Katie Ferraro (1s):

And obviously everyone knows a bib is key for minimizing the mess, but you have to be really careful about what types of bib choosing there's these big tent type contraptions right now that are really restrictive to your baby's range of motion. And I don't recommend those for managing the mess at all. Hey, there I'm Katie Ferraro, registered dietician, 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):

Hello, self-feedingwelcome back. Tell me honestly, guys, how do you feel about the mess when it comes to baby-led weaning? I know that there are a lot of parents and caregivers and grandparents out there who sometimes overlook the benefits of baby-led weaning because they can't get past the mess that babies make when they're just starting out with solid foods. But the message is actually part of learning how to eat. We're going to talk about why the mess is to some degree, a good thing. This episode is about five survival skills for managing the baby-led weaning mess. If it is holding you back from letting your baby participate in self feeding, these five tips are going to help you get over the hump because we need to help raise independent eaters.

Katie Ferraro (1m 25s):

And baby-led weaning helps prevent picky eating, but it is a little bit messy at first. Now I like to start these mini baby-led weaning training episodes with a BLW tip of the day today's tip is don't think about the mess in terms of what you can do to prevent the mess. Okay. I get questions all the time in my free workshops like Katie, I wanted to be able to meaning how do I prevent the mess? There's no way to prevent the mess. That's not our goal. So for this tip, let's reframe our mindset and think instead about minimizing the mess or managing the mess. Because again, our goal is not to prevent the mess. Learning how to eat is an inherently messy process. Our goal, however, is not to prevent that mess, but we can sure as heck work to minimize it or to manage it.

Katie Ferraro (2m 10s):

And that's the point of today's episode. So hang tight, I'm going to be explaining five survival skills for managing the BLW mess. Now, when it comes to talking about the mess, before we talk about fixing the problem, let's talk about whether or not it even is a problem. Okay? I like to remind parents that even traditional spoon-feeding is not a totally clean affair. And even if it was our babies need to learn how to feed themselves and there is going to be some mess that's involved. So one thing I would encourage you against doing when you're starting baby-led weaning is don't get in the habit of constantly wiping your baby while your baby is eating. Like you see that sometimes moms are like going at the baby with a wet wipe in between every single bite. Like first of all, 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 a washcloth, it's an inherently negative sensory experience to constantly be attacked by a cleaning implement when you're trying to learn how to eat.

Katie Ferraro (3m 1s):

And you also have to keep in mind, like we talk about drinking out of an open cup, for example, freak out. They're going to spill it everywhere. Well, at first they do spill some stuff, but it's actually important for babies to learn how to experience. Gosh, when I do this with my mouth or I don't completely close my lips over the side of the open cup and the water dribbles down or the milk Tribbles down on my neck, that doesn't feel good. I'm going to adjust my behavior by doing X, Y, or Z. It's part of how they learn how to eat. So we actually do want the babies to be able to experience the full sensory experience of learning how to eat. Because learning how to eat is a sensory experience, right? There's not just taste comes from a Roma and flavor. We're touching the food we're, you know, because you'd be listening to the food if it makes noises, but you get the idea.

Katie Ferraro (3m 43s):

It's not just about how the food tastes, babies need to experience all of the sensory aspects, including the touching part, which does get a little bit messy. So again, we don't want to prevent the mess. That's not our job. We have to remember our jobs when it comes to feeding and parenting, but we can do some things to minimize it. So let's dive in and look at five survival skills for managing the baby-led weaning mess. All right, let's start with number one, the bib first and foremost, a full coverage bib, but not the type of restrictive tent type bibs that you're seeing lately. I see a lot of these in a really, really don't like the bibs that stretch like all over the highchair and all down the baby's arm and the baby doesn't have full range of motion.

Katie Ferraro (4m 25s):

It's really important when they're working on the motor skills associated with learning, how to eat and first working with their whole hand grasp and they're moving their hands around, then they're getting they're pincer grasp. We need babies to be able again, to recognize their full range of movement and some of these tent type bibs restrict or prohibit that. So when I say full coverage, what I mean is across the chest and the lap. And so the bit that I like is from a company called Bapron Baby. So the Bapron is like an apron style bib they're made for baby-led, weaning fabulous design. A couple of reasons why I like these bibs. They tie behind your baby's shoulder blades. I don't know about you. I'm really sensitive as something is up high in my neck.

Katie Ferraro (5m 6s):

Like I can't run. And with a crew neck shirt, I feel like I'm choking. But if I've a v-neck I'm okay. Think about a bib. Some of the bibs that get real tight up in the baby's neck, especially those hard plastic or silicone ones, we really don't want to use those. The soft fabric of the Bapron bibs. Not only is it amazing because you can actually rinse it out underneath the faucet, after every meal, I'll rinse the paper and then dry it in the drain board. So I can use the same bib for three meals, not have to use three different bibs every day. And I learned this when I was doing baby-led weaning with my quadruplets, have not 12 bibs a day, sorry four I will do. The Bapron ones are amazing. Every single stain comes out of it. They have adorable prints, too. They have solid ones too. If you're not like a print person, I'm not a huge print person when it comes to baby stuff.

Katie Ferraro (5m 49s):

But I actually do love the Bapron baby prints the bibs back to the title. They tie around the back of the baby's shoulder blade. And I love that because A, the baby cannot take the bib off by themselves. When your baby gets a little bit older, they just yank the old-school bibs off. But also it's much less of inundation of experience up and around their neck because it's not choking them and tied behind their neck. Again, it's behind their shoulder blades. So if you're checking out the beeper bibs, they come in two sizes, I'm always thought this is confusing. So the first size, the smallest size is called the toddler bib, but it says it's for babies six months to three years. And I think it's misleading because toddlerhood, doesn't start until you're age one. So if you are starting out with solid foods and your six months of age, you might be like, well, that, that, that bit was not for my baby.

Katie Ferraro (6m 30s):

It actually is for your baby. They fit six month olds perfectly. And on the other side of it, I've never worked with a baby. Who's been able to wear those bibs past age to like normally a full-size full-time term, baby tends to like out grow that big at around age two. So the next size up is called the preschool bib. I use that for my two year olds and on, and I've used that like, that's a nice sized bib, it fits my up to six year olds. I have to get my kids dressed before school. I can't do breakfast and then get them dressed. It just doesn't work. So they're eating in their school clothes. So I always make them wear a bib for breakfast. And people on Instagram are like, aren't your kids a little big for bibs. I was like, you've tried doing the laundry at my house with seven kids. But back to the babies, the bibs from vapor are amazing. The code Katie10 works for 10% off at bapronbaby.com.

Katie Ferraro (7m 10s):

That is my affiliate code. They're the only bibs that I use. I love them. I think they're great from six months and on. So that's the first tip. You got to get the full coverage bib, but don't do the restrictive tent type bib that limits your baby's range of motion. The second tip for surviving the baby-led weaning mess or managing it is in the splash mat. So a splash mat is a piece of fabric that goes underneath your baby's place, where they're eating. If they have a chair that you pull up to the table or a high chair, I've tried every single splash mat out there, commercially that you can buy, but I've done a lot of like DIY things at home. So my favorite ones right now are also from Bapron Baby. They make a huge splash mat. It's a little bit pricier compared to some of the other brands. I think it's like $35. And I was like $35 for a piece of fabric.

Katie Ferraro (7m 52s):

But having tried all the other ones that like disintegrate or plastic, or if you put them in the washing machine, once they fell apart, I was like, no, thank you. I love the fabric in the splash mats from vapor. And it's the same fabric that they make the paper and bibs out of, again, a clean, super easy. You can get this every like spaghetti sauce, turmeric, curry powder. You can get everything out of these ones. They have plain colored ones. I also love the size of them. Like when I was feeding Gus and Hannah, my twins, we would always take the paper and baby splash mats with us. When you go to someone else's house, like you definitely want to take a splash Mount, right? Because they might not be as accustomed to the mess as you are. And then you can just kind of fold it all up and put it back in your diaper bag. It also washes out really easily, but it folds down really, really small. So like fits in your diaper bag.

Katie Ferraro (8m 32s):

I also use the paper and baby's splash mats for picnics when we're going or eating out on the go or outside. They're fabulous. Again, bapronbaby.com. And the code KATIE10 works for 10% off for the splash mats as well. If you don't want to buy something, some things I've done in the past a reusable tablecloths. So if you just go to like a flea market or garage sale, or you can usually find picnic table blankets, depending what type they are, how durable they are. We had a feeding table for our quadruplets and the splash mat wasn't quite big enough. So I used a bigger tablecloth for that. I've also tried a lot of like the fancy brands that make like play mats and play carpets for kids. If it's not food grade, don't even mess with it. Like some of those beautiful colored print mats that like babies play on.

Katie Ferraro (9m 12s):

It does not work for underneath the table. We got to where my quadruplets were too. And my twins were babies where I actually even went to like restaurant supply store online and bought like the fat restaurant supply mat. And that was actually a pretty good solution as well. Definitely not cheap. But the point is, if you have something underneath the table or the high chair or the place where you're feeding that you can easily clean up, it will make it a little bit less tragic for you when it comes time to clean up after meals. So that's my second tip. You got to do the full coverage bib. And then secondly, do the splash mat. The third survival skill for managing the baby-led weaning mess is to make sure you're feeding your baby out of a suction plate or bowl. And a lot of parents are inclined to just put the baby's food on the highchair tray or on the table.

Katie Ferraro (9m 52s):

And I would really encourage you not to do that. Actually have a whole blog post, all about Five Benefits of Feeding Out of a Suction Mat or Bowl. And I'll link to that in the show notes for this episode at blwpodcast.com/105, but real quick, we want to feed out of a bowl for a couple of reasons. First of all, when it's suctioned to the table, it helps stabilize the baby, right? They're going to be especially early on when they don't have that pincer grasp, they're going to be reaching for the food. They have the nice pliable silicone rim of the matte or the bowl against which they can use that whole hand grasp to rake or scoop food up and into their mouth. If you just put the food out there and they smash it all around the tray or the table, there's no barrier against which they can scoop the food up and feed themselves.

Katie Ferraro (10m 35s):

And then parents say, oh, they can't feed themselves. I'll just do it for them. They can do it. We need to just set them up with the right tools that allow them to do it to suction mats and bowls also help to minimize the mess. And I know that's one of the reason why parents like them. I use the ezpz silicone suction mats and bowls. They're the original silicone suction mat in bowl company. A tip with their products is your table has to be totally flat and totally dry in order for the products to stick. So sometimes parents will say, oh, my product's not sticking. Or my mat or my bowl from ezpz. Isn't first of all, you want to make sure it really is the brand easy-peasy, unfortunately there's tons of lesser quality knockoffs out there that don't suction. So make sure you're buying it from ezpzfun.com or one of their accredited distributors.

Katie Ferraro (11m 17s):

They're in like over 80 countries at this point. I believe if you're in the US, you can get 10% off with the code KATIE10 at ezpzfun.com. And it can all link to all of these products and the codes in the show notes for this episode, go to blwpodcast.com/105, but there's many other benefits to eating out of the silicone suction mat or both, both developmentally and from a nutrition standpoint, and also from a mass management standpoint. So if you want to check out more about that, I'm actually doing a whole separate episode on that, but at five benefits of feeding out of a suction mat or bowl, I have a blog post on that, and that will be on the show notes for this episode as well. So you've got, gotta get the ezpz, suction plates or suction bowls.

Katie Ferraro (11m 59s):

I think they're fabulous for minimizing the mess. My fourth survival skill for managing the baby-led weaning mess is to try the kitchen sink soak method. Okay. So when your baby's done eating right, we don't intervene while the baby is eating. We want to let the babies eat uninterrupted for 15 or 20 minutes. Sit on your hands, do it when they're gagging, you don't need to intervene when they're gagging, when they're getting messy, sit on your hands, you don't need to intervene when they're getting messy. That's part of learning how to eat. But the second that meal is over. My approach is I take the baby up out of the chair, take the bib off, take them over to the sink, warm, running water. And then I use my hands to run the baby's hands underneath the sink with water. And then I cup my hand and use a cup of water to wipe their mouth and around their face.

Katie Ferraro (12m 43s):

And then I take a clean, dry dish towel bathtub, pat them dry, put the baby somewhere safe and then get right to the step of cleaning the food up because the reality is like dried baby-led weaning food is the worst thing in the entire world to clean up. Like if there's tried oatmeal or dried yogurt or dried spaghetti, it's like all over. So I do suggest cleaning the mess up quickly, but cleaning your baby underneath the sink can be way faster than like trying to do at the table with a wet wipe or you use like 50 wet wipes or three washcloths try under the running water. I think that's like a great method. It's the best one that I found. So the fifth survival skill for managing the baby-led weaning mess. I kind of hinted. Yeah, but it's get to the wet mess quick, again, nothing worse than like the dried summit mess of oatmeal that you're trying to clean up too late.

Katie Ferraro (13m 26s):

So again, put your baby somewhere safe, but get to that mess right away. And I get lots of questions about, well, what sort of non-toxic cleaners do you recommend? Because a lot of parents are rightfully so concerned about toxic chemicals in household cleaning supplies. And as much as I wish we could just use water to clean up the food mess that doesn't always cut it. So the best brand that I have found as far as non-toxic cleaners go to actually clean the food mess is a brand called branch basics. And it can, I've tried like all of them. I don't like to mention the ones that didn't work, but like the other nine that I tried didn't work Branch Basics. This is fabulous. And I love the concept of this brand. You basically buy a concentrate that you then dilute at different concentrations to make different household cleaners.

Katie Ferraro (14m 11s):

So there's an all-purpose cleaner, there's a bathroom cleaner. They have a glass cleaner. I did not realize how much money I was wasting on Windex. Like when you make the Branch Basics glass cleaner, it's 99.99% water and a drop of the soap. And I'm like, that's all Windex is like, why was I paying $5 for this at the store? So I also, cause I'm not a craft person. And I kind of feel when I make my Branch Basics concoctions like, oh, look at me, I'm making soap at home, but they actually work. That's the other thing, the takeaway message. They also smell good because some of the other ones, like I, sorry, I want it to smell clean when I'm done. I don't want it to smell like fake, dangerous chemical clean, but the Branch Basics non-toxic household cleaners that actually get the food mess out and smell good. So if you're online, go to branchbasics.com and if you go to their starter kits and use the code, KATIE15, you can get 15% off.

Katie Ferraro (14m 54s):

The starter kit will last you forever. It's like a huge bottle of the concentrate with all of the bottles like that. I was just describing. But you also, if you, I think it's like $10 more for the deluxe one, it's totally worth it because you get what's called their oxygen boost. I use that as a laundry detergent, but it's magical. You can use a little tiny bit of it with a scrub brush to get any food stains out of clothes. So again, that's the Branch Basics starter kit, the oxygen boost that comes in the deluxe version that he gets $10 more. I'd have to check, but 15% off with the code Kati15. And again, I'll link to that on the show notes for this episode at blwpodcast.com/105. So there you have it. Five survival skills for managing the BLW mess.

Katie Ferraro (15m 36s):

I'll run through them one more time, full coverage bib. I love the ones from Bapron Baby splash mat under the place where the baby's eating again, love the splash mats from Bapron Baby got to have a suction plate or bowl. I love the ones from ezpz. Fourth tip is try that kitchen sink, soap method for getting her baby cleaned pretty quickly. And then once the baby's in a safe space, step number five, get right to the wet baby-led weaning mess using a non-toxic household cleaner. And the ones I like is from a brand called Branch Basics, linking everything for you guys for this episode in the show notes at blwpodcast.com/105, happy feeding, and don't let the mess stress you out. Remember like repeat to yourself.

Katie Ferraro (16m 17s):

My job is not to prevent the mess. My job is to minimize or manage the mess. So good luck with that. See you guys next time. Bye now.