Whisker (0s):
Today's episode is sponsored by a whisker makers of the Litter Robot, the self cleaning litter box that helps take one more household chore off of your plate because I don't know about you, but this time of year it feels like everyone is trying to get back into a routine. Maybe older kids are heading back to school, childcare schedules might be shifting. Maybe you're just trying to figure out how to get breakfast bottles, solid food naps, dinner, all handled without completely losing your mind. And when your household routine is already packed daily litter box duty is exactly the kind of chore that can tip the whole thing over. The thing that has always stopped me about cats, it's not the cat, it's the litter, the scooping, the smell, the daily maintenance. Because when you already have a baby at home, you're touching enough questionable things. I know. And that is why I love the idea Behind Litter Robot. By Whisker, it automatically cycles after every use, so you're not scooping every day and you're not handling waste like you would with a regular litter box. Litter robot handles the dirty work so no one in the house has to be assigned daily litter duty and the Whisker app can notify you about your unit, like when a clean cycle is complete, when the drawer or the litter level needs attention. And it can help you track usage and weight information without checking the litter box every day. I know that I personally love a system that quietly does its job in the background because as parents, we already have enough tabs open in our brains. Right? Whisker has a full lineup of automatic litter boxes with options for single cat homes and homes with up to five cats, including the Litter Robot, EVO and Litter Robot five Pro. Maintain your cat's litter while focusing on your family. Learn more about whisker litter robot models and starter kits today. To get set up for this busy season of parenting, take an additional $50 off bundles with code weaning when you shop whisker.com/weaning. That's an additional $50 off bundles with the code weaning at whisker.com/weaning.

Once Upon a Dance (2m 4s):
This episode is sponsored by Once Upon A Dance. A back to school season always makes me think about routines, not just school routines, but family routines. Like what are we doing before school, after school, before bed, or on the weekends to connect with our kids in ways that feel meaningful. And that's why I'm excited to share Once Upon a Dance With You, once Upon a Dance offers interactive children's books that combine storytelling with movement. So instead of your child just sitting and listening, they get to step into the story moving, imagining, twirling, leaping and engaging their whole body and mind. These books were created by a former dance teacher and they feature her daughter ballerina Kay, as a gentle guide and a positive role model. I really love that mother-daughter connection because I've seen with my own girls how powerful dance can be. So I personally did not grow up dancing, but my girls did, and it became such a formative part of their childhood Once upon a dance. Stories include themes like practice, perseverance, confidence, kindness, empathy, friendship, family and self-acceptance, and with dance along adventures featuring everything from unicorns to puppies and cats and more. There's something whimsical and engaging for lots of different kids. So whether you have a baby now, a Toddler who loves to move, or older kids who just need a new way to burn energy and connect with you once upon a dance is a beautiful way to make story time active, swap screen time for connection, get your kids off the couch and into a story. Jump twirl and leap over to once upon a dance.com or find once upon a dance books wherever you buy books online. That's once upon a dance.com.

Katie Ferraro (3m 49s):
But I know how overwhelming it can feel because If you look at the recommended dietary allowance, the RDA for infants age seven to 12 months, it says they need to eat 11 milligrams a day. But that doesn't mean they actually need to eat 11 milligrams a day because literally you And I don't eat 11 milligrams of Iron a day. It's like are they gonna eat 11 adult sized portions of tofu a day? No, you've got the benefit of infant milk, breast milk or formula on board, especially when they're starting solid foods. But as much as I don't want you to stress about the amount of Iron, certainly not count the milligrams of Iron. We do need to be intentional about the types of foods that we're introducing as part of the weaning diet. And it is important like right out of the gate, that we need to be offering those Iron containing foods like whole grains and both plant and animal protein so that your baby does know how to eat those foods.

Katie Ferraro (4m 34s):
But you don't have to rely just on white rice cereal as the only way to get your baby Iron. 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 with Katie Ferraro podcast. 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. Have you ever looked up how much Iron your baby needs, like the number and thought like, oh my God, there's no way my baby can eat that much Iron from food alone. Because if so, you are not alone.

Katie Ferraro (5m 16s):
Like parents actually hear this recommendation. Oh, a baby seven to 12 months of age needs 11 milligrams of Iron per day. And then you start looking at food labels and you realize like, wait a second, like most of these foods have at most one milligram of Iron per serving. My baby is definitely not eating 11 adult sized servings of lentils or beef or tofu. And then they panic and they think like, there's no way this baby led weaning thing is gonna work. I probably should just do Iron fortified rice cereal and I'm probably gonna have to spoonfeed it, or my baby's gonna be Iron deficient if I don't. And today I would like for you to take a deep breath because yes, Iron is important. Yeah, we need to be intentional about offering high Iron foods. But no, your baby does not magically need to eat 11 milligrams of Iron a day from solid foods on day one of starting solid foods.

Katie Ferraro (6m 1s):
Okay? Today we're gonna be talking about Iron and why it matters and what foods have Iron and how babies can get enough Iron with baby led weaning and how you can think about this magic number 11 milligrams a day without totally spiraling. So without much further ado, let's dive into Iron. And I wanna answer the question, Can My Baby Get Enough Iron from Baby Led Weaning Foods? Now, I like to start each of these mini training episodes with a baby led weaning tip of the day. In today's tip, your baby doesn't have to eat 11 milligrams of Iron from solid foods at the very beginning, no matter what dietary guidelines say. All right, that's the tip. Write it down, screenshot it in your brain, put it on a sticky note, especially if you're a dietician mom, they're the ones who freak out the most.

Katie Ferraro (6m 42s):
I actually had a mom one time who was trying to calculate the amount of Iron her baby was getting from her breast milk and then also factor in the amount that the baby was getting from food, but subtract the amount of food that the baby was dropping on the floor. And I was like, girl, you need to Chill. Like that's not how it works. Okay, here's why. Breast milker formula is still providing most of your baby's nutrition during the early part of starting solid foods, and that includes Iron. Okay? Now, breast milk, to be fair, does not have a huge amount of Iron, but the Iron in breast milk is very bioavailable, meaning your baby absorbs it. What it really well. Now, formula on the other hand, is fortified with Iron. So infant formula contains Iron, and if your baby's formula feeding that formula is still contributing to your baby's total Iron intake.

Katie Ferraro (7m 22s):
So early on when your baby's just learning how to eat, we're not expecting them to sit down and eat like a full day's worth of Iron from food. That is not how starting solid foods work. But this is an important part. As your baby starts eating more and drinking a little bit less from breast milk and formula over time, then more of their nutrition and their Iron gradually starts coming from food. That's literally how weaning works. This is weaning in action. So if we're not introducing Iron foods, then as milk intake naturally decreases, we could run into a problem, right? 'cause if we're offering high Iron foods on the other hand, early and often, then your baby's practicing learning how to eat those foods and we can rely on them more heavily 'cause we know they can eat them. All right? So please don't stress about this number 11 early on, And I want you to hang on tight.

Katie Ferraro (8m 5s):
'cause In this episode I'm gonna share some very practical tips of like which Iron foods your baby can eat and how you can again move forward with trust. Trust the process. Baby led weaning is all about trust. As Jill Rapley says, Jill Rapley is the pioneer of baby led weaning. If you have not yet read her book, the Original Baby led Weaning book, you definitely should. The most important word in that book is trust. So trust the Iron stuff. All right? I wanna tell you a quick story here because this is a fear that I know almost every parent has. If I skip Iron fortified rice cereal, my baby's Iron lovers are gonna be low. And I, I know low Iron levels can happen because it happened in my own house. So I did baby led weaning with six of my seven children. And my seventh well make, my last two were twins.

Katie Ferraro (8m 46s):
I had one and then I had a set up quadruplets, and then I had a set of twins. So I did not do baby led weaning with my first 'cause I didn't know what it was. And I went through like this, hell circle spoonfeeding with her. And then someone told me about baby led weaning with my quadruplets. And I was like, this is amazing. And then I did it with my twins too. So with our twins at the seventh baby's checkup, my daughter Hannah, we do the in-office heel test, like the prick tick test her hemoglobin. And I was like that annoying mom that I was like, oh yes, please check. I like always wanted to check their hemoglobin. 'cause I wanted to see if their Iron levels were good because I was like, I'm doing baby led weaning. And I wanted like the pat on the back from myself like, Hey, I'm doing a good job. They're getting enough Iron. And her hemoglobin came back suboptimal.

Katie Ferraro (9m 28s):
And my doctor, who I love to death, but he is like, oh, she needs Iron Drops. And I was like, well, You know, she's actually already really constipated. So I kind of feel like giving her Iron Drops, which would make her more constipated and eat less is like not a good idea. And let me be clear, Iron supplements when your doctor recommends it could be very appropriate. But like this is not me saying don't take a supplement if your doctor recommends it. This is me as a registered dietician who already knew how constipated my daughter was, being like, I'm not gonna do Iron Drops. She was already struggling. The Iron supplements can make constipation worse. And I was concerned, of course, if her constipation got worse, then her food intake would go down and that would make her Iron issue even worse, right? So I'm like, You know what? I'm gonna work through this with the food first approach, right? I said it was very intentional about the types of food we were offering, prioritizing the Iron foods, offering them with the vitamin C foods that help the Iron get absorbed.

Katie Ferraro (10m 13s):
And like I wrote this like mega blog post that went like viral back in the day when that was a thing called low Iron level Baby bootcamp. A walkthrough like every food that we did, how we approached it. Anyway, long story short, if your baby's Iron levels come back low, it doesn't mean you failed. 'cause guess what? At her next appointment, her Iron levels were perfectly fine. Okay? It takes, You know, the half life of hemoglobin is, I forget exactly how long, but it's like not gonna happen overnight, okay? But with a food first approach or Iron levels did come back to normal. It wasn't a sign. She didn't have any underlying like, You know, GI bleed or something like that. She just, she is like a carby girl. She loved like all the white carp foods and not necessarily the protein foods.

Katie Ferraro (10m 54s):
And then we had to switch some things around to prioritize that. So I'm gonna come back to this story in a second, but I wanna skip to why Iron matters, right? Iron really does important things for your baby. It's a mineral. It's found naturally in foods, but it can also be added to foods through enrichment or fortification. And Iron helps our bodies move oxygen around. And for babies, iron's really important for growth and brain development, which is why we care about it. And worldwide Iron deficiency is the most common micronutrient deficiency. So it is a big deal not just for babies of, You know, in the United States or certain, it's all over the world, right? And babies can be at higher risk for Iron deficiency during the second half of infancy. And certain babies are at higher risk. So If you were Iron deficient during pregnancy, your baby might be at higher risk.

Katie Ferraro (11m 36s):
And if your baby was preterm or low birth weight, they might be at higher risk. I know for our quadruplets, they were born at 34 weeks gestation. I was like a hawk every single time I went to the doctor, like, oh my God, here's Mrs. Ferraro, she's gonna ask me to finger her heel stick all four of these babies. 'cause she's obsessed about their Iron levels. And I was like, yeah, they were preemie and they didn't, they weren't in the oven for the whole time and they didn't get that big bolus of Iron transfer at the end of pregnancy. So it was always a little bit nervous. Like if they're premature and they don't get that Iron transfer, higher risk for Iron deficiency. Okay? Now we don't self-diagnose nutrient deficiencies in babies. I also don't just casually give Iron supplements just 'cause I'm nervous, okay? Iron is a mineral wear. If you do give too much of it, it can be dangerous. So if you're concerned about your baby's Iron status, it's definitely a conversation you wanna have with your baby's primary care provider.

Katie Ferraro (12m 19s):
Now, the two types of Iron, I know this can get confusing for parents, but it's pretty basic. There's two types of food and Iron that's not true. There's two types of Iron food, heme, Iron and non-heme Iron. So heme Iron, HEME, that comes from animal foods. And it's generally better absorbed by the human body. Non-heme Iron comes from plant foods and that's not quite as efficiently absorbed as heme Iron is. But it doesn't mean it doesn't count, right? Plant foods are still important, plants are important and they give meaningful amounts of Iron, especially for families if they're vegetarian or they don't eat a lot of animal foods. So when we're thinking about Iron for baby LED weaning, we wanna think about both categories. Okay? If you're going through my hundred First Foods list, If you look at the protein section that has 20 protein foods, there's 10 plant foods and 10 animal foods, okay?

Katie Ferraro (13m 4s):
And they both contain Iron. Now, how much Iron do babies need? This is where parents often get overwhelmed because the RDA or the recommended dietary allowance for babies seven to 12 months says 11 milligrams a day. And that sounds like enormous when your baby's just starting solid foods. 'cause maybe they're eating like one strip of food or they're sucking on one piece of meat and then spitting it out, or like nibbling on the tofu and then dropping it on the floor. That's normal, right? 'cause the early part of learning how to eat is exploring the food. Food is a learning how to eat. It's a full sensory experience. Okay? So we are not counting calories or milligrams of Iron for babies who are learning how to eat. I don't want you to become neurotic about this, but I do want you to be intentional.

Katie Ferraro (13m 46s):
And here's a mistake that a lot of parents make is that they'll only offer fruits and vegetables early on. 'cause those are easy and those are safe, right? I'm just gonna do avocado, banana, and sweet potato. Guess what? There's no Iron in those foods. Okay? So if your baby just practices with those simple starter foods over and over and over again, we see those families that get to eight, nine, and 10 months. And guess what? That baby still can only eat avocado, banana, and sweet potato. They haven't done meats, they haven't done whole grains. They don't know how to do legumes. My baby won't eat any lentils. You've gotta practice with those foods as well. So If you wanna grab a copy of that a hundred First Foods list that has all the Iron containing foods on it, I give that away to everybody for free on my masterclass called Baby LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS.

Katie Ferraro (14m 27s):
You can sign up at baby led weaning dot co slash masterclass. There's also a link in the description. Stick around at the end, the hundred FIRST FOODS list gets sent to you and you can print it out, put it on your fridge and start knocking those foods off. All right? So what are the types of Iron foods that are on that list that babies can eat? Okay, if your family eats animal foods and the heme Iron foods contain things like beef and lamb and pork and chicken, Turkey, certain types of fish, shellfish, egg yolk. And yes, your baby certainly can learn how to make and eat meat safely. You're gonna make the meat, the baby's going to eat it. And I spend a lot of time in my program showing families how to make meats safe. It's probably one of the most challenging areas, but they feel so confident. We do lamb on day four of my hundred First Foods Daily Meal Plan.

Katie Ferraro (15m 9s):
And they're like, I can't believe my baby's eating lamb in the first week of baby led weaning. But like, like pick it on purpose 'cause it's kind of weird. Then something like chicken and beef like feels like kind of basic in the following weeks, but they're so much more confident in their baby's ability to eat these foods. If you wanna learn how to make those foods. Again, that's all in the program. Baby led weaning with Katie Ferraro and that's at baby led weaning dot co slash program. There's also a $50 discount code in the description If you wanna get started today. We don't just do the meat one time though, right? You guys know this. Exposure matters. Practice matters. We're doing, if you're following the meal plan, solid foods one to two times a day at six to seven months, we're doing two to three times a day at eight to nine months. And if your baby is 10 months of age or older, we're doing solid foods three times a day.

Katie Ferraro (15m 52s):
All right? But we're not counting 11 milligrams of Iron a day. We also have to acknowledge the importance of vitamin C. Okay? I didn't wanna disparage fruits and vegetables earlier there. They do contain vitamin C, which helps your baby absorb Iron from the other Iron containing foods that you're offering. So how can we help our baby absorb Iron? I mentioned those, You know, stick with those fruits and vegetables. We do a new fruit on Monday. We do a new vegetable on Tuesday, but they, we move on to a starchy food, which is generally a whole grain with a lot of Iron in there. On Wednesday. We do a protein food, either plant or animal on Thursday. So there's the Iron and then we do an allergenic food, which oftentimes is also a protein food on Friday. So you're getting lots of Iron in every week if you're following that five step feeding framework. That's all part of the program.

KiwiCo (16m 33s):
Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back. This episode is sponsored by Kiwi Go. And one thing I always noticed at the end of summer is how much my kids have learned when nobody was actually trying to teach them anything. 'cause we spent this whole summer outside building things, traveling, growing things, taking things apart, not a lot of putting things back together. But people, kids, they asked about a million trillion questions along the way. And one of the things that I loved doing this summer together were I think a million Kiwi co projects with our kids. We did the window garden where we put together these little suction cup planters. We planted green beans and squash seeds, which is literally the extent of my gardening towel. And we put them in the window. We started this as a fun little project and it turned into weeks of the kids checking on the plants like, what's sprouted? What needs water? Why is that one growing faster? They were learning about how plants grow without it really ever feeling like a lesson. And that's my favorite kind of learning. The Kiwi Co Summer Adventure Series gives kids six hands on project kits over six weeks with projects that encourage them to build, experiment, get outside and explore. So there's options with Kiwi Co for kids as young as two all the way through teens. So there really is something for every age. And I love that Kiwi Co does the legwork for me. I don't have to spend an hour online searching around for like different activities and then an hour buying all the supplies. Everything we need to do is like literally right there on my doorstep. So build the best summer ever, or the end of summer as the case may be with Kiwi Co. Get $10 off your summer adventure series@kiwico.com slash summer promo code weaning. That's $10 off your summer adventure@kiwico.com slash summer promo code weaning.

Katie Ferraro (18m 24s):
Now what about Iron fortified rice cereal? We have families who come into the program being like, I gotta do the cereal because my doctor said, here's the thing, Iron fortified infant cereal is one way babies can get Iron, but it's not the only way. Okay? You don't have to rely on Iron fortified white rice cereal in order for your baby to get enough Iron. With babies led weaning, babies can learn to eat Iron rich foods from the start. They can eat meat, they can eat lentils. We do lots of finger foods that are made out of beans. We love tofu as a way to introduce the potentially allergenic food soy. We do egg all the time in the program. Okay? Your baby can eat these foods that contribute important nutrients, okay? The concern is not about baby led weaning itself. The concern is sometimes parents doing this approach without guidance, okay?

Katie Ferraro (19m 7s):
And the baby's only offered low Iron foods like fruits and vegetables over and over. And that's really why the education piece matters. If you look closely at the research about baby led weaning, it repeatedly shows the need for education on including Iron foods as part of the weaning diet. But a lot of parents don't know how to do that. They're like, I don't know any other Iron foods besides cereal And I don't know any other way to feed cereal than to shove it down my baby's mouth with a spoon. So my goal as a dietician who specializes and is credentialed in baby led weaning is to show you, hey, here's all these naturally containing foods that have Iron and here's how you can make them safe for your baby. Now what if your baby's Iron levels are low? Like with my daughter, Hannah? Okay, if they come back low, work with your pediatrician or your healthcare provider.

Katie Ferraro (19m 48s):
The other thing we realize is that a lot of times the in-office machines are not always calibrated. If you actually read the protocol of how it's supposed to operate, they're supposed to squeeze a drop of blood out and not use that one to test. So a couple times with my kids, the first read would come back low and I'd be like, oh, sorry, can you test another drop of blood? And then that one would come back fine. So sometimes we're just talking about the quality of data that we're getting. Yes, sometimes supplementation is needed, but also remember, food is a naturally occurring source of Iron. And so there are things you can do to prioritize Iron first in the foods that you're offering to your baby. And we do have families that we're working with inside of our program who have had suboptimal hemoglobin levels from in-office screens.

Katie Ferraro (20m 31s):
And then we help them work to prioritize the Iron and they go back in a month or two and their baby's Iron levels come back fine. And occasionally, sometimes the Iron levels, if they are persistently low, of course it could be a sign of something that's underlying. And I've definitely worked with those families and their healthcare teams as well to help identify what that might be as well. And sometimes we do need to go the supplementation route and that's perfectly fine as well. So the takeaway here is to be proactive with food. I don't want you to avoid Iron containing foods. I don't want you to delay them And I don't want you to assume your baby can't handle them. Don't assume that just 'cause you're doing baby led weaning, your baby's not gonna get enough Iron. All the data, all the research shows us that baby led weaning babies are not deficient in Iron when the parents are educated about offering Iron containing foods.

Katie Ferraro (21m 13s):
If you need help figuring out what foods those are, grab my a hundred First Foods list on that masterclass. If you want help making all those foods safe for your baby, come join my program. Use that discount code that's in the description And I hope to see you there. I'll put the show notes up today@blwpodcast.com slash 1 3 7. I wanna leave you with a quick win at one meal each day this week, I want you to look at a food on your baby's plate. And I want you to say, where's the Iron food? And if you're like, what's an Iron food? I don't call 'em high Iron foods 'cause there's actually like legal language for calling something high in good, like for labeling in the United States. So I try to stay away from that. In our program, we just call them an Iron food. And an Iron food is the food that contains one milligram of Iron per serving.

Katie Ferraro (21m 56s):
If you're reading the labels, I just want you to glance at the labels. I don't want you to obsess about them. I don't want you to freak out about numbers, but just learn about labeling one milligram of Iron. So I'll give you the example of tofu. It's one of my favorite baby Led Weaning Foods because it's literally the easiest in the world. You take it outta the package, you cut it into a piece about the size of your adult pinky finger. If you wanna get fancy, you can use a crinkle cutter to make a really cool like beveled edge. And then you baby picks it up and feeds it to themself. And guess what? There's a milligram of Iron in every serving of tofu. Now that's an adult serving size and your baby's not gonna eat the whole thing, but it doesn't matter. You're learning that really affordable. Basic foods from the hundred First Foods list contain Iron. There's lots of whole grains, there's lots of plant based sources of protein that also have one milligram of Iron or even more.

Katie Ferraro (22m 39s):
So just get a food that has one milligram of Iron. Get it on your baby's plate once a day. If you can. Bonus points extra credit If you add a vitamin C in that same meal, that will help your baby absorb that Iron. Alrighty? So to recap, iron's important for your baby. It supports growth in neurodevelopment. Babies who are seven to 12 months of age do have higher Iron needs. But it doesn't mean you actually need to eat those 11 milligrams. Don't forget, forget you've got breast milk or formula on board, still providing most of the Iron needs from the earlier part of the weaning period. But as your baby starts eating more food, there better be Iron foods in that diet that they learn how to eat. 'cause pretty soon you're not gonna have the breast milk or formula as your insurance plan, but you do need a plan. And If you wanna plan, I got a 100 FIRST FOODS Daily Meal Plan for you.

Katie Ferraro (23m 19s):
Check it out at baby led weaning.co/program. Use that $50 off discount code from the description. I'll see you there. Thank you so much for listening. And thank you to our partners at Airwave Media. If you guys like podcasts that feature food and science and using your brain, check out some of the podcasts from AirWave. We're online@blwpodcast.com. Hope you, I appreciate you listening. I have some of you pushing a stroller, folding your laundry on your way to work. I'm gonna go out and enjoy the rest of those beautiful day and take my dog for a walk. 'cause my getting alerts, I'm saying, is it time to stretch your legs a bit? I've been talking about Iron for too long. Thanks for listening. I'll see you guys next time.