove the straps without a tool. And that's why I don't like that chair as much as the Nomi, because I can't take the straps off and throw it in the washing machine. But I was just writing up a review and a mom wrote back to me and she's like, no, in the newer trip trap, when you take the baby insert off the straps, come out with it and you can throw them in the washing machine. Is that true?
Jennifer LaBracio (20m 0s):
Yes. I'm pretty sure. I, so I haven't, to be perfectly honest, I haven't done it, but I'm from what I remember, and from the way I'm remembering the chair set up. Yes. I know they did make that. I'm pretty sure they made that change. Yes. And I think the straps are also, I feel like on the older one, they were a little tougher to clean the straps on my current one are super easy to wipe down and you just like, I use a wet cloth and I just really scrubbed. And it pretty much, unless you're dealing with like tomato sauce,
Katie Ferraro (20m 22s):
Clearly you're not getting enough spaghetti sauce, ratio house
Jennifer LaBracio (20m 26s):
Upon the liberation as he gonna tell us we get it. But yes, it comes off. You just can't let it sit. But yes, they're easy to adjust for the most part. There are little steps in the beginning, but once you slide the adjuster a few times, it gets easier and we'll probably keep the infant insert in for a while.
Katie Ferraro (20m 44s):
I keep it until my fat baby can't fit in there anymore. And that's usually around 15 months or so, I would say it starts to get like uncomfortable and starting to push into their stomach. And by that point they're full-blown toddler. You need the straps and then pull them up to the table. And you mentioned the tray. Sometimes parents get a little put off by the separate tray purchase, but Peter Opsvik designed that chair to be pulled up to the table. And so, you know, one of the tenants of baby led weaning is the opportunity to eat with the whole family. However, for families that have bar height or counter height tables, because high chairs can't go that high, they wouldn't pass the tip test, or if they did, they, the footprint will be so large that no one would ever want it in their kitchen in some families do have to buy that tray. It is also nice to, like you say, like, if you wanna have the baby close by to you, when you may be eating outside or you're, you're moving around or you're, you're traveling.
Katie Ferraro (21m 30s):
The tripp trapp is certainly a little bit on the heavier side, but it is really portable. And I liked that it has quite a small footprint. Again, for me, I'm putting seven of them around a table. I like it. It doesn't take up half of my kitchen.
Jennifer LaBracio (21m 40s):
So I that's another thing I would say about high chairs. I like the look of a lot of the more modern ones, but a lot of the modern chairs have four splayed legs that kind of come out. You can't really see it, but they sort of come out from the center and they're very wide. So although they are minimalist highchairs in the aesthetic sense of the word, they're not minimal in the space they take up and you can kind of push them in and there are ways to get around it. But I love that the soca doesn't have that. The Nomi is the same. Like you can, like you said, you have seven of them. Like they're like a regular seat. There's nothing to trip on. There's nothing to fall over. They're heavy, but they're not, they don't take up a ton of room. They do have a pretty small footprint. And I love that.
Katie Ferraro (22m 20s):
And if you guys want to learn more about highchair design, we actually had Kirsti Vandross. Who's the ergonomist who works with Peter Opsvik who designed both the tripp trapp and the Nomi. She was on an episode 92, it's called how to choose a safe seat for your baby to eat with Kirsti Vandross. And I'll link that in the show notes where I'm going to be linking all of the things that Jen is talking about as well. So Jen, let's talk about bibs. I know we both agree that some of the silicone trough bibs, I think they're kind of ridiculous. I think it's gross to like have leftover food and slobber like retained in a trough. And then like sometimes the dog gets in there, but some of them are really heavy. And I just liked that they weigh the baby's head down. They can impede their ability to sell feed, but I know we disagree a little bit. Cause you do like some other bibs that I haven't tried.
Katie Ferraro (23m 2s):
So which bibs do you like and why?
Jennifer LaBracio (23m 4s):
So I agree with you on the, on most of the silicone beds, we actually tried a few silicone beds with my first son and we had exactly that problem. I thought the silicone good was sort of the only way to go, because I didn't know at that time really about some of the other ones that I know about now. And we had exactly the problem you were talking about it, like it was very bulky. It's that weird on his neck. He kept touching it and pulling it off and it did not go well. So this time around, because I now know a lot more about baby gear. I did try the silicone bed with very low expectations. And I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. I really liked the Lalo bibs. Lalo makes a high chair as well. They may also make a play, a play gym and a booster seat and a few other feeding accessories.
Jennifer LaBracio (23m 45s):
But their bibs, I think are super lightweight. The silicone isn't really heavy. It's like a thinner, softer silicone. It doesn't bother his neck at all. It sort of like just fits nicely. He never pulls it off. And the trough of that, he likes to eat out of it, which is disgusting, but it's angled really well. So it does catch, I'd say like 60 to 70% of what falls, which is pretty good. So I like those. But then I also do really like, which we agree on the beeper and baby bib. We have two of those. So they're more of a softer, what would you call that material? Even
Katie Ferraro (24m 21s):
Waterproof material.
Jennifer LaBracio (24m 23s):
Yeah,
Katie Ferraro (24m 23s):
But it's a fabric and it's a little on the pricier side too, but like I've had some of my baby prints for five years or they're six years old this week. And I know I've had some like almost since they launched and they're, they look as good as the day I got them.
Jennifer LaBracio (24m 33s):
Yes. So that's what I was going to say. Like what, again, what, I didn't know previous to having a baby, was that like, oh, I felt like a bit, you just put like a regular bid on your kid, like a cloth bib on your kid and you have a meal. Well, it cost bibs, like absorb a ton of food, a ton of liquid they're uncomfortable. And then you have to wash them every single time with the bapron because it's that waterproof material. Everything either just like slides right off. Or when you're done, you can, I actually physically wipe mine down. Sometimes I don't even put them in the wash. I wipe them.
Katie Ferraro (25m 2s):
I rinse mine underneath the sink and just dry them on the drain board. And I learned that with the quadruplets, because for babies three meals a day, I'm like, I'm sorry, I don't even have 12 bibs. So like for just to rent them, drain board, they dry. I mean, you have to wash them occasionally. Have you tried their splash mats at all from baby and baby? I love
Jennifer LaBracio (25m 19s):
I have not, but I know you said you love them. And I actually was going to buy one for a recent trip. We stayed at some friend's house and I didn't want to get their kitchen filthy. So, but I didn't have time. I, I waited too long. And so I just ordered a different, cheaper one. Okay.
Katie Ferraro (25m 32s):
I love the paper and material because again, I know Kelsey, the owner has spent a lot of time really sourcing her materials. And so the bib is, I think they just raised a pricing. It because everything's happening at maybe it's $22, but I always tell parents, like you can buy a pack of bibs for $20 that you're going to throw out in two months, or you can buy a $20 bib like a paper and that your baby literally will wear until they grow out of it. So the, I think the sizing with paper is a little confusing because the smaller one is called toddler. But you start when your baby's six months of age and that's technically a baby, not a toddler, but then they say that toddlers from six months to three years, but I've never had a child past two years be able to fit in the toddler size. And I would say, I have small to medium-sized babies. So beginning around two years of age, I find most families need to size up to their preschool size.
Katie Ferraro (26m 13s):
But again, I learned this with my quadruplets when they went to preschool, the only way I could get them to eat breakfast is if we got dressed first, like there's no way. If you sat down to breakfast that then they would. So I would, I noticed this is not, you're supposed to use food as a bride, but I'd be like, if everybody gets dressed, we can have breakfast, but then like, sure as heck, I'm not gonna let you be breakfast with your school clothes on. So I'd put the toddler book over people on Instagram, be like, aren't they a little old for bibs? And I was like, why don't you come over to my house and do my freaking laundry. I love preschool age bibs. So I like love the whole in line. I think they're fabulous.
Jennifer LaBracio (26m 40s):
Yeah. I mean, I only own, I own like two Lalo and two bapron bibs that I have, so my other favorite is bumpkins, which is similar to bapron. And I'd say their material is a little like thicker and it's like a little more plastic-y feeling, but not in a bad way. It's just different. But they it's the same idea with the bumpkins. Like you can wipe them or rinse them and hang to dry. I mean, I'd probably use the same two or three bids over and over and over and over now I'm only feeding one baby, but still like,
Katie Ferraro (27m 5s):
I think that's what most parents want to do.
Jennifer LaBracio (27m 6s):
More like, I don't need 10 bibs. I need like, so to the price point, like, yes, there are the bumkins and the beeper and are a little bit higher. But for me, like that's what we're going to use for the next two years. And like, yeah.
Katie Ferraro (27m 18s):
And I, for the bumkins, I do like their bibs. However, their splash mounts I've found are not as durable as baby because you cannot throw them in the drying. They get destroyed in the dryer. But because the bapron bibs and splash mats are made out of the same waterproof material and not plastic that their bibs are, you can wash them and put them in the dryer. No problem. And then they also pack down really small. So it's a great one to take with you. Like you said to your friend's house or grandma's house. I take it, I use it as a picnic blanket if we're outside. But if you guys do want to check out the bapron products, it's B A P R O N. They're on social at bapronbaby.com. I have an affiliate discount code. KATIE10 works for 10% off everything on their site. And they have some other feeding gear on there too, but I can't stress enough. The bibs and the splash mats are awesome.
Jennifer LaBracio (27m 58s):
Bapron has the really, really great patterns. I love all their designs. Oh, they're
Katie Ferraro (28m 1s):
Adorable. I know. And she, I was talking to actually talk to Kelsey yesterday and she's amazing. I'm like, you keep coming out with all of these new patterns. He's like, I know I need to stop, but then someone would write and be like, we need farm animals. They're so cute. They're so cute. And they have an amazing, if you guys aren't on their email list, they have this great surprise sale. So like she just moving her warehouse, like, and she was telling you, I was like, you know, the inventory and stuff. And I was like, do the surprise sale because you just say, if it's boy or girl, or you don't care, gender neutral, whatever. And then they just ship you like, however many you order, but they're a little bit cheaper, but then they're just like surprise pattern. But they also have solid color ones. So we do a lot of photo shoots and you don't want the patterns to be distracting. Like when you're trying to teach something, everyone's like, Ooh, I love that big. I'm like, no, we're talking about the size of the food, but they also, I know you have a son, but he could wear it too.
Katie Ferraro (28m 44s):
They have these amazing new flutter sleeve bapron baby bibs now. And she said, they're like flying off the shelves. I buy them for every girl, baby. They are adorable. So, okay. We can talk about bibs all day. Let's move on to suction, mats and bowls. Okay. Key to stabilizing baby and promoting independent eating. What are you using at your house? And which ones are you recommending for baby list? As far as suction mats and bulls go.
Jennifer LaBracio (29m 4s):
So we are huge fans, both at babylist and myself personally of ezpz, which I know you are a huge fan of as well. And you could probably talk to a little more about like the expert angle, but I know that they're all designed alongside, I'm a pediatric feeding specialist who's on their team and helps us a hand in pretty much everything. So like
Katie Ferraro (29m 22s):
Blow your mind that other feeding brands don't have credentialed feeding experts, designing a product. Oh, that's cute. Yeah. But it's completely developmentally inappropriate and dangerous. But like I do love the ezpz products. Not only are they cute, but they have a feeding expert designing all of them
Jennifer LaBracio (29m 35s):
Well, and I think it lends so much like integrity and also trustworthiness to a brand because you know, even like me who works, like I work in this industry, I write and talk about baby gear all day, but I'm not a feeding specialist. I'm not a pediatrician. I'm not as a credentialed expert in any other way, other than like I'm a parent. And my job is to review, you know, I have a professional expertise in baby gear, but that certainly doesn't sub you know, for an actual, you know, a nutritionist credential or anything. So when I see a company taking the time to add someone like that on to their staff, and to also explain why, especially when it comes to, you know, things like safe, sleep and feeding is another one.
Jennifer LaBracio (30m 16s):
Like I want to know that this bowl that I'm using is, you know, designed specifically to help my learning, to eat child, you know, understand that you can, you know, use your finger and scoop the food from the bowl. It helps him pick up, you know, food that he's eating. Like, I wouldn't necessarily know that it's just like a regular old parent. So yes, I love ezpz. We use their mini mat. We use baby list has a really cool, exclusive set with them. It's called, what is it called? I think it's just called the FIRST FOODS gift set. And it comes with a tiny bowl. It comes with a two pack of their spoon and it also comes with the tiny cup and it's the print is really cute and it's, you can only get it on baby lists.
Katie Ferraro (30m 54s):
Oh, I want to check it out. So it's like a color or a design that's only.
Jennifer LaBracio (30m 58s):
Yep. It's supposed to babylist. It comes in an adorable little gift box with like, Hmm,
Katie Ferraro (31m 2s):
Let's get some of those to give away or something. I love, I love an exclusive.
Jennifer LaBracio (31m 7s):
I know. And I love them. I, you know, like I said, we use them, I think the bowl, especially like, even from a pretty young age before my son had his pincer grip, he could scoop and slide the food. And the rim of the bowl is really low and curved just at the right angle. So he was able to pick up the larger piece of the food by kind of scraping his hand and grabbing it. So that's what we use. And like I said, I don't have, we have a wooden table. So it does work. They work on the table fairly well, but he's like, he's an aggressive food thrower. So I have to be careful. And you have TB eyes on him at all time. So I alternate sometimes I'll put it on the table, but then if I put it on my tray, it'll stick to the, to the highchair tray.
Katie Ferraro (31m 49s):
Okay. And that's because you have the trip trap tracks, correct? Cause so the key with easy-peasy things and I've learned this too over the years is the surface needs to be clean and dry and flat we'll link with maybe LED WEANING. There's not a lot of clean and dry happening, but you got to start there, but flat is key because if you have a distressed table at all, even wood with wood grain, it's not going to stick. And so parents will be like, these don't work like they do. So one tip there, what I'll do sometimes is I have like a big, heavy, flat cutting board. And then I'll put that on top of the table and then put the bowl on top of that, just to stabilize the kid. Or I've done that like when we do TV, segments and stuff, and you're like at a picnic table and it's cloth, I'm like, this is not going to stick. So bringing up the cutting board can help. And then I have heard families that have the, the stoke of click highchair.
Katie Ferraro (32m 33s):
I don't know why, but they say that the tiny bowls don't suction to that there must be like some sort of finish or resin on the stoke of the tray for that. But it's not on the tripp trapp. So no,
Jennifer LaBracio (32m 44s):
And it works pretty well. I also, sometimes I have a silicone place that, that I also sometimes use. So I'll double up, I'll sometimes put the Silicon place back down and then the bowl on top of it. And that tends to help. Cause you're like sticking one sticky thing on another. Honestly, I think it's also kid dependent too, because some I've seen some babysit and they just sit and they eat nicely and they like pick one piece of food up at a time. And I mean, it's not, it's never like mess free, but I think it does depend on the temperature of the child. My little one is like just all over the place. And he's like,
Katie Ferraro (33m 12s):
Yeah, especially as he gets older, they get a little more. And then I love that. Minimat that's my, I mean, my go-to baby shower gift, his first food set hands down a hundred percent. It's under 50 bucks. There's always sales at ezpz. It's the three things you need a bowl. The two pack of the baby led weaning spoons in the open cup. It's cute. It's all packaged together. And I'm always like, no offense, but moms do not need another onesy for their baby. Like what your friends want from a shower is like something that's going to serve them a little bit after they have the baby six months. Like they always text you already like, oh my gosh, thank you so much for the feeding Google.
Jennifer LaBracio (33m 40s):
Well, it sneaks up on you too. You kind of realize in the beginning like, oh, I admit to need all this separate suffer solids because you're so caught up in trying to figure out rightfully so all the things you need just in the beginning, and then all of a sudden your baby's eating solids. You're like, oh my God, I need a whole other set of items. I'll say also on the, on the easy-peasy stuff, it holds up really well. We only have a couple pieces and we just wash them and use them over and over. So again, like, I don't know, price wise, like I'm sure you could probably get plastic stuff for a lot cheaper, but yeah, I don't think it's super high in price. And I think it is, it pays itself off in dividends.
Katie Ferraro (34m 12s):
It's a hundred percent food grade, silicone it's totally safe because you know, the American academy of pediatrics is recommending against the use of certain additives in and around children, including plastics. And that includes the foods and the utensils that we feed plates, et cetera, that we feed our babies off of. So we're really trying to weight move away from plastics, even with their utensils, it's food grade, silicone, or they use, I believe it's nylon in the tines of their forks. And that's for older babies after age one, we'll talk about utensils next, but I throw them in the washing machine or the dishwasher all the time. Occasionally families do complain that the ezpz products leave kind of a soapy taste. And I always taste the foods that I'm serving in my baby too, especially to check and make sure they're not too
Jennifer LaBracio (34m 49s):
Hot in general though. I think
Katie Ferraro (34m 50s):
It does. But you, if you just do a solution of vinegar and water and just soak it for a little bit, it really gets that soapy taste outright away. So don't and occasionally some parents say, well, my mats aren't sticking and I'll say, turn it over. Is it really ezpz? Because you know, easy-peasy is the original silicone suction mount in bowl company, but there are so many knockoffs as you see in the baby gear space. I mean, it's, you can almost count to the day when they're going to start coming up once you put a new product design out. And so if it truly is ezpz, if it is clean, flat and dry, it will suction. Yes. And then I have a code as well for them. It's, I'm an affiliate for them. I love them, but I use them in my own house. And my baby led weaning practices as well. The code KATIE10 will always get you 10% off at ezpz.
Katie Ferraro (35m 31s):
So let's move on to utensils. We do have a lot of feeding experts on the podcast, Dawn Winklemann, the speech language pathologist and feeding expert for ezpz comes on all the time. You know, talking about the developmentally appropriate design features in ezpz. They do a great job of like combining that with also making them cute and having a nice color line and being at an affordable price point when it comes to utensils, though, we know that babies around six months of age can begin to use a spoon. There are no fork milestones for babies prior to one. So for focusing on spoons for baby-led weaning, you mentioned you used the tiny spoons. I love them as well. Are there other spoons that you like from companies other than ezpz?
Jennifer LaBracio (36m 5s):
So I have like anti utensil children, I think.
Katie Ferraro (36m 7s):
Okay.
Jennifer LaBracio (36m 9s):
We try, I try with, I tried with my oldest son, he was just not into any utensils for probably a month. It was a long time before he really had any interest in like he would just use his hands and I was fine with that. It was offered the spoon, but he never really took to it with my current son. And then also just in terms of stuff that I recommend to other parents, I do like the easy-peasy spoons, like you said, I think they're, I think size is the, is the thing to really focus on when you're, when you're dealing with the utensil. So many of the forks and spoons, and like you said, you're not doing a fork with a child under one, but even the spoons are so big. And when you actually look at like how little your baby's hand is and how little their mouth is and
Katie Ferraro (36m 46s):
They're
Jennifer LaBracio (36m 47s):
Yeah, they're overwhelmed. So I love the tiny spoon. He can, he can hold it when he chooses to, which is not often. And I liked the shape and I like the small little, the head of it. And then the other ones that I like are the utensils, which are from numb numb, which aren't really, I don't even know if you'd call them a spoon. It's got, they have flat
Katie Ferraro (37m 5s):
Heads. He called them like pre tensiles. I think
Jennifer LaBracio (37m 8s):
The reason I like those is because they're kind of easy to teach, like the scraping motion. So they have two stages. They have one that has a flat head that is completely filled in. And then they have another one with like a channel in the center and they're used for different textures of food. So the thicker, the food, you can use the one with the little channel in it. And for the beginning when it says, you know, and again, I use it mostly for like yogurt or like oatmeal, which we don't do a ton of because again, he throws it everywhere. But I think those are a good kind of starting off point, especially for a kid who isn't really taking to them so quickly. But other than that, no, like I don't, you know, I'm sort of an easy peasy purist when it comes to that.
Katie Ferraro (37m 49s):
I know me too, just because again, I've tried everything else out there, but also if developmentally it's inappropriate or unsafe, I can't use it or feature it and stuff. So I just tend towards ezpz products because I know they are designed by Dawn who is their feeding expert. And I just don't like the idea of having to buy multiple different things. Like I'm not gonna buy a high chair and then a toddler chair and then a big kid chair, like I just want to do one and get out of the way they do like the tiny spoons from ezpz because Babies can learn to dip and scoop with them. In addition to doing that preloaded spoon approach that we do early on in.
Jennifer LaBracio (38m 17s):
I feel like with now that since we're on the topic, now I'm curious, like, do you think that, that we should, as parents be encouraging like the utensil use or do you think letting them use their hands is like kind of where do you fall on that?
Katie Ferraro (38m 28s):
So I kind of both, like, I always think I was laughing the other day because of mom emailed me. Like I'm so annoyed because my baby won't use the spoon with the pancakes that I offered. I'm like, do you use a spoon with pancakes? Like, no, like when you're offering a food like yogurt as a way to introduce cows milk protein, for example, or you're doing oatmeals different whole grain cereals, if you would normally use a spoon for it, then I put it out there. The first few days you do have to preload it and put it in the baby's hand. Sometimes occasionally help guide their hand to mouth that they've really been even watching you eat for six months, like they know what to do with it and they will get the hang of it. So I'll put it out when it's appropriate, but I don't go overboard on it. Like I, I never make a food that could be served in a soft strip about the size of my adult pinky finger. I never go turn it into a puree. So like, I feel like the more variety of we're doing five new foods a week, maybe one of them would be a spoon food and then we're reincorporating it.
Katie Ferraro (39m 12s):
So a few meals a week, they might use the spoon, but more often than not even as they get close to one, we were practicing with the utensils, but they're still gonna use their hands. And that's perfectly fine. As long as they're the ones driving the feeding
Jennifer LaBracio (39m 23s):
Across the floor. And
Katie Ferraro (39m 24s):
I kind of like the two pack of the ezpz spoons because you do drop them on the floor. And then I use the splash mat. So I pick it and put it back. Like, it's nice to have backup ones. I don't have dogs, but like I have seen other dogs destroy those famous.
Jennifer LaBracio (39m 37s):
I never wished I had a dog more than when I started feeding them
Katie Ferraro (39m 40s):
Like a neighbor dog that just comes up and comes up after, but I don't have to take care of, but also I, the ezpz foods, like I lose half of them to the garbage disposal too. So I do end up replacing them pretty frequently, but I just, I mean, they are really durable, but you know, I'm sorry, you can't design a spoon that the garbage disposal or the dog's not going to eat. So, Okay. Let's chat about open cups and important tool for babies to start learning how to drink independently. And our goal is by 12 months of age, we'd like to see baby drinking out of an open cup independently. I'll be it with some spillage. This helps families hit their milestones. And then our goal, ultimately being to transition the baby off of the bottle around 12 months of age in the open cup training, again, we've had Dawn on a ton teaching about how babies learn to swallow and how we want to do open cups before straw cups.
Katie Ferraro (40m 22s):
And it helps with their speech milestones because the feeding milestones come before speech milestones, are you guys doing open cup? Have you started covering that more with baby list as a lot more research and data is coming out and also better products. We used to say that, and then we would like give baby shot glasses. Cause there were no small cups for them to drink out of glass, not great for their little developing mouths, but like now that they're silicone products, like the ezpz tiny cup, is that something you're covering more?
Jennifer LaBracio (40m 47s):
Yeah. So actually it's interesting that you brought that up the way we try to cover things like that, where there is like a research component or, you know, something that's changing in the baby space is I will always incorporate that kind of information in our guides. And when I'm writing the guides, as much as I can, I will always try to interview an expert. Like I was saying before, like I, you know, having expertise in gear is one thing, but I am not a substitute for you. For example, I go to you and I want to know like how to correctly position a child in a high chair and what's appropriate and what's not. And could I use a fork before, you know, X months old or whatever,
Katie Ferraro (41m 18s):
But I go to you because you've tried all the highchairs out there. And like, I can't afford that. Like,
Jennifer LaBracio (41m 23s):
Which is why we're a good combination, but that's kind of what we try to bring to our guides. Like whenever there's an opportunity for an expert input and we're doing more and more of this, you know, as there's more developing and expertise around various areas. But especially when it comes, like I said to topics like sleep and feeding and things like car seats is another one. Anything where there is like we're an expert opinion is going to be helpful and informative and help your child stay safe. We are all in. So yes, whenever I write about feeding, whenever I write about cups for instance, I will cite research about like, you know, the benefits of an open cup, the benefits of a straw rather than drinking from a sippy cup. I don't know if you can hear my sunscreen, he's screaming in the background.
Katie Ferraro (42m 5s):
I know, but also I think it helps parents too, because sometimes I'm like, am I just being sold something by a brand? Like, do I actually need this? Like, I love reviews to be like, eh, you don't really need this. And I like, the baby list does that too. Like you never disparaging a brand, but like this might not be for everyone and it's not like imperative.
Jennifer LaBracio (42m 19s):
Correct. And that's what we always try to say. And we also try to say like, listen, the reality of like sippy cups, for example, like a spouted to cup, they're still on the market. And there are people who still buy them. They're not unsafe. You know, it's different than say an unsafe sleep situation where we would never, ever encourage like your baby sleeps on a, you know, on a firm surface with nothing in the crib. And like on there you put them sleep on their back and like, that's that. And we will always follow like the AAP recommendations and all of that. But when it comes to something like cups, I like to say like, okay, here's, what's out there. And like, you know, here's what the experts are saying. Here's what the research is saying. So When it for cups is a great example. Yes, we're using a straw, but we're also using the open cup. I have, again, I sound like a broken record, but I have the easy peasy, tiny cup.
Jennifer LaBracio (43m 3s):
We've tried a few. And that's the one that I feel is the best. I feel the most comfortable with. Again, like you said, size wise, like it is teeny tiny, but like my nine month old is teeny tiny. So he needs a teeny tiny cups to hold and he still doesn't have the hang of it at all. He's nine months old. He's still, he understands what to do with it, but he cannot do it. So he usually just dumps it on him.
Katie Ferraro (43m 25s):
Practice makes progress. And I know experience somebody want to intervene, especially like I'm a type a parent, like always say just, don't constantly wipe them and clean them. Like that's a really negative sensory experience for your baby. And it's so important when they hold the cup this way and the breast milk or the formula dribbles down the side of their mouth and then it's their neck. They need to know what that feels like so that they can next time can make the adjustment to prevent that you're not helping them by cleaning it up real fast. You sometimes got to sit through the mess. It's part of the learning how to eat and learning how to drink process.
Jennifer LaBracio (43m 50s):
Yeah. We have a lot of mess happening and I've embraced it, but we, I like that cup. It has a slightly weighted base also. So it's a little heavier on the bottom. It helps him kind of get his hands around it and sort of understand that that's the way you're supposed to hold it, even though he's not really.
Katie Ferraro (44m 5s):
And she designed it with the sensory bumps on the bottom too. So it doesn't like tip and roll over, which I love.
Jennifer LaBracio (44m 9s):
Yeah. So that's the one that I would recommend for an open cup as they get older. My older son drinks out of like one of the, just the stainless cup, which I love like he can, I mean, he's eight. He can use regular glasses, they're indestructible. They can go in the dishwasher. They don't pick up any like center, anything there. I love of love them, but that's not until not
Katie Ferraro (44m 29s):
Until. And for, for those of you with babies who, if you're using a tiny cup by when your baby turns one, then Dawn designed the whole mini line, the mini cup and the mini utensils arch for 12 months and on. And I'm really excited because I think they're going to continue to be offering products for children, kind of up the pipeline, which I liked that because now my kids are getting older and they, they don't like to drink out of the mini company more. It's only four ounces like mom, it's a baby cup. Like we need more bigger kids stuff. So, well, Jen, thank you so much for your insight. Both as a baby gear expert, as the person who reviews all of the feeding gear for baby list and as a mom actually doing baby led weaning right now, where can our audience go to learn more about baby lists and your gear recommendations?
Jennifer LaBracio (45m 7s):
So you can head over to babylist.com. We have a few sections of the website. If you want to check out our store, there's a store tab on top. If you want to also check out our guides, there's a guides tab on top. So click on guides, you'll see a huge information or a huge selection of information with all of our products. We have product guides broken down by category. So feeding sleep, strollers, car seats. We also have sample registry. So you can see a sample registry. If you're trying to build your registry, we have information on pregnancy. We have week by week guides on postpartum and pregnancy. There's tons of great information there, but for the guides, I'd say the guides tab is your best bet on babylist.com.
Katie Ferraro (45m 47s):
Well, thank you so much, Jen. It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
Jennifer LaBracio (45m 49s):
Thanks so much for having me. This was so much fun.
Katie Ferraro (45m 52s):
Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Jen LaBracio chick knows more about baby gear than anyone I've ever talked to in my life. And I was really interested to learn that the gear recommendations are not sponsored. Like if something on baby list is sponsored, it says sponsored all over it. I feel like you never know with some blog posts, but baby list is like very straight forward about whether or not it's sponsored content. And most of Jen's reviews are not sponsored content. I kind of liked that. Like, oh, it's just not the biggest brand that paid to be in this article. Like, no, here's a real life mom. Who's using these things at home, but also it's her full-time job to review baby gear. So I'm going to link to everything we talked about, including all of the items, some of which I've never tried. So I want to say like, I normally don't recommend products if I'm not trying them, but Jen recommended them.
Katie Ferraro (46m 34s):
So they're gonna be on the show notes for this episode, which you can find at blwpodcast.com/240. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you next time.

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