Baby Feeding Milestones, Floor Seats and Hip Dysplasia with KC Rickerd, PT, DPT from @milestones.and.motherhood

Katie Ferarro (1s):

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Katie Ferarro (43s):

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Katie Ferarro (1m 27s):

That's code KATIE10 at Bapronbaby.com

KC Rickerd (1m 31s):

The biggest thing that many of us look for when it comes to salads readiness is being able to support yourself even briefly in a sitting position and have your head upright. Because having that base centrally where you're stable really allows you to be able to use your hands functionally and refine some of those fine motor eating skills where we're going from things like raking with all of your fingers to a more refined pincer grasp as they get closer to that 9, 10, 11 month mark.

Katie Ferarro (1m 57s):

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, leaving you with the confidence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby-led weaning. Do you guys ever feel overwhelmed by all the milestone stuff? I feel like we're in this era of baby milestone info overload and there's tons of child development experts and then a lot more like not experts who use the term milestones all the time. And I know personally that term has this potential to cause a lot of stress.

Katie Ferarro (2m 40s):

As a parent when I worry, oh my gosh, my baby isn't doing this exact thing at this exact age. Well my guest today is going to put our collective milestone love and minds at ease. Her name is KC Rickard. She's a pediatric physical therapist. KC runs the insanely popular Instagram account Milestones and Motherhood, and she worked with babies zero to three years old. But in this interview we're gonna hone in on some of the physiological changes that your baby will be going through as they prepare to safely start solid foods. So Casey will be talking a little bit about head control and sitting milestones. We talk a lot about the pincer grasp and your baby's whole hand or palmer grasp. We're also gonna cover floor seats since I know you guys have questions about whether or not floor seats are safe to feed out of.

Katie Ferarro (3m 25s):

I love hearing PTs opinions on some of the different floor seats that are out there. And we're also gonna be discussing hip dysplasia because a situation came up recently with a mom in my program. She was on our weekly live office hours and asking about her baby and showing us like her baby's brace situation. So the baby's in a brace for hip dysplasia 23 hours a day and we were brainstorming together how this baby could be seated safely in a traditional highchair. Turns out it's impossible. And so KC is gonna be answering some questions about feeding babies that have hip dysplasia and these braces. So I just absolutely loved meeting KC. I had admired her work online for years, but I never actually got to meet her. So talking to her in person, like you can just tell she is so passionate about helping babies and parents and using her physical therapy skills for good.

Katie Ferarro (4m 12s):

She's so entertaining, just an incredible practitioner and so much knowledge about babies. So honestly, a lot of times you meet people and you're like, oh, I wonder if they're gonna be as cool in person as they seem online. She is like literally one of the most real people I've ever met and I think it really spills over into her practice and you can tell again just how passionate she is about helping families. So I'm so excited for you guys to hear this interview. I have been thinking nonstop about my conversation with KC for the last couple of days and I kind of like rerecorded this intro a number of times, but I just want you guys to have more KC in your life because she is just such a bright shining star in the baby space and we need more of that positive energy and true expertise in our field.

Katie Ferarro (4m 54s):

So with no further or do, here is KC Rickard from Milestones and Motherhood, talking a little bit about baby feeding milestones, floor seats and hip dysplasia. Here's KC.

KC Rickerd (5m 7s):

Thank you for having me. Okay,

Katie Ferarro (5m 9s):

So I am very familiar with your work when I was like doing my little back research for this episode, reading that be you decided to become a pediatric physical therapist because your mom is a pediatric PT. So I'm a registered dietitian because my mom is also a registered dietitian nutritionist. I think that's so cool. Tell us about your professional background and then the kind of work that you do please.

KC Rickerd (5m 28s):

Yeah, absolutely. So, well first of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm super excited to chat with you. But yeah, so I grew up my whole life going to my mom's patients and then she eventually opened up her own early intervention physical therapy business and I just remember being like in awe of her like helping these babies learn to walk and crawl. And it was kind of just always, I knew I wanted to work with kids and it was just kind of the natural progression. So I first, I went to school at for physical therapy assistant degree and then I worked while I got my doctorate in a weekend program, I worked up at a facility that is residential and a school-based facility for children from birth to 21 and then beyond.

KC Rickerd (6m 8s):

And it's all different supports for them. It was incredible best experience in my life. So I did that while getting my doctorate on the weekend and have since transitioned over into primarily early intervention. So I work with the births of three population in their homes and I'm actually opening up my own practice locally very soon. So

Katie Ferarro (6m 25s):

Congratulations. That's amazing.

KC Rickerd (6m 28s):

Thank you.

Katie Ferarro (6m 29s):

So how did you get into doing Instagram? Because I know of your work through Instagram as we find people in this world. What inspired you to start sharing your content on social media?

KC Rickerd (6m 39s):

So honestly, I was just sharing, I, we were going into the pandemic, which was happening, but I had a, at the time I had a just about two year old and I had a three month old actually and everything shut down and my husband was an essential worker and I was working from home doing telehealth because my patients were, we transitioned over almost immediately and I just started sharing like my day-to-day what I was doing with my youngest in terms of like positioning her and helping encourage the next milestones. And then with my oldest I would share like activities I set up for her while I was busy nursing the baby or whatever. And it just totally took off and turned into milestones in motherhood and it's three years later and it's been this like incredible community and blessing and yeah, it just, it was like a total fluke.

Katie Ferarro (7m 27s):

I know that you specialize in birth to three and so like we're super niche. I do six to 12 month old babies and always when parents are finishing our program and their baby turning one, they're like, where's your toddler program? Like, we just wanna keep going. I was like, no, I don't have it. Like I only have the capacity to help you from six to 12 months. Like do you ever feel the like pressure or inspired, I don't know, to go beyond the three year mark as your kids are going into that phase as well and you're learning with along with them?

KC Rickerd (7m 51s):

I've worked in preschool, I still currently do. I've worked with the, the older kids. Yes and no. I think it's hard. I think there's a need for it. I think there's value in it, but I don't feel like I'm in a, in the season or that it's really like my, my area where I feel super passionate and like I'm an expert, you know, like yeah, first the three. I gotcha. I know I could tell you in and out everything about development, but after that I'm like, you know, you know like,

Katie Ferarro (8m 16s):

But I think parents appreciate that like they're coming to learn from you, from your experiences both as a credentialed professional, a PT, but also as a mom and you've done this like I feel the same way. Like I love feeding six month old babies, like, and if you've never done it before, I love to help you out. And I also love babies don't talk back to you. Like you guys, they eat everything you offer them and they don't talk back like, like there's no better population. Totally,

KC Rickerd (8m 39s):

Totally. I love it. I love it. Yes. I, it's just like I, this birth to three group is just like, I feel, I feel so passionate about it and I see the benefits of it. I just love it.

Katie Ferarro (8m 49s):

It's so important too. Like everything you read is like the first thousand days I was just at the National WIC Association conference here in San Diego, we presented about purees and how to put them into finger foods and so you kind of dip into some of the other talks and there was a group doing stuff on the first thousand days and like the CDCs on board with it and like they're just adressing over and over and over how important it is. Like yeah, I get it. Like I think that message is finally getting out there and that's why parents are so interested in your content. Totally.

KC Rickerd (9m 11s):

Totally. Yeah.

Katie Ferarro (9m 13s):

So our audience, as I mentioned, primarily parents of babies, six to 12 months of age, they're starting this transition to solid foods. So what sort of physiological changes are happening to babies leading up to this point that are getting their bodies ready to start solid foods safely?

KC Rickerd (9m 27s):

Yeah, so that's what's really incredible about development. Like there really is a linear path, right? And of course there are times where we're jumping around in that path and we're skipping things in. There's so many different ways to get to the end zone. But one of the really cool things is that literally from the time that we are in utero, our body is prepping for laying the foundation for the next milestones, right? So when you're in the in utero position, it's stretching the muscles along your back, which preps them to work first in tummy time, right? So those muscles are ready to work, baby starts to lift their head, they're starting to work on rolling from belly to back. Once they get to their back, they're starting to bring their hands together. So really activating all those muscles now on the front of their body working towards back to belly rolling, which then is gonna lead them into sitting and all of those kinds of things we're looking for in terms of solids readiness.

KC Rickerd (10m 16s):

So it really, up until that six month point, it's, they're really laying the foundation honestly for, for so many things, including starting solids and beginning to really explore that.

Katie Ferarro (10m 26s):

And we know that that transition to solid foods, it's a gradual process, takes lots of time and practice for babies to learn how to eat. And you know, it feels sometimes like, you know, when you start with solid foods with your baby, you're like, dude, they're doing nothing with this food that I, I'm offering them, but I'm always trying to remind parents know they're learning tiny little things with every new food at every new meal. And since a lot of your work centers around milestones, what are some feeding related milestones in that six to 12 month weaning period that parents should be looking out for or working towards, you know, by the time their baby turns 12 months of age?

KC Rickerd (10m 57s):

Yeah, so it's funny that you asked that. One of the biggest questions that I get asked is like, a parent has this child that was killing it in tummy time, right? Like they were doing great, they were starting to lift their head and then around that three to four month mark, all of a sudden they're sucking on their hands nonstop and the parent is like, what happened? Like they were lifting what's going on. So what's really cool is even before that six month mark, there are things that are happening in terms of sucking on their hands, moving the gag reflex to the back of their mouth, starting to really explore different sensory things, even if it's their hand, if it's a toy, if it's their blanket, a lot of that comes from beginning to put their hands into their mouth, bringing toys to their mouth, exploring them that way. And then like, like I was saying before, the head control is huge, right?

KC Rickerd (11m 40s):

So the biggest thing that many of us look for when it comes to salads readiness is being able to support yourself even briefly in a sitting position and have your head upright. Because having that base centrally where you're stable really allows you to be able to use your hands functionally and refine some of those fine motor eating skills where we're going from things like raking with all of your fingers to a more refined pincer grasp as they get closer to that 9, 10, 11 month mark.

Katie Ferarro (12m 46s):

So you mentioned the pincer grasp, and we always kind of laugh when brands will be like, can you promote us as an ideal first food? And like, well no, because it's a really small piece of food and babies don't have their pincer grasp at six months of age, like baby-led weaning is the baby feeding themselves, you know, and parents will be like, well what sort of exercises can I do with my baby to help them get their pincer grasp, they don't say early, but like they want their baby to get their pincer grasp, but like you don't need to do anything to make your baby do something before they're ready. Is that correct? I, I never really know how to answer that question other than like, dude, let your baby be a baby and they'll start picking up stuff when they're ready.

KC Rickerd (13m 16s):

Yeah. So you know, it's such an interesting conversation because while that's true for the majority of kids, there are children that there isn't an underlying developmental reason, there's not a diagnosis. They might just need a little bit of help, right? And so whether that is formal therapy or whether that's just the parent setting up situations that encourage them to be a little bit more purposeful or work towards whatever skill it is, yes, they're absolutely, the majority will, will work through that on their own right with exposure with having different variety size foods, things like that. But there are fun thing little things that you can do if you have like a, like an ice tray, you can just put like something small in there, let them start to explore it. Usually they'll start with like these two fingers when they're refining from the full grasp.

KC Rickerd (13m 60s):

But that isolated pincer grasp will really come with more practice definitely for the, for the majority of of children.

Katie Ferarro (14m 6s):

And those two fingers are the pointer finger and the thumb that will eventually come together. Sorry, we're on a podcast so I just wanna clarify there, they're like, why, so if most babies are gonna get their pincer grasp around nine, 10 months of age and parents are aware of that and then it's not happening, what do you suggest? How do you know if you need to go see a therapist and what type of therapist?

KC Rickerd (14m 24s):

Yeah, so the thing is, and I, I try to talk a lot about this on my page, it's so much more about the whole picture of what your child is doing than that isolated milestone, right? So yes, many children will start to explore the pincer grasp around nine months. Some kids won't really, it'll be an emerging skill up until like 11, 12 months or even beyond that, you know. So what I try to think about more is what is your child doing as a whole? Are you seeing progression towards that skill? Are you seeing them try to self-feed? Are you seeing them moving from using all of their fingers to starting to maybe just using three their thumb and their pointer in middle? Like are they, I call them mini stones in terms of gross motor skills? Like are they doing things that show you, oh they are progressing towards the big skill, I bet it's coming and then still falling within that.

KC Rickerd (15m 9s):

That being said, if you are concerned or if you feel that you want an assessment, generally this is super general and it really, really varies. Typically physical therapy, PT, which is what I am, we look at the big gross motor movements. So we're looking at tummy time, rolling, crawling, sitting, walking. Those big motor movements that you think of in the first year of life, really in the first like 18 months of life. Those are the big things that many of us are looking at, right? Like those are like our, the things that we have on our forefront. Not everyone is thinking about a pincher grasp until they get a little bit older usually, right? But OTs typically in at least where we are, they really step in more related to fine motor things like ADLs, dressing, brushing teeth, managing your hair, writing, coloring, grip, strength, handwriting type stuff, which the pins or grass would fall into.

KC Rickerd (15m 57s):

Same thing with self feeding. Any sensory stuff typically falls under the occupational therapy domain. So there's a lot of ways you can reach out for support. There are private clinics but almost if you're based in the United States, you have access to something called early intervention and you can look on the CDC website and find York County, if you just search your county's name and early intervention program there, a number will come up. You can contact them directly or you can talk to your pediatrician and most times you can actually self-refer in in the us

Katie Ferarro (16m 27s):

When you mentioned sitting as being one of the kind of big gross motor skills that PTs like yourself would look at, parents ask a lot of questions about sitting because they'll say, oh my god Katie, my baby's six months of age, I need to start solid foods. But help, they're not sitting up on their own yet and they say, you know, most babies are not gonna sit on their own exactly on their six month birthday, right? So it's usually for full term neurotypical babies, it can be six months plus one week or two weeks or three weeks. How do you advise parents who are stressing about their baby not being sitting up yet and feeling like, oh well I need to be starting solid foods. How do you answer that question?

KC Rickerd (16m 56s):

So I personally do feel that if a child is in a position, if they are, they're neurotypical typically developing and they're in a position where they can begin to introduce at least brief periods of sitting when placed prior to starting solids, that's definitely ideal for me for so many reasons. The main one of which I talked about before, when you have that stable base that you're working off of, including being able to hold yourself up, even if you're propped on your hands, even if it's brief, it's so different in in how you're able to use your hands functionally and really start to isolate that intentional feeding when you aren't focused on holding your head up and holding your yourself up really. You know? So while a child certainly doesn't need to be fully independently sitting, you can nudge them and they catch themselves every single time.

KC Rickerd (17m 39s):

Being able to at least when placed and sitting hold yourself briefly there even propped on hands is really important to me personally from a solids readiness standpoint.

Katie Ferarro (17m 49s):

I reached out originally to you KC, because we had a question inside office hours in our program where parents can ask questions about their own particular situation and maybe struggles that they're having with starting solid foods. And then we had a mom whose baby had hip dysplasia, so the baby had to be in a brace that prevented the baby from being able to sit safely in a highchair. And the, the PT was adamant that the brace could not come off even for mealtime. So we're kind of working with this family on how to strategize ways to help the baby safely feed themselves. So could you tell us a little bit about hip dysplasia, what it is, how common it is, and then what advice would you have for a family of a baby who's six months of age? They wanted to start baby-led weaning, but the baby couldn't be seated in a position where their feet would be resting flat on a solid foot plate and they weren't even sure like, can I take the baby outta the brace?

Katie Ferarro (18m 30s):

Like, and I realized, gosh, we never covered hip dysplasia. So anything you have to shed light on that topic is kind of an unusual case, but probably not that unusual in your world.

KC Rickerd (18m 38s):

Yeah, yeah. So hip dysplasia is really not that uncommon. Basically the, the really quick overview of it is that when babies are born, they actually, so our hips have, they have a ball and then they have a socket, right? And as an adult that fits really nicely together, right? It's pretty, it's pretty hard to dislocate a hip, right? As an adult it's not something that really happens because that is a stable, stable joint. But in the first six months of life, that's actually not the case. So where you would have that cup is actually pretty shallow and things like tummy time and moving through the developmental sequence are actually what shapes that and gives us that stable or that stability at the hip joint as a child approaches the six month mark and then beyond.

KC Rickerd (19m 18s):

So hip dysplasia is when basically that area that we want that cup, it's when that ball of the femur is slipping around so it doesn't have a seat in the hip joint and it can basically dislocate sublux. So parents will feel like clicking clunking when they're changing diapers, when they're getting them dressed. Pediatricians are typically screening for it at every well visit. So that is usually where it's found. But there certainly are children that it's missed or it's, it's not significant and so it's not caught until a little bit later in life if at all. But yeah, it's definitely not super uncommon. And so where it can be complicated is once your brace, you do usually have to be in them for 23 hours a day depending on what the brace is. And it is very strict because the goal of it is to get your hip into a proper position and to do so the position that they're putting them in, in the brace is really stable and really like locking them in there.

KC Rickerd (20m 9s):

So when it comes to things like seating, it can be difficult because really, especially as they're getting to the point where cognitively we want them to be sitting up, we wanna be introducing solids, we wanna be letting them explore with their hands. Having a safe position to do so is great. And so I am an affiliate of Upseat, which is a floor seat and that is actually the only one that I'm aware of that specifically accommodates four a hip dysplasia brace so that a child can sit in it, it allows their legs to drop out and it has a, a bigger cutout for both their legs and the angle allows the breezing and for them to have a more upright posture, which is great. So yeah.

Katie Ferarro (20m 46s):

So the 23 hours a day, how long would a baby have to be in that brace for 23 hours a day on average?

KC Rickerd (20m 53s):

Yeah. It really, really varies. It depends on how severe the hip dysplasia is. I have worked with kids that have been in a form of either bracing or casting for 23 hours a day for like over a year. That's not typical. Usually it's usually they'll do like eight week periods and then increase from there if they need to. But again, depending on severity, depending on the orthopedist it can, it can really vary. But I have had children in them for a very long time if their hips are just not responding.

Katie Ferarro (22m 27s):

And you mentioned the Upseat parents also ask a lot of questions about floor seats, whether or not they're safe to feed your baby in. Could you explain what a floor seat is and what you use it for as a physical therapist? And then in your opinion, can a floor seat replace a highchair for feeding?

KC Rickerd (22m 42s):

Yeah, so floor seat, there's all different kinds. So I, anytime the baby container quote unquote conversation comes up, I feel like it gets a little overwhelming for parents because there's so many choices. There's the Sit Me Up, there's the Bumbo, there's the Bumbo infancy, there's the Upseat, there's the, you know, there's, there are tons of different things. I personally try not to use them for feeding if it's possible, right? Obviously situations like hip dysplasia, that's an extenuating circumstance. If I have a child that has a G-tube or say they had some sort of surgery, maybe they had open heart surgery and they can't sit a certain way post-op or there can't be a pressure certain places post-op, those are are definitely times that I would potentially pull in a floor seat for feeding.

KC Rickerd (23m 22s):

But I try not to if I can. But what I do use them for personally as a mom and also as a PT is there is often this kind of in between period where you can use something like an infant swing or a BabyBJORN seat to just like put your baby down

Katie Ferarro (23m 37s):

Dude. I know you just need somewhere to put them, I just need to wash my hands. Like exactly,

KC Rickerd (23m 41s):

You gotta take a shower, you gotta whatever. You know, who knows what the situation is you have have a another toddler, they're running around. So. So one other thing that people don't typically know that I'll just say really quickly caveat is that when you have those BabyBJORN seats or infant swings or anything like that, typically the tag, the safety tag, if they start to do the baby crunch, which often happens around that four month mark, you're supposed to take them out of that because they can actually flip out or break the straps. So in that time period I find that a lot of parents are like, but where do I put maybe like, I have nowhere to put them. They're not old enough to go into something like an saucer or a jumper or whatever they are gonna choose on the other side. So floor seats can be great for that. Sometimes they need a lot of modification, but they're kind of like my safe space in between the infancy and then the the older skilled.

Katie Ferarro (24m 25s):

So this is totally unrelated to feeding, but I do see you doing a lot of content about shoes lately. Can you talk to me about baby shoes? Like what do parents need to know? Are used hand me down shoes okay, or not okay for babies they're?

KC Rickerd (24m 36s):

Oh my gosh, of course they are, listen and again, I know we talked about this before you're on, but like everything that I'm sharing, everything you see on parenting social media, we're talking in ideals, right? Like PT KC is like hub, a flexible blue plate. We have a wide toe box and then like my three-year-old rocks, red cowgirl boots with a two inch heel all summer long. You know like on the wrong foot, life is life. So shoes in general for the majority of people at we as a society have gotten so far away from just like flexible shoes. Like think about the shoes that we wear and that we're putting on our be that are super stylish, so flexible, bendable, wide toe box, able to really just move in them rather than having the shoe hold them into place

Katie Ferarro (25m 19s):

What age do you start shoes at?

KC Rickerd (25m 20s):

So I personally introduce them for really brief periods once they start pulling up into standing. And the reason for that is because at least in my mom experience, I do not want the very first time I need my kid to keep shoes on for safety purposes. I don't want that to be the first time that they're walking like a baby deer and having them on them for the very first time. So I do like very brief exposures, like a minute, two minutes at a time, whatever. If they're wearing them, they're loving them fine. But I try to just get them used to it before I know they're definitely gonna have to keep them on

Katie Ferarro (25m 50s):

Dude and then they grow out of them. You did it for like one minute and you're like oh geez, they don't fit anymore. That's why I'm like, you need the hand me downs because they do grow out of them. So, but I'm sorry, I think baby shoes are so cute but I know a lot of parents don't love them but I was just surprised to see like I know you were doing a lot of shoe stuff lately and I just, I love your content cuz it's a lot of the same ages that we're covering, but you're looking at totally different things than we are in nutrition and that's why I love the podcast just to chat with different disciplines and different experts also in the baby space cuz you know, we don't, we're not feeding babies in a silo here. Like babies are doing lots of other things at the same time in addition to learning how to eat. And so I always recommend your page whenever anyone starts asking about milestones, kind of hearing this term like milestone fatigue lately in the parenting space.

Katie Ferarro (26m 32s):

I think it's so important to know about milestones. I'm just like you we're coming at this from a like hey just heads up this is what your baby could be doing by 12 months of age and if they're not, let's look at why at a larger picture. And then if we need to call in extra help feeding therapy etc, let's do it. But obviously if everything gets boiled down, parents are like, but you said all their nutrition needs to come from food at 12 months of age. I'm like, no I didn't. Like hey, you know, it's part of being on the internet. Right. What are your thoughts about kind of the milestone fatigue trend going around right now?

KC Rickerd (27m 1s):

So it's funny, I don't know that I've heard about this. Is it just that we're exhausted with being inundated with education? Is that what you mean? I think that's it because that's kind of how I feel too. I actually was just talking to a friend about this that I ended up, even people that I love so much, I ended up unfollowing some because I was like, I just, I need social media to be, to be mindless for me. That being said, obviously

Katie Ferarro (27m 24s):

Good luck.

KC Rickerd (27m 25s):

Well being in this space, obviously I find it, I find the information I'm sharing valuable and for me, like where it comes from for me more than anything is that I don't want parents to stress, but I want them to know, I want them to have the education and feel empowered to know what their child is working on, what they're doing, how to help them if they want to, and then where to go or how to know if it's time to go find help. Because one of the biggest things I find in my actual clinical experience is that parents are like, I didn't know EI was even a thing. I had no idea where to go for help. I didn't know how to do tummy time. I didn't know I, I knew they were stuck on crawling but I didn't know how to give them a little boost. And that's where like I think it's so valuable that we have so much information available to us, but I definitely as a parent myself, I feel that fatigue and that overwhelm where I'm like, I don't feel like I'm doing anything right.

KC Rickerd (28m 17s):

Like I'm missing, you know, I feel like it's hard. I have to be very intentional with how I'm consuming and what I'm consuming and I feel like a lot of people are feeling the same way.

Katie Ferarro (28m 25s):

Absolutely. Especially when you produce a boatload of content like you and I both do, you have to be very, very careful about what you consume. So I'm on board with you there. You keep mentioning tummy time and it was making me think of, I recently was traveling to help a friend start solid foods with her baby and I was traveling with the grandma who's my friend and she's kind of salty and she was just like scoffing at the idea of tummy time. Like we hear this from parents in our space, I spoon fed you and you turned out fine. She's like, I never did tummy time with you and you're an elite athlete or whatever. What do you say to parents who are getting like tummy time's not important, like I'm gathering from you and having my youngest or five like I remember tummy time, but like it's really important, right? And like up until when, when do you have to keep doing tummy time? Like teach us a little bit about that if you don't mind.

KC Rickerd (29m 7s):

So what's really funny and w something that's really cool about having my mom who was also a pediatric PT forever is that I am able to like kind of dissect those trends with her, right? Because tummy time wasn't a thing when we were growing up, right? Like, but the Back to Sleep campaign wasn't a thing either. So for example, and I'm not knocking the Back to Sleep campaign, I totally support it. I 100% agree with it. I am just saying that is where tummy time is actually born from and it's actually where the baby container industry is born from too. But, we'll that's a song for another time. So essentially when the Back to Sleep campaign came through, prior to that our parents laid us on our bellies to sleep. That's how we slept, that's how most babies were laid down.

KC Rickerd (29m 47s):

They slept like that. And so when we would wake up and start to look around, we're naturally doing tummy time, right? And so that is the position that babies were comfortable in. They knew from a human development standpoint we know that being placed down is kind of that natural progression and baby is already getting the skill they're used to the pressure on their belly. So translating it to the floor is, was nowhere near the struggle that it is now. Right?

Katie Ferarro (30m 11s):

So interesting. I never linked back to sleep with the tummy time thing. This is cool. Totally.

KC Rickerd (30m 15s):

So when the Back to Sleep campaign started, we laid babies on their back to go to sleep instead of on their belly. We started putting them in containers because we were terrified, right? So they would go from infant swing on their back to their car seat on their back to their baby BJORN seat on their back to laying on their back on the floor and maybe a couple minutes of tummy time built in. But it was this huge shift to literally natural development, right? So tummy time kind of came from there and I think it's gained, there is a huge group of people who were like, we didn't do tummy time because they didn't, because things were so different back then compared to now where it's still human development, right? It's still what we know as professionals is so important.

KC Rickerd (30m 55s):

But it's scary when you think that if you lay your baby down on the floor, even supervised, you know, it's that like underlying fear of tummy time really that I feel like that's where the education and empowerment piece comes from, that you can be right there. You can modify it if they hate it, but you can get your baby to enjoy it, you know? H

Katie Ferarro (32m 8s):

So the Back to Sleep campaign started in 1994. Way to bring public attention to SID, sudden infant death syndrome. And we're educating parents about ways to reduce SID'S risk. So always putting your baby to sleep on their back. I was reading something recently that they changed the name and I don't know when this was from Back to Sleep to Safe to Sleep. Do you know why they did that or what that has to do with

KC Rickerd (32m 29s):

I don't, I haven't heard anything about

Katie Ferarro (32m 31s):

That because I was just looking on the CDC website or National Institutes of Health and Back to Sleep. I mean I remember this from my public health days. I have a master's in public health and I'm very far removed from it now. But like you always studied the Back to Sleep campaign, like it's probably one of the most successful public health interventions along with you know, prenatal vitamins for reducing neural tube defects from folate deficiency like and you are talking about it as it pertains to the tummy time situation, which makes perfect sense, especially thinking about the age of this friend, like right around then. Prior to that mom probably put her to sleep on her belly as you mentioned. How is it tied to the floor seat industry, the back to sleep campaign?

KC Rickerd (33m 7s):

Yeah, so honestly from my mom's experience with it and then also kind of what I've seen as a parent in, in this field is that that was the first time that parents were like, okay, if I'm not laying my baby down, what am I gonna do with them? And so babies started to dislike being on the floor, right? Because we were holding them more and the baby container quote unquote. So anything that you put your baby in, strap them in and it holds them in position really exploded from there. So all of these different options to keep baby on their back or to keep baby in whatever position you're looking for to keep them safe from whatever thing it is really. I mean they saw an opportunity and they,

Katie Ferarro (33m 47s):

Oh, exploiting parents fear of SIDS since 1994. I, now I know the history, geez, I had no idea, but I do, I'm a, I have two sets of multiples and like, where to put baby stuff was huge for us. It was just like a rotating like house of plastic stuff and I'm sure plastic is bad for them too, so I should stop here because, I'm definitely out of my league. I mean, again, I, and I didn't even know that they're okay, like the rock and play, I was totally into that and then a friend was like, you know, that's illegal. And I wasn't on Instagram at all at that point, I was like, no, I had no idea. And then you look it up, you're like, oh I definitely recalled, but like I bought it from a used baby store. I feel like parents are so much more aware now those who are on social media and choose to consume it because news travels faster that way.

KC Rickerd (34m 26s):

Totally. I agree. Yeah.

Katie Ferarro (34m 28s):

Well I have so enjoyed this conversation. I'm sorry that I use hip dysplasia as an excuse to talk to you, but it's been like dying to meet you for a number of years. Tell us real quick, you have three kids, did you do baby-led weaning with them? And it's fine if the answer is no, I just love to get like guest perspective on it as parents.

KC Rickerd (34m 42s):

Yeah, so I, I did a combo with all three. I started out strong with baby-led weaning with my youngest, but I was up against postpartum anxiety and I had no idea what it was at the time and I was stressing myself out because I was putting way too much pressure on her and it was just like I had to pull back, ended up doing it with my, my next two and it was, it was great combo. I feel like worked wonderful for us in that like in between period when I was like, oh, I don't know if I'm doing this right. And my nerves were impacting their experience. But yeah, I, the combo I feel like was fantastic for us.

Katie Ferarro (35m 15s):

Awesome. KC, tell us where the audience can go to learn more about you and your work and how we can support your business.

KC Rickerd (35m 20s):

Yeah, so I am on Instagram at Milestones and Motherhood and then you can also find me online, www.milestonesandmotherhood.com. And I have lots of resources there. We have a private community, we have masterclass, we have tons of stuff there, tons of resources.

Katie Ferarro (35m 36s):

Well, thank you so much. Thank

KC Rickerd (35m 38s):

You for having me.

Katie Ferarro (35m 40s):

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that interview with KC Rickard from Milestones and Motherhood. Oh my gosh. We stayed on the call after the interview for like an hour just chatting. Like sometimes you just meet someone and you're like, oh my gosh, this person is literally like speaking to the conversation that I'm having in my head right now about lots of things related to Instagram and work and life and just so inspiring to meet someone who, again, is just so incredibly passionate about her area of expertise, which again is physical therapy for children age zero to three. Be sure to check her out on Instagram at Milestones and Motherhood. I will put all of her links on the show notes page for this episode, which you can find at https://blwpodcast.com/episodes/336.

Katie Ferarro (36m 23s):

And thanks to our partners at Air Wave Media, they make podcasts that feature food and science and using your brain. We're online at blwpodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode and I'll see you next time. Bye now.