Travel + Restaurants: Taking Your BLW Show on the Road

Katie Ferraro (0s):

I love traveling with baby-led weaning babies, like a hotel breakfast buffet. There's so many options, right? There's oatmeal made without added sugar. There's cut fruit. There's hard-boiled eggs. Try to think of traveling as an opportunity to try some new foods with your baby. 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 competence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby-led weaning.

Katie Ferraro (43s):

Hey guys, welcome back. For those of you hitting the road with your baby-led weaning baby. This episode is for you. It's all about taking your baby-led weaning baby on the road. If you're traveling, if you're going to restaurants and you're eating away from your home environment, I've got a few tips that I hope will make that transition to eating outside of the home. A little less stressful because going on vacation is supposed to be fun. Eating at a restaurant is supposed to be fun, but if you're not prepared, trying to maneuver how your baby eats and where they eat and doing so safely can be a little bit stressful. So let's unpack some of the issues and brainstorm about some of the ways to overcome the challenges associated with eating on the road when you're doing baby-led weaning.

Katie Ferraro (1m 27s):

I like to start each episode with a baby-led weaning tip of the day. So my tip for you, if you're feeling at all stressed or anxious about eating on the road with your baby is try to think of this whole traveling business as an opportunity to try new foods. Don't think about it as a hassle or a burden or another thing you need to add to your packing list is whatever, all the foods your baby's going to eat. Don't stress about it, especially early on in baby-led weaning. You guys know the majority of your baby's food and nutrition is still coming from breast milk or formula. And so embrace the opportunity to try some new foods. Hopefully you're trying one new food a day with your baby at home.

Katie Ferraro (2m 7s):

Anyway, there are still lots of opportunities to try new foods when you're on the road, ok. So hang tight, I'm going to be giving you guys some very practical tips on how you can do that. Now, before we get started about like the mechanics of eating on the road, let's talk for a second about schedules. Okay? When you are traveling, you're probably going to get off your schedule, right? Some of you might not be on a schedule to begin with I'm right there with you. When I had my oldest daughter, I think we took her. I live in San Diego. My husband's family's from Texas. I think we went to Texas, like starting from the time she got her six weeks shots or 12 weeks shots. I can't remember, but we went on an airplane every single month and sometimes twice a month, that girl traveled so much. And I remember being like, well, I don't have a schedule to begin with.

Katie Ferraro (2m 48s):

So we're not really off her schedule. Then I had quadruplets after that and we traveled a fair amount with them as well. Not as frequently. I remember taking them all to Hawaii this summer. They were still babies. Cause like in the U S at least children are free up until the time that they're two. So when they were still lap, babies were like, heck yeah, we're going to Hawaii. We don't have to pay for them to get there. We just needed to find enough adults willing to hold a quadruplet on their lap across the ocean. But I remember we had such a strict schedule and then we got so off of it with the feeding and the time zone. And it was a little bit of a disaster because I don't think I was really prepared for that. So just be prepared for that. When you are traveling, schedules will be a little bit different, right? Sleeping will be different the way your baby eats will be different. So your baby might be cranky or tired.

Katie Ferraro (3m 30s):

There's going to be a time zone change. Your baby might not be as receptive to meals as they were at home. And if it's just for a couple of days, it's not the end of the world. So one way you can be prepared for those challenges is to bring snacks. Now, those of you who know me are like, what did she just say bring snacks? Because I'm pretty anti snack when it comes to feeding your babies up. One of the most downloaded podcast episodes is actually all about snacks. In fact, it's Episode #35, and it's called snacks. Why early eaters don't need snacks. So if you've been looking for like permission to not feed your baby snacks, go listen, Episode 35, but more often than not, we don't want to feed baby snacks because snacks take up valuable room in their stomach.

Katie Ferraro (4m 13s):

It sabotages the foods that you're trying to serve at meals. It causes your baby not to feel hunger and respond to their hunger cues, if they're constantly eating snacks all day. But all bets are off the table when you're on the road. Like my mantra, whenever I get on an airplane with the baby is I'm never going to see these people again. I'm never going to see these people again, and I'm never gonna see these people again, like obviously you're trying to, you know, be friendly to the people around you, but sometimes babies cry and snacks can sometimes help keep them occupied. So it's not a tactic that I use every day when I'm at home in my regular routine. But heck yeah, if I'm on an airplane, it's okay to use snacks. That's how I feel. Now, when you're looking at packages, if you haven't bought snacks, you'll be like most of the foods that are out there that are in packages are not appropriate for babies to eat.

Katie Ferraro (4m 55s):

So we want to look for as minimal amount of added sugar as possible, right? The American Academy of Pediatrics says no foods or beverages with added sugar in them up until the time the baby is two. So really keep the sugar as low as you possibly can. If you're doing packaged snacks, I would encourage you not to default to pouches. I think parents are like, they're doing baby-led weaning, oh, we're going on the road. I'm going to buy the baby a bunch of houses. From a developmental standpoint there's absolutely no reason why a baby should ever have to suck food out of a pouch. Okay? If you look at the nutrition information in the pouch, it's not like they're missing that much if they don't get it, if you do use pouches, do you want to squeeze the pouch out into a bowl, put it on a preloaded spoon and have your baby self feed. That's a big pain in the neck when you're traveling.

Katie Ferraro (5m 36s):

So skip the pouches. Some snack ideas, fruit works great bananas like nature's best snack ever right. Comes in its own hygienic carry in case the peel, right? All babies love bananas. Bring two of them. It'll keep your baby occupied. Another good one for the road is hard-boiled eggs. Except unless you're on an airplane. I made the mistake of doing that one. It's like not all people are as receptive to this bell as hard-boiled eggs. Tuna is another one that doesn't go over so big on an airplane. But like we do a lot of road trips with our kids. I'll definitely take hard-boiled eggs with me. They're super easy way to feed a protein and we stop and take a rest. Now, if you are doing road trips, please remember that it's never safe to feed your baby in a car seat. And I think that's a big mistake that a lot of families make when they're on the road.

Katie Ferraro (6m 17s):

I did a whole podcast with the car seat, lady, Elisa Bayer, she's a pediatrician and child car seat safety expert. That episode was called Car Seat Safety and Feeding Considerations with the Car Seat Lady, that's episode number 60. If you want to check, get out lots of good tips there and more info about why we don't feed babies in the car. So just like if you were going to breastfeed and you were driving the car, you need to stop the car, pull over and feed your baby. Keep that same mentality. Top of mind, when you're doing solid foods, you never want to feed your baby in the car seat because of course, if you're not directly observing the baby, they could choke. And you won't hear a choke not to mention that the recline of an infant car seat, is it exactly that? And that could potentially choke your baby, want babies to be sitting up upright at a 90 degree angle.

Katie Ferraro (6m 58s):

That's not how they sit when they're in a car seat. Some parents do things like Cheerios. If you're doing Cheerios, it would require that your baby has a pincer grasp. That usually happens around eight or nine months of age. So if your baby six or seven months of age, don't bring Cheerio's with them, your baby can't pick it up and feed it to themselves. And it just ends up being a really frustrating experience. So something like a banana would be a better option for a baby as far as snacks go. But again, there's a variety of packaged snacks. You could look into if you're interested or just something like regular Cheerios, a banana, cut up fruit is a great snack to be feeding to your baby. I always recommend bringing your own sectioned mats and bowls, your own bibs. I like travel bibs. Summer infant makes a really nice disposable travel bib. If you don't have the option to be like cleaning bibs, I'll link to those in the show notes for this episode as well at blwpodcasts.com/7.

Katie Ferraro (7m 45s):

Anyone let's talk for a second about milk because as I mentioned, milk is still breast milk or formula. The majority of your baby's nutrition in the earlier stages of baby-led weaning you want to offer foods, but they're going to need milk. So if you're doing breast milk and you're traveling in the United States, if you're going through TSA just makes sure that you are, you know, allotting extra time because they are going to need to screen your breast milk. You don't have to freeze it. Even if you do freeze it, they will consider it a liquid. So you're still gonna have to test it. So I've been like unnecessarily frozen breast milk, and then they've been like, we still have to test it. And I was like, technically it's a solid, but you know, their definition of what a solid and a liquid is, maybe differs from mine. In the United States you actually don't need your child with you in order to bring breast milk through TSA. I remember one time we went on a trip and my oldest was young, was a baby.

Katie Ferraro (8m 27s):

It was the first trip we left her, I think she was like nine months old with my parents. And my husband and I went to Mexico. I pumped the entire trip and brought it all through security at Mexico. And they made me throw all the breast milk out because my baby wasn't with me. And I was like, I didn't have a leg to stand on. I wasn't in the United States. And like I knew the TSA policies that they why overseas. So it may have been in my best interest to do a little more research about whether or not it could have even bought, brought my pumped milk back on the plane, through security in Mexico without having my baby. So it's just worth something checking into because that was devastating. Like to go on vacation in Mexico and not, I mean, not, yeah, really held back on the margarita's cause I was going to be pumping and then I had to throw it all out at the end, so lesson learned.

Katie Ferraro (9m 9s):

If you're doing formula formula, the reconstituted formula is super easy. It's really expensive, right? The one that's already pre-mixed. I think it smells terrible too, but I would always buy some of that to have with me for a plane ride, except it takes up a lot of rooms. So when I was, I remember when I was traveling with the quadruplets, like I'm not taking reconstituted formula for four babies. That's way too much to carry on top of everything else. Look into the stick packs. So you can buy formula in individuals serving pouches. They're always like all formula locked up at the grocery store, but it's instiant-packs. And then there's a box of stick-packs. They end up being with more expensive per serving, but it's super nice just to not have to be like spooning out the canister of formula. You can take as many as you need. You just need clean water, which any decent person on an airplane will give you to make a bottle.

Katie Ferraro (9m 50s):

So that's kind of an easy way to take the formula with you when you're traveling. Now, when you get to wherever you're going, let's say you're going to restaurants. Okay. Let's talk about restaurants first, where your baby seats, I don't know about you, but I feel like the high chairs at restaurants all always come broken. Like I've worked at restaurants all through high school and college and like, yeah, I've never really seen the straps be functional. Just keep in mind that there's no foot rest on the highchair at a traditional restaurant highchair. So dangling legs are dangerous. Your baby does need to have their feet resting flat on a surface in order to facilitate a safe swallow. So a lot of the high chairs that you're going to encounter at a restaurant are not going to be safe to begin with. They might not have the straps working, but obviously babies or generations have eaten safely at restaurants.

Katie Ferraro (10m 30s):

It's just something to point out that they're not as safe as the chair that you're going to have at home. So sometimes parents will say, okay, well then I'll be feeding my baby on my lap. Just keep in mind again that a choke will be silent. So if you have your baby on your lap, you need to have the baby positions so that you can see the baby so that you can see if the baby is choking or turning blue. Okay. So we just want to be hyper aware that when we're feeding our babies outside of the high chair, that choking risk, does it increase. Now, what do you order? I remember the first time my oldest was starting solid foods and my husband got so excited when we went to a restaurant and asked for a kid menu and I was like, are you freaking kidding me? Like, I don't want my kids eating off the kid's menu. Like what kind of food is on the kid's menu? It's literally like the worst food in the world right? Now, of course they all grow up and end up eating off the kid's menu.

Katie Ferraro (11m 13s):

But for babies, like they don't need to eat chicken nuggets and French fries and plain white pasta. Although plain white pasta is probably the best bet as far as some kids' food menus go, but you don't need to like order a special meal for your baby. And if you're looking to the kid's venue for foods that are going to have helpful foods, you're looking in the wrong place. So I usually encourage parents order what you want to order and then figure out a way to modify that at the table to make a few of those things okay for your baby to est. So you want, let's say a salad like a fried chicken salad. A fried chicken salad you can't give the breaded chicken to the baby because the breading is crispy and dry and can choke the baby. But the meat inside of fried chicken is nice and fatty and moist. And you could tear that into little strips and put it in your baby's bowl.

Katie Ferraro (11m 56s):

I cringe when I go to a restaurant and parents are feeding babies food right off the table. Because again, having worked at a restaurant, I know how nasty the rags are that they pseudo clean the tables with. Don't put the food right on the table, bring your own suction mat or bowl, put the food into the mat or the bowl. If you guys use the ezpz products, they come in a bag, that's a wetback. So like the ezpz mini mat, which is a three compartment suction plate that works great for baby-led weaning, don't throw the bag out when you get it. It has these air holes on the side, It's actually a wetback. So you can bring your bag, you bring your stuff to the restaurant in it and rinse it out later, put it back in the bag. It's like a carrying case to go to and from the restaurant helps keep it clean. If you want to check out any of those ezpz products, the code is Katie 10 for 10% off.

Katie Ferraro (12m 38s):

And again, don't throw the bag out when you get the mini bowl or the tiny bowl or the mini-mat because you can use those when you go to a restaurant or you're going to grandma's house, etcetera. So I always have an extra one of those that I just keep in my diaper bag in case we are going to a restaurant, a bib or disposable bib. And then when you order back that to the salad, let's say there's avocado on it. You can give slices of that to the baby. If there's cherry tomatoes, cut them in quarters, just like you would at home. If there's hard-boiled egg, you can give some strips of that to your baby. Like your baby might not have like a perfect complete meal with carbohydrate, protein and vegetable, but they got to try maybe one new food or have some familiar foods that they already had before. And most importantly, you got to enjoy the food that you already would have been eating as part of the meal at that restaurant.

Katie Ferraro (13m 18s):

So don't stress too much about preparing and prepping and buying all of these separate foods for your babies. Just think of the foods that you already want to buy or eat or order, and then modify them as needed. So just a few tips that I hope will make your life a little bit easier. If you guys are planning on hitting the road, anytime soon. If you're traveling, going to restaurants, going to airplanes, don't be afraid to take your baby-led weaning baby with you. Think of it as an opportunity to try new foods. I know there was a mom in one of my courses the other day, and she, their family was traveling to the Dominican Republic. At first, she was super stressed about it. Like they were going for a wedding. Baby just started solid foods. Like we're doing like different foods. Like, should I hold off on trying new foods? I was like, just get there. It's going to blow your mind how many different foods you'll be exposed to, especially like tropical fruits that your baby will try and have the opportunity to try while you're on vacation.

Katie Ferraro (14m 6s):

It ended up being like a really cool experience for their family. She was trying all these new fruits. The mom was like sharing pictures inside of our group that she's like, gosh, I was so nervous before. And I'm so glad we went on that trip. Not only was it a great family vacation, but I also got introduced my baby to new foods as well. So try to see the silver lining of all the new foods that your baby can eat when you're on the road.