5 Survival Skills for Managing the BLW Mess

Tumble (Tumble Science Podcast for Kids) (0s):

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Katie Ferraro (40s):

And how would you feel if you were trying to learn how to eat and this woman kept attacking you with her wet wipe or her washcloth? So I know it's tempting to do, but remember wiping your baby during the mealtime can be a negative sensory experience. So try to wait until after the meal. But here's the way, I'll get the baby as clean as quickly as I possibly can and still be able to attack that food mess while it's wet. Because you cannot deal with dried up yogurt or oatmeal hours later. That stuff becomes cement. It just doesn't work. Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, registered dietitian, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in baby lead Weaning. Here on the Baby led weaning with Katie Ferraro podcast.

Katie Ferraro (1m 20s):

I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, giving you the confidence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby led weaning Is the idea of the mess that your baby's gonna make when they do baby led weaning. The reason why you're hesitating to start, if so, this is an episode for you because I know for a lot of parents it's not actually just about the mess because the mess represents just one more thing to manage in an already overloaded day, right? You're juggling work and you're either pumping, breastfeeding, doing bottles, you've got naps, laundry, daycare, maybe a commute, and now suddenly you're just supposed to like slide into offering real food to your baby and then be okay with yogurt and their eyebrows and avocado all over the floor.

Katie Ferraro (2m 8s):

I get it. So here's what I want you to know right out of the gate, your job is not to prevent the mess, right? Our job as the caregiver is to minimize the mess without it getting in the way of your baby learning how to eat because learning how to eat is a full sensory experience and your baby needs the opportunity to touch the food, smell the food, squish the food, drop the food, miss their mouth, push it in their hair, figure out how it all works before they get it in their mouth and learn how to chew and swallow. So making a mess is not a sign of failure. It's actually a sign of progress and it's how your baby learns to eat. So today I wanna walk you through five survival skills that will help you manage the baby lead Weaning mess in a way that supports your baby's independence, but will also keep you from feeling like every meal is a total disaster.

Katie Ferraro (3m 0s):

So if you're just getting started with baby led weaning, take a deep breath. This is a bit of a process, but I want to tell you that it's gonna be worth it. I oftentimes tell parents like, you've gotta feed this small person for the next 17 and a half years of its life. You might as well do the work now when they're actually gonna like and accept all those foods that you're taking the time to make. And if you are at the very beginning and you don't even know what types of foods to make for baby led weaning, I've got a hundred First Foods list. That's a list of real foods your baby can eat before they turn one. I give it away to everybody on my free masterclass, which is called Baby Led WEANING FOR BEGINNERS. If you haven't taken this yet, it's a free one hour video training.

Katie Ferraro (3m 41s):

I walk you through everything you need to give your baby a safe start to solid food. So when people are like, I've heard about baby led weaning, I don't really get it, I think I wanna do it. The best place to start learning is the baby LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS masterclass. You can sign up at baby led weaning dot co slash masterclass. And again, everybody on this gets a copy of my original hundred FIRST FOODS list. So you'll never run out of ideas of foods your baby can eat. And if you already have the whole hundred FIRST FOODS list and you're ready to get Kraken making them for your baby, if you're looking for a done for you program that shows you everything in one place, how to make all these a hundred foods safe for your baby, My program BABY led weaning with Katie Ferraro is the one stop shop solution that you need.

Katie Ferraro (4m 25s):

There's a discount code for you too if you wanna get signed up wherever you're listening to or watching this episode that's at baby led weaning dot co slash program. I've got my hundred First Foods Daily Meal Plan inside of that program. The content library that shows you all the videos and recipes on exactly how to make these foods safe for your baby so you can stop trying to figure it out on your own. I literally made the exact program that I wished I had when I was starting solid foods with my baby. So let's dive into looking at the mess. And first I wanna do a quick mindset shift because before we talk about those five tools, a lot of parents say, how do I prevent the mess? And whenever you find yourself asking that question, you gotta remember that's not the point. This is the shift, okay?

Katie Ferraro (5m 5s):

We're not trying to create a spotless mealtime, okay? You not, nobody's given. As someone who's already cleaned up my house like three times today and it's only 10:15 AM we don't give any gold stars for having a clean house, okay? We are trying to create a safe learning environment where your baby can practice eating real food and remember, practice makes progress and yeah, that practice is messy. So the goal is not perfection, the goal is progress. Our goal is to help your baby achieve diet diversity and get them to become an independent eater who likes and eats real food. So you don't have to struggle with severe picky eating or short order cooking, making different foods with different kids or mealtime battles. 'cause that's what happens when we don't let kids explore with foods, especially finger foods.

Katie Ferraro (5m 48s):

'cause remember, it's developmentally appropriate for your baby to start exploring with finger foods starting around the six month mark. So tip number one, five survival skills for managing that baby led weaning mess. I like to use a full coverage baby led weaning bib, but I even hate the term full coverage. I used to call 'em full coverage bibs before this like whole rash of like really restrictive bibs came onto the market. So when we're talking about a bib, a bib matters, but not all bibs help in the same way. Okay? I do not recommend those bib that are like massive tent like contraptions that stretch all the way around the tray and they go all around your baby. Some of them, there's one now that goes over the baby's head. Ridiculous. Okay? They limit your baby's movement if they prevent the baby from crossing their midline.

Katie Ferraro (6m 31s):

If they restrict the baby's range of motion, that's a problem, okay? There's also these heavy silicone bibs that can weigh up to a pound that kind of weigh down on your baby's neck. There's ones with a big trough that kind of prevent a gap between your baby's like where their chest is and the table if that's preventing them from picking up the food. We basically don't want the bib to prevent the baby from interacting with the food, but we would like the bib to not interact with the cute clothes that you know, you probably have your baby in some parents like, I just wanna feed my baby naked. That's up to you. I mean, I don't know if you eat naked in your family, you do you, but you know if it's gonna create like a drafty situation or it's unnecessarily hot or cold, like we don't want the baby to be uncomfortable in the eating environment.

Katie Ferraro (7m 12s):

I would say the only time I really do go like totally just diaper only is when we're doing beets because beets are gonna stain the heck out of whatever it is you're feeding your baby and there's really kind of no way around that. So

Vapor and Baby (7m 23s):

I have some black vapor and bibs. I love the brand vapor and so a vapor and is this hybrid between an apron and a bib. And so Kelsey, who's the mom who started Varon baby I think like more than 10 years ago at this point, I have some vapor bibs that I think are almost 10 years old and I literally use them every single day. They're made outta this amazing like really soft but waterproof material. So you can just rinse the bib underneath this faucet at the end of the meal and put it on your drain board and it's ready for the next meal. But these bibs are so incredibly durable and they do not get in the way of the meal. So I love a paper and bib because it ties in the back underneath your baby's shoulder blade. Not all kind of up in their neck like I dunno about you, but like whenever I'm like running or working out, I hate a crew neck t-shirt 'cause I feel it's like choking me. Same thing with the bibs that go really high up. The vain ones are much nicer because they're not as restricted for the baby, but also your baby, when they get older, they can't rip them off by themselves because they tie underneath their shoulder blades in the back. So check out the varum bibs. There's a discount code where you're listening to this. You can get them on the vain website, but you can also get them on the Easy Peasy website. And my code baby led works for 15% off everything at easy peasy. And I also have a vapor and code as well, but I just, I love the vapor and bibs. I can't say enough about them. They are my favorite bibs for baby led weaning. Number two tip after the bib, put a splash mat underneath the highchair. This is survival skill like numero dose. Okay? I know it can sound dramatic, but I do think a splash mat is one of the ways, like I've talked a lot of families off of the edge, like I'm gonna quit baby led weaning. I'm like, why? If it's about the mess, the splash mat is a lifesaver because the reality is your baby's going to drop food, they're not doing it 'cause there's a, they're bad, there's no such thing as bad baby behavior, but they don't know what to do with that food in their hand at first. They're gonna drop it on the floor. If they drop it onto a clean splash mat and you can recycle it up off of the splash mat back up onto their mat or their bowl, you are helping to reduce food waste. Okay? You're helping to support them in, well you're helping yourself 'cause you're not like having to waste the food basically. You're okay. So we're sustainability, we're talking about that. We're talking about your sanity. Okay? Because you're not like wasting all this food that you're making, but also you're giving your baby a second and a third chance. Then parents will say, okay, how many times do you pick the food up off the floor? That's up to you. I generally have like a three drop limit and then I'm like, I don't work for you baby after three times, I'm like gonna let it go. But really they do start to get the hang of it pretty quickly. But you gotta remember, this is all a new experience for them and some of that food is gonna end up on the floor and you can't take food from a dirty floor and give it back to your baby. But you can definitely take it from a clean splash mat. I love the splash mats from Vapor and Baby, that same brand that makes the bibs. They make this amazing splash map. They're big. I know with twins, I just was feeding a set of twins this week and I used one Vapor and baby splash mat under their two trip traps. And it's big enough. It's also awesome because they fold up really small. So if you're feeding your baby on the go, some of the splash mats I've tried are awesome, but they're way too big. One was like 12 pounds. Like that's not gonna cut it. These are super lightweight material. You can throw 'em in your washing machine. I wash my vapor and baby splash mats every single day. They're incredibly durable. I've tried every type of containment tool under the highchairs. The best one is Bright Va and baby, just trust me on this one. They're a little bit on the pricier side, but you literally only need one. Trust me, it's gonna like make your life a lot easier. So again, there's a discount codes wherever you're listening or watching if you wanna check that out. I am an affiliate for bpr Baby and I do love their products and they are a mom owned business. And Kelsey who runs a business, she's awesome. I recently interviewed her too, so I'll put a link to the podcast episode. She kind of talked all about how she started her business and I just like to support a mom owned business who's has a really good product and her vivs and her splash mats are awesome. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

KiwiCo (11m 13s):

Can I be honest? That summer kind of freaks me out and it's primarily because my kids are home from school, which I love, but also I'm still trying to work and suddenly the days seems so long. Camps are not long enough and they're super expensive, especially with seven kids. So I'm constantly trying to figure out what can they do that's actually fun that will keep them busy and that will not turn into like a screen time free for all. And that is why I've been very grateful for KiwiCo and their summer adventure series. So KiwiCo provides hands-on fun educational kits that come right to your door. So when you give a KiwiCo crate or a kit or a gift set, you are not just giving a toy, you're giving kids the tools to create their own fun. And if you have little kids who are curious, you've got to check out the KiwiCo Make and Play kit for kids age two to three years old. I love watching toddlers get totally locked in, right? They start experimenting, they get stuck for a second, then they try again without asking for help. And when it finally works, they have that proud little I did it moment. And then they wanna keep playing. It's the best kind of busy because it feels like play. But they're learning and creating. With the KiwiCo Summer Adventure Series, kids get six ands on projects and they get these kits that come to them over six weeks. The themes are so fun. There's Ocean Games, neighborhood fun, alphabet play, little driver space search, my personal favorite kitchen play. So if you want to build the best summer ever with KiwiCo, get $10 off your summer adventure series at KiwiCo.com/summer promo code Weaning. That's K-I-W-I-C o.com/summer promo code Weaning for $10 off.

Ezpz (13m 0s):

All right, number three, offering food from a suction matter bowl not directly on the tray. Now a lot of parents are gonna put the food straight on the tray 'cause they're like, oh, that's less dishes and I'm with you. I don't like dishes. But that's a total fail for early eaters because it makes the mess worse and it makes self-feeding impossible. So here's the deal. When your baby is starting out with solid foods, They don't have their pinch or grasp. So what they do is they use their whole hand or their Palmer grasp. And if you put the food flat on the table, they smash the food down, smash around the table and they can't pick it up. But if you give them a suction mat or bowl that has a flexible or pliable barrier against which they can use that whole hand or their Palmer grasp to rake and scoop the food up and out and into their mouth, then their baby can do it. Okay? They need practice, they need the right setup. So you take the strips of food about the size of your adult pinky finger, you put 'em in the suction mannerable, they rake and scoop it up. It's amazing, even from week one, these babies can feed themselves. When I watch families sending me videos, like I know in our program we do, parents can send me videos of their babies feeding themselves. And a lot of times like the feeding audit videos, I'll write back like, well there's maybe they're baby wing's not working, it's not working. 'cause they're just smashing the food around the table. There's no way that they would be able to get it up and into their mouth. So we gotta give them that barrier. I like the suction mats from Ezpz Peasy. So Easy Peasy, created the original silicone suction mats and bulls for baby led weaning. All of the easy peasy feeding gear is created and developed by their feeding expert. Who's Dawn Winkleman? She's a speech language pathologist. She's a dear friend of mine, also specializes in baby led weaning. There's a ton of products in the easy peasy line now. So I know it can be a little overwhelming for parents who are like, what's like the one thing I need for Baby-Led Weaning? They now have bundles. So I really like, it's called bundle two. They're called kits. Sorry, kit one is pre feeding. That's before you start Solid Foods. But Kit two is right for when you start Solid Foods and it's literally all you need to get started. So if you only wanna buy one thing, check out the Ezpz Kit two, my Code Baby Lead works for 15% off everything. If you go to easy peasy fun.com/baby lead, I'll link that up in the show notes as well. I lined up all my favorite products for baby led weaning. I do not think you need to buy a lot of gear to give your baby a safe start to solid foods, but trust me, having a silicon suction mat or bowl, I like the Tiny Bowl for trying. If you're doing purees for a few days off of a preloaded spoon, we teach that in my program for the first three days, but then we quickly move on to finger food. So the Mini Bowl works awesome for the new food of the day, which is a finger food. And then starting on day three, we start to offer for the second half of a meal, three foods, two familiar foods from a previous day and the new food of that day. I use the Mini Mat for that. So the easy peasy Mini Mat and the EzpzMini Bowl are my two favorites as well as kit two. Go to ezpzfun.com/baby led. And I put all the baby Led Weaning things there, so make it easier for you.

Katie Ferraro (15m 58s):

All right, tip number four, cleaning up your baby after the meal, not during it. So my fourth survival skill is what I call the kitchen sink cleanup method. This one is a huge time saver because I know while your baby's eating, you have that urge to constantly be like wiping their hands and their face. And I know it's tempting, but if you are constantly interrupting the sensory experience of your baby, learning how to eat by wiping and scrubbing and dabbing at every little smear of food, you are making that experience more frustrating for your baby. Like think about it, how would you feel if you were trying to learn how to eat oatmeal and this lady kept like attacking you with her washcloth or her wet wipe? Okay, remember, learning how to eat is a full sensory experience.

Katie Ferraro (16m 38s):

That includes feeling the food on your hands. That includes feeling the milk dribble down the side of your mouth when you're practicing with the open cup. That includes figuring out what happens when the fritter that's in your hand gets smashed up in your ear or wherever it ends up. So during the meal, just let it go. Okay? Try not to wipe your baby during mealtime as that can be a negative sensory experience. But when the meal is done, it's time to go to town. All right? I take that baby right outta the high chair, take 'em over to the sink, run a little bit of warm water, I do a quick rinse of the hands, then I use my clean hands to wipe their face with some water. Okay? Then I pat 'em dry with a clean towel. I put 'em in somewhere safe to sit and then I get to town on the food mess.

Katie Ferraro (17m 21s):

It is significantly easier to clean up the postmortem baby led weaning food mess When it is wet, you don't just come back to oatmeal like an hour later or yogurt when it's dried up that it just doesn't work. Okay, that stuff is cement. You gotta get to it when it's wet. So I like to do the cleanup as quickly after the meal as I can, but I know the mess. It can feel like one more thing to clean, but just like tie it into your chore list there. Get it done right after the meal. But try not to wipe your baby during the meal.

Branch Basics (17m 52s):

As far as like what products to use, people ask all the time, like I feel like I've tried every single non-toxic household cleaner out there and I'm all for, you know, tossing the toxins or whatever all the buzzwords are. Most of them don't work for the baby led weaning mess. And the one line of products that I have found that does get the baby lead Weaning mess out and is also a non-toxic household cleaner, I like the products from Branch Basics. So Branch Basics makes a whole line of non-toxic household cleaners. You use one soap concentrate to make all of the cleaners, which I think is really cool and not a particularly crafty person, but every time I make my household cleaners I'm like, look at me making soap. But there's like an all purpose cleaner. There's a bathroom level concentrate. That's actually the one that I use for the baby led weaning mess. But there's like a streak free window cleaner that really irked me when I realized I'd been paying for like Windex for years and it's like really just one drop of soap and a bunch of water. So I've gotten all the toxic chemical products outta my house and I am pretty, pretty hardcore on Branch Basics throughout my house because they actually clean. And what really, really did it for me was when they have a product in their product line, it's in their starter kit and there's like a, I have a disc, I'm an affiliate for them too and I love them. There's a starter kit that has this, I don't, I call it magic powder, but it gets boys white baseball pants clean. And I, I've got a whole problem with white baseball pants, but all four of my boys are on the same baseball team this year for the first and only time ever. And I begged my husband not who is a coach, not to do the white pants, but guess what? White pants so dumb. We can talk about males who make a sport or boys slide around in dirt wearing white pants. The Branch Basics products get the dirt outta the white pants. So it not only gets like the marinara and the turmeric outta your baby led weaning mess, it's gonna get the stains out of your white baseball pants. So that for me, that was like a game changer. And they're nontoxic, so if you wanna check it out, there's a discount code for the branch basic starter kit. They also have glass bottles now, which I appreciate. And first I kind of rolled my eyes 'cause I was like really glass bottles and a house full of kids, but they have these silicone bumpers on them and my kids have to do all the post meal mask cleanup, not when the babies come over, I'll do that, but of their own meals and they drop the glass bottles on the floor all the time. And the silicone bumpers really do protect the bottles. And we haven't broken any yet. So there's a plastic bottle starter kit, but there's also a glass bottle starter kit for Branch Basics if you wanna check it out.

Katie Ferraro (20m 13s):

Just don't want the food mess dry is my tip. And the last tip, this is controversial for me because I historically have not been a big animal lover, but then we were gifted a dog. That was not my choice. And I actually love the dog and I do love having the dog because the first like eight years that I did baby led weaning with all seven of my children. When I was doing it professionally, I didn't have a dog. So I would do this type of episode and people would be like, your tip number five should be get a dog. And I was like, I'm fine without a dog. You guys, having a dog is the best thing ever. Now I will link to the other episodes where vets have come on the show and told me all of the things that dogs should not not eat. So I want you to know there's lots of foods that dogs should not eat, but having them there to help a little bit with the cleanup situation is not the end of the world.

Katie Ferraro (20m 55s):

So I have greatly appreciated having my dog for the cleanup situation. But do keep in mind that there are some things dogs that should not eat. So there you have it. Five survival skills for managing the baby lead Weaning mess. Check out the bibs from vapor and I love them. They're splash mats that go underneath the high chair are also a game changer. Offer your food from a suction mat or bowl. I love the easy peasy ones. They're the original ones. Oh, I forgot to say something about the easy peasy ones. The surface where you put the easy peasy suction mats has to be clean and dry in order for the suction to work. And there are certain highchair trays that put this film on there that cause them not to stick. So ideally we want a highchair where you pull your baby up to the table, but if you have like a distressed wood surface on your table, they're not gonna stick.

Katie Ferraro (21m 37s):

And if it's dirty or if it's wet, they're not gonna stick. So distressed wood, what I'll do is I'll take a flat thin cutting board and I'll put the mat or the bowl on that and then put that in front of the baby. And that kind of helps, especially if it's a little bit on the heavier side and the baby can't push it around. That's been helpful. But also making sure your surface is clean and making sure it's dry before you put the suction mat down will greatly help. And then don't forget to clean your baby after the meal. Get to it that mess quickly, like a non-toxic household cleaner if you can. And then if you have a dog, bring 'em into the situation. But be sure to avoid the foods that dogs should not eat. And I'll link to some other episodes where we've had vets on talking about foods that dogs should not be eating. So you certainly don't wanna offer some of the dangerous ones to your baby.

Katie Ferraro (22m 19s):

And I'll put all of the links and the references and everything I mentioned today in the show notes page for this episode, which you can find@blwpodcast.com/105.

Airwave Media (22m 29s):

A very special thank you to our partners at Airwave Media. If you like podcasts that feature food and science and using your brain, check out some of the podcasts from Airwave Media. We're online@blwpodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time. Bye now.