My Baby is Dropping Food: What Do I Do?

Katie Ferraro (1s):

Are you interested in babyled Weaning, but your baby goes to daycare? So many parents ask about like, I wanna start solid foods with this babyled approach. But what if I work and my baby goes to daycare? What does that look like? Your daycare and your childcare providers, you guys, they are allies with you in starting solid foods. They are not your adversary. And I have a brand new free feeding guide called How To Be A Baby-Led Weaning Advocate At Daycare, which I know is gonna help you out. This is a free feeding guide packed with practical and actionable tips about what to do and what to say when it comes to getting your daycare on board with baby-led weaning, you can download this free daycare feeding guide, If you go to the website bit.ly/blwdaycare, that's bit.ly/blwdaycare to get the free feeding guide,Baby-Led Weaning Advocate At Daycare.

Katie Ferraro (59s):

Are you a meditation person? Like forever? I've wanted to incorporate meditation into my morning routine, but getting seven kids out the door for school and then trying to work during the hours they're at school. I was just never able to prioritize meditation. But I recently met another Katie, also a podcast host who runs the podcast called Meditation for Women. So I started listening to this podcast, holy heck, literally changed my life. Just this morning I was listening to her episode Meditation When you're in a bad mood and it instantly changed my mindset to get out, get grounded, tackle a busy day. You've got to check out Katie's Meditation for Women Podcasts, part of her Women's Meditation Network. She's got a number of different podcasts too, like morning meditation and sleep meditation.

Katie Ferraro (1m 40s):

So basically, if you're looking for an easy and actionable way to incorporate meditation in your life, I cannot recommend Katie and her Meditation for Women podcast enough. You can find all of her shows online at womensmeditationnetwork.com or search meditation for women wherever you listen to your podcasts. And for the older eater, let's say your 10 month old baby comes to the table and right at the outset they're dropping food on the floor. That's really different than what was happening at six and seven months of age, right? Your 10 month old baby who now hopefully has the skillset to use that food to help alleviate the feelings of hunger if they're playing with and dropping food from the beginning of the meal, that's an indicator to me that this child is not hungry, right? And if we don't allow our children the opportunity to experience what I call casual hunger, okay, they're going to be distracted.

Katie Ferraro (2m 26s):

If they're full of milk or full of snacks at the beginning of the meal, no way they're going to eat that helpful meal that you prepared for them. Now, if the older baby is dropping the food at the end of the meal, okay, that's an indicator that they're full and that is a fullness cue and that's your baby's nonverbal way of telling you that the meal's over and they're ready to move on to the next thing. Hey There. I'm Katie Ferraro, Registered dietitian, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in babyled 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.

Katie Ferraro (3m 12s):

Well hello there and welcome back. Today we're going to be talking about what's probably one of the most obnoxious parts of starting solid foods and that has to do with your baby dropping food on the floor. And we're gonna differentiate between dropping food on the floor, which is what happens with earlier eaters, usually in the first phase of baby led weaning compared to throwing food on the floor, which is we something we see with our older eaters. So once they kind of got in the hang of self-feeding a little bit older babies, the behavior is slightly different. But what do we do in both situations? I've got a few Tips for you here, but acknowledging right off the bat that yeah, food is going to end up on the floor, but it won't always be like that.

Katie Ferraro (3m 58s):

So I like to start out these mini training episodes with a baby-led weaning tip of the day. And my tip of the day is parents will sometimes ask me, okay, when the food drops on the floor, like how often, like how many times are you gonna recycle the food back up from the floor? And we're talk about using a clean splash mat. So you're not talking about food going on the dirty floor for your baby. And again, this is not steeped in any sort of science. This this is purely anecdotal in my own experience with my own children and having worked with many other people's babies at this point as a dietician specializing in baby-led weaning, my suggestion is do it three times. So especially for the earlier eaters, we'll learn today how they're just getting the hang of picking up foods. It's gonna fall on the floor.

Katie Ferraro (4m 39s):

I will pick it up off of the clean splash mat and recycle it back up onto the baby's mat or their plate. I'll do that a total of three times. And then after that I always think, baby, I don't work for you. I'm gonna move on to the next food here. So quick story about using those splash mats. So when my quadruplets were starting solid foods, I swear to gosh we used every single sort of like catchment material underneath. We had a quadruplet feeding table at that point. So it's kind of big for babies in there and like obviously the mess was already next level and I was like, how can I help minimize the mess? 'cause the goal with baby-led weaning you guys, it's not to prevent the mess. When people ask that, I'm like, listen, that's not your goal. That's not your job.

Katie Ferraro (5m 19s):

Learning how to eat is a full sensory experience and there is going to be smushing and smashing and touching and sniffing and dropping and throwing of food that is involved as part of the learning how to eat process. But we can do something to minimize the mess. So I remember having like every single splash mat under the sun for a while I was using this. I look back at pictures and it, I don't know if I like traumatized by it, but it really hated this. My mom's best friend who's also a dietitian gave me like all of her old like 1980s Easter decorations So. there was this like really heinous reusable tablecloth that you like put on a picnic table and it was like all these brightly colored easter eggs. And so for a long time we had like the Easter egg mat underneath the table, but I'm not gonna hand wash it after every single meal.

Katie Ferraro (6m 3s):

So I'd like throw it in the washing machine on occasion. And then obviously after putting the 30 year old, I don't maybe that way 40 year old tablecloth at the washing machine, it kind of started to disintegrate. So I started trying out like every sort of splash mat, there were some super fancy influencers at the time who would sell these like really adorable like kind of like puzzle pieces, play mats. And their children were always like idyllically playing peacefully with their wooden toys on them on Instagram. And I was like, I'll try one of those. One of 'em lasted like, I'm not joking, two days. Like it was not designed for like high traffic areas or or wet food. So that was a disaster. I got a couple from different brands that were just really heavy or really expensive and just not, didn't really do the job.

Katie Ferraro (6m 44s):

There was a point where I went on Amazon and got restaurant like grade floor mats, like If you've ever worked in a restaurant. you know they have kinda those squishy mats like at the different stations and in the kitchen. That was awesome. I used that one for so long that actually, I remember when we moved and I removed like the wood flooring was different colored because of the sun had come in through the window. And I guess we'd had that one for the longest because it actually like caused a discoloration in the wood floor. But at the end of the day, there was really no solution that like worked perfectly for four babies when I ended up having twins after that. And I had two trip trap high chairs, which have a very small footprint compared to some other highchair. I could put two of the trip traps on top of a splash mat from a company called Bapron Baby.

Katie Ferraro (7m 27s):

So I've been using the Bapron splash mats pretty religiously for about six years at this point. I absolutely love them. They're waterproof material. They fold down really small. You can throw them in the washing machine. I have a black one. I was just looking at it. We used it for a photo shoot. It like came up in time hop six years ago and I'm like, that's still the same black splash mat from Bapron that I use almost every single day in work. I've probably washed it like multiple times a week for over six years. It looks as good as the day it was new. and what I like about the Bapron Baby splash mats is again, they fold down super small. So some of these, like one brand sent me one and I think it was like 20 pounds. I was like, are you kidding me? Like this is, I mean maybe if it's gonna stay in your house forever, but like part of the problem with baby-led weaning, it's like If, you leave the house, how are you gonna minimize the mess?

Katie Ferraro (8m 10s):

Well, I want a really lightweight splash mat that I can shove into my diaper bag. And if we're at a park, just roll it up really quick with all the crap in it and put it in the diaper bag and then deal with it when I get home. So I can't recommend the Bapron Baby splash mats enough. I am an affiliate for Bapron Baby. I have a discount code KATIE10. They're also available on the easy-peasy site. So the code KD 10 works at easy-peasy fund.com. Sometimes they go on sale on either site, but that code will work on either Bapron baby or EZPZ site and one good splash map. They're a little bit on the pricier side, but as someone who's bought every cheaper alternative and then had to ditch it, I totally suggest just getting one quality splash mat and then maybe an extra one that you keep at like grandma's house or or in your diaper bag if you're out and about.

Katie Ferraro (8m 52s):

They make great little picnic blankets as well for when your baby gets a little bit bigger if you're eating out. And about about as well. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Katie Ferraro (10m 9s):

So when my niece was over recently and we were filming a real about big kid versus smaller babies dropping food on the floor and how you handle it differently. And we were outside and my little niece was helping me and we had a splash mat and she was helping me pick the food up off the floor. 'cause we were just watching our, her cousin, our niece, and my niece steps on the splash mat with her shoes. And I mean like I don't always pay attention to details like of that level, especially for social media. And so I, her foot on the splash mat got in the reel, people went crazy like, oh my gosh, that's so disgusting. Her shoe is on the floor. Now obviously it is disgusting, right? If your shoe or your feet steps on the splash mat and then the food falls on the splash mat and then comes into contact where your feet was like, obviously the goal is to try not to step on the splash mat.

Katie Ferraro (10m 56s):

But then ever since that moment, I've been like super hypersensitive about trying not to step on the splash mat. I'll find myself like kind of crawling to pick up the food to like, this is absolutely ridiculous. So try not to get your feet on the splash mat If you can. And at the end of the day, just so you know, the baby turned out to be fine, but I do try to keep feet off of the splash mat for future social media needs. All right, let's get started on why is your baby dropping food? Or if your baby's dropping food, how do you respond? And I wanted to break this episode up into kind of two separate distinct areas. The first one, looking at earlier eaters, right? When your baby is in our program, what we call phase one of baby-led weaning, which is generally the first eight weeks of learning how to eat solid food. You're probably aware if you've already started that there's not much eating involved, right?

Katie Ferraro (11m 39s):

And that's fine because breast milk or formula will continue to be the baby's primary source of nutrition. When an earlier eater is dropping food on the floor, it's because they don't know how to handle the food with their hands yet, right? Our earlier eaters do not have their pincer grasp, right? So they're using their whole hand or their palmer grasp to rake and scoop food out of the suction mats or bowls that you're using. And one of the reasons why we don't put food directly onto the table or onto the tray is because the baby doesn't have a barrier against which they can rake or scoop that food up, right? If you're just using your whole hand and you do not have your pinch or grasp, you're gonna smash that buckwheat strip or piece of lamb or avocado and they're gonna smash it all around the table, okay?

Katie Ferraro (12m 27s):

And then they get frustrated because they can't rake or scoop it up. So I use a suction mat or bowl, which helps minimize the mess. And I like the products from the brand EZPZ. So they make the original silicone suction mat or bowl again, that code KATIE10 works for 10% off at easypeasyfun.com. And they have different size suction mats and bowls for different stages of feeding. I love the tiny bowl and the mini bowl when you're just starting out. So it has this kind of pliable silicone rim, which it doesn't work perfectly at the beginning, but very quickly your baby gets the hang of how to rake or scoop that food up and out of the bowl, which they're never gonna get on their own If. you don't give them that barrier against which they can rake or scoop that food up.

Katie Ferraro (13m 9s):

So for the earlier eaters, when they drop the food on the floor, it's not bad behavior. I've had parents be like, is my baby being bad? Are they being disobedient? And that kind of hurts my heart because we know babies do not have bad behavior. So a while back I had Tina Payne Bryson on the podcast. She's one of my favorite authors and parenting persons. She wrote the first baby book I ever bought and read and loved, which was called The Whole Brain Child. But she came on the podcast to talk a little bit about baby behavior and just to explain how what your baby's doing at mealtime is not necessarily a reflection of quote if they're good or bad. And she explained about baby behaviors and what we can expect at different ages and stages.

Katie Ferraro (13m 50s):

So in episode 74, if you're interested in learning more, Baby Behavior at Mealtimes What The Science Says with Tina Payne Bryson is another good one to listen to, especially if you're getting pressure from other people in your family who's like the baby's throwing food on the floor. It's like, no, the earlier eater does not yet know how to manipulate the food with their hand. And they need lots of practice and experience doing that. And we need to give them time and space to learn how to eat. And there will be this period, and you guys with older babies know this, is that you wake up one day and you're like, wait a minute, there's not as much food on the floor as there was previously. And that's when you're like, Ooh, I'm definitely turning the corner here. So for the older eaters, once they've been eating for a while, let's say you have a 10 month old baby and they come to the table and there's food going all over the place right from the outset of the meal for an older eater who I know has the skillset to use food to help feelings of hunger go away if they're distracted and playing with and throwing food from the beginning of the meal that's telling me that this child is not hungry.

Katie Ferraro (14m 49s):

And I always talk about the importance of allowing older babies to feel what I call casual hunger. Meaning we don't wanna starve them out at the table. And we definitely don't do this for earlier babies, right? They don't know how to use food to make hunger go away. They need that at least eight week practice, sometimes even longer than that before they can be capable in that regard. But for the older babies, they come to the table and they're goofing around right away. It's because they're not hungry. And then we need to take a look at milk and snacks. How much milk is the baby having? How close to the mealtime? And is the baby also being fed snacks? And for especially a lot of our daycare babies, they get proficient at eating daycare's like, awesome, this kid could just do whatever they want, just put snacks in front of 'em and they're gonna be fine.

Katie Ferraro (15m 28s):

Parents pick the babies up from daycare at 4, 4:30, 5 o'clock. They go right home. Like, wait a minute, why is my kid not eating dinner? Well, it's because they have not been afforded the opportunity to experience that casual hunger. So for older babies dropping food on the floor at the beginning of the meal, take a look at milk and snacks and why the child is not feeling hungry. Because a hungry baby who comes to the table who knows how to use food to make hunger go away, should be interested in and engaging with that food. Now if the meal's been going on for 15 or 20 minutes and then the baby starts throwing the food on the floor, that is a fullness cue. You guys know your baby's best and then you know the language that you use to help your baby, you know, decide whether or not the meal is done.

Katie Ferraro (16m 9s):

You know, food goes in our mouth, baby not on the floor. If you're all done, the meal can be over. We're all done. I know many of you are interested in using sign language because of course our babies can't tell us verbally when they don't have words yet if they're done. But back in episode 162, I had Mary Smith on talking about how to use sign language to improve mealtime communication and so she shared some good tips there for both younger babies and older babies in using sign language to help them communicate both their hunger and their fullness cues. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Katie Ferraro (17m 20s):

So If, you're feeling stressed about the mess. Keep in mind that our job is not to prevent the mess, but rather to minimize the mess. Earlier eaters who are dropping food on the floor, it's because they don't yet know what to do with that food or how to handle it, how to manipulate it with their hands and get it into their mouth. But with practice comes progress. Try solid foods one to two times a day when your baby is six to seven months of age, bump that up to two to three times at eight to nine months of age, and then by 10 months of age. We love to see your baby eating three times a day for your older eater. If they're, they're dropping food on the floor at the beginning of the meal, my assumption is always that that child is not hungry. So we need to take a look at milk and snacks and determine what we can drop and where in order to afford the child the opportunity for the gift of casual hunger.

Katie Ferraro (18m 5s):

Okay? It is not the worst thing in the world if your child feels a little bit of hunger. And we have parents out there who their entire goal in life is to make sure their child's never hungry. That's not helpful either, because then those children never experience hunger. They're not interested in the food that you're preparing them to eat at mealtime. And then if your older baby is throwing food at the end of the meal, that is likely a fullness cue. If you're feeling stressed about like, ah, I don't know. you know what I'm supposed to be doing when one other really good episode to listen to is episode 206, Marsha Dunn Klein was on. She's a very, very well known occupational therapist, feeding therapist. She kind of wrote the book on pre feeding and she's wonderful, wonderful language about staying in your lane.

Katie Ferraro (18m 46s):

So it's called Stay in Your Lane: Parent & Baby Roles in Infant Feeding with Marsha Dunn Klein. And I love that episode. Anytime I'm feeling like stressed or overwhelmed, or what am I doing wrong? She reminds us in episode 206, this is your job and this is the baby's job and this is where our roll might cross. That's another great episode for you. So hang in there. If your baby is dropping food, please know that it is a part of learning how to eat. It's developmentally appropriate. Now, there's certain barriers that we can put around that and guardrails for our children at the different ages and stages, but there is a point where your baby will stop dropping food on the floor because they are so interested and proficient in eating it. And you'll wake up one day and be like, oh my gosh, the mess is not as bad as I thought it would be.

Katie Ferraro (19m 26s):

So until then, hang in there Shownotes for this episode. You can find at blwpodcast.com/358. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next time. If you're interested in doing baby-led weaning, but you're not exactly sure, like what does that mean? What does it look like? Where do I start? My online program called Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro has everything you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods and get them to eat over a hundred foods before they turn one, whether you're terrified of choking or maybe you've started but you feel like you're feeding your baby the same foods over and over 'cause you don't know what to feed next, or you're looking for guidance on how to prepare foods safely for your baby's age and stage.

Katie Ferraro (20m 12s):

My program has exactly what you need. There's five hours of concise self-paced video training. You can knock this thing out during nap time this week. You also get access to my hundred first foods content library so you can see and learn exactly how to prep all of the a hundred foods as well as my original a hundred days meal plan. I've been refining this program for the last seven years. Just today, a mom wrote to me and told me that the a hundred days meal plan has been a quote game changer for her busy lifestyle. When you join the program, you also get access to over a hundred phase two combination food recipes. So you're gonna try out the trickier textures, push your baby's palate. And what's cool about these recipes is your whole family will enjoy them. So everything you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods is inside of the program.

Katie Ferraro (20m 52s):

It's created by me, a registered dietitian who specializes in infant feeding If. You're tired of hunting and pecking around the internet trying to piece this stuff together on your own. I put it all in one convenient place for you. I invite you to check out the baby led weaning with Katie Ferraro program. That's at babyledweaning.co. Again, that website is babyledweaning.co and click on program to learn more.