Once Upon a Dance (0s):
This episode is sponsored by Once Upon A Dance. As the days get busier but shorter and we spend more time indoors, I'm always looking for simple ways to help kids move their bodies, use their imaginations, and for us to connect as a family. And that's what makes Once Upon a Dance such a fun idea. So Once Upon a Dance creates interactive children's books that combine stories with movement. So these are not just books that your child listens to, they're stories your kid can move through. Think twirling and leaping, imagining, pretending and getting off the couch while still enjoying the benefits of reading. So I didn't grow up doing dance myself. I think anyone who knows me knows that. But I love dance and watching all my girls do dance, it was, it was such a formative experience for them. Dance helped them build confidence and creativity. It taught them the value of practice, perseverance and showing up. And I love that Once Upon a Dance brings those same ideas into a story time format that families can enjoy at home. So the books feature Ballerina Kay as a Gentle Guide and a Positive Role Model, and they're created by a former dance teacher. The stories include themes like friendship, family, empathy, kindness, self-acceptance and courage, all wrapped into whimsical adventures that kids can move along with. So if you're looking for something screen free, active and imaginative for your toddler, preschooler, or older child, Once Upon a Dance is a really sweet option. Swap screen time for a connection. Get your kids off the couch and into a story. Jump twirl and leap over to Once Upon a Dance dot com or find Once Upon a Dance books wherever you buy books online. That's Once Upon a Dance dot com.

Whisker (1m 39s):
Today's episode is sponsored By Whisker makers of the Litter Robot, the self-cleaning litter box that helps take one more chore off your family's to-do list. I feel like the mental load of running a household is especially intense this time of year, right? There's school schedules and sports practices, got daycare bags and groceries and meal prep and laundry. And if you have a baby who's eating solid foods, you're also wiping the high chair and wiping the baby and wiping the floor and then somehow cleaning the baby again. And if you're a cat parent, no matter how busy your day has been, your cat still deserves fresh litter. Honestly, the Litter Box has always been the thing that made me hesitant about cats. It's not the cat, it's the litter, the scooping, and the smell. Because when you're already managing a busy household and a baby, do you really need another daily chore? That's why Litter Robot By Whisker makes so much sense for busy families. It automatically cycles after every use. So you can check daily litter scooping off of your to-do list. Literate robot handles the dirty work, which means less time and mental energy that you spend thinking about litter box maintenance and cleanup. And the Whisker app can notify you about your unit, including completed clean cycles, litter and drawer levels. And When you are litter robot needs attention. You can also track its daily usage, You can get the stats, You can get weight information, and you get all of this without having to check in every day day. I love anything that takes a repetitive household chair wear and basically handles it in the background for me. So whether you've got one cat or five cats, Whisker has a litter robot for different family sizes plus bundles that make it really easy to get fully set up while saving money. Learn more about Whisker litter robot models and starter kits today. Get 10% off a Whisker litter robot at Whisker.com/weaning. That's 10% off at Whisker.com/weaning.

Taylor (3m 33s):
How do I make spinach? The other day I thought I was so confident and I was like, I'm gonna make carrots. And then I was like, wait, maybe I wasn't supposed to steam them. I was supposed to cook them, but how much am I supposed to cook them? And if they're steamed, she's gonna chomp off the litter bit. Wait, what am I supposed to do? Okay, now I'm just gonna mash it. I, I literally find myself going back into this, wait, what am I supposed to do? And second guess myself a lot. So it's interesting because I'm so confident about certain foods with baby led weaning and then other foods I find myself tripping up the litter bit and wondering what exact way am I supposed to to cook this? And what does cooked mean? Is it supposed to be really firm or really steamed?

Taylor (4m 14s):
It's just I it's gets the litter bit overwhelming.

Katie Ferraro (4m 18s):
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. If you've ever looked at your baby and thought I should know what I'm doing by now, this is the episode for you. Because starting solid foods has a funny way of making even experienced parents feel like beginners all over again. You know, you made it through pregnancy, right?

Katie Ferraro (4m 59s):
You figured out birth and breastfeeding or bottle feeding and you got into this sort of rhythm with your baby. Maybe they're even sleeping through the night, okay? And then right around the six month mark, suddenly there's this whole new thing that you're supposed to know how to do and that's how to feed your baby real food. And if you've ever felt nervous or unsure or overwhelmed about that, you are definitely not alone. Today I am talking with two moms who actually work in the baby space. Natasha and Taylor are best friends. They've known each other since eighth grade. They're both moms of two and together they host the Moms Interrupted podcast. So I'm based in San Diego and so are Natasha and Taylor. Natasha is a lactation counselor. She and I actually met when we were studying together in the same I-B-C-L-C breastfeeding cohort over the past year.

Katie Ferraro (5m 44s):
And then through her I met Taylor who is a childbirth educator. And so Taylor's second baby is six months old. So I follow them. I've been on their podcast, I watch all their Instagram content and I was kind of like lurking until Taylor's baby was starting Solid Foods. And I was like, I want to have you on my podcast because between these two women, they have four kids. They have a lot of professional experience supporting moms and babies and working in the perinatal space, but they're very real and open about the fact that they don't know what they're doing either when it comes to lots of things. So In this episode we're talking primarily with Taylor about starting solid foods because she's in the same boat that you are and what does that look like for her the second time around?

Katie Ferraro (6m 27s):
So her oldest son who's three now experienced some pretty severe food allergy reactions and she's gonna share about that because that experience understandably followed her into starting solid foods with her second baby. We talk about what she was afraid of before she started solid foods, how she worried, you know, this might happen to me again and then what it actually has been like now that her baby is eating real food. And I wanted to share this conversation because I know personally I just like to hear from other moms who are going through some of the same stuff that I am. So You can know a lot about babies, right? You can have already done this before, You can even work professionally in this space and then You can still get to a new phase like starting solid foods and think, wait, what am I supposed to be doing again?

Katie Ferraro (7m 10s):
So if you're feeling the litter nervous or overwhelmed or like everyone already knows something about how to do something that you don't, okay, I think you're really going to relate to Taylor who refers to herself as a type B mom, which I love. And then Natasha, who is like her type a counterpoint, they are the moms from Mom's Interrupted podcast and I'm so excited to have them on the show today.

Taylor (7m 36s):
Thank you for having us. We're very, very excited. Yeah, so excited to be here. Thanks again.

Katie Ferraro (7m 41s):
Taylor, you teach parents about childbirth and I know Natasha, I know you from the lactation world, so you guys are kind of covering the perinatal space, but you're also, I, I love about your whole like vibe and all your content is that you guys are real life moms and you're going through what a lot of the moms in your community are going through. So I know Taylor, I've been like stalking you waiting for your second baby to get to the starting solids age and just gimme like the real high level. Like you're in the thick of it. Your baby's turning seven months old next week. When it came time for you to start solid foods, did you feel like I got this or did you feel like you were starting over again?

Taylor (8m 18s):
I think it's really a mix of both because I think with the second baby in terms of pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding and newborn feeding, I was like, okay, I've done this before. Right? So you take some of the things and you bring them to the next baby. But what I've realized with all of those things combined is a new baby is a new baby and that baby is different. And I just see so many differences in my daughter already. You know, she wasn't sitting up at the same time my son was. I also had these feelings of the first time I couldn't wait for my son to immediately the day he turns six months give, give solid foods.

Taylor (8m 60s):
And this time it felt like ooh, this feels like a really big undertaking. And another thing I have to think about, and I'm not gonna lie, I felt more overwhelmed this time around, especially because my son experienced allergies. So I have all of those lived experiences that I'm kind of taking in this time around. And so yes, I'm more confident overall, but I have all these fears from the first time as well that I'm bringing with me.

Katie Ferraro (9m 31s):
And I know you, we had men, you had mentioned to me when we were getting ready for the show about your son's allergies and I think that's really sets the stage for your second baby because you had this, I mean, sorry, borderline, you know, traumatic experience, right? Your child has what's a potentially life-threatening reaction to food and now you're like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna have to do this again with my second baby. Do you mind sharing with us the story of your son's food allergy journey of your first baby and how that went for you?

Taylor (9m 59s):
My son had a pretty bad reaction to eggs and dairy and avocado.

Katie Ferraro (10m 7s):
How old was your baby When you had that, those reactions?

Taylor (10m 10s):
So at first six months because I tried to introduce allergens the same month that I introduced food in general because that's what I thought I should do. And I believe, I don't know, I would love to hear more what you think on this.

Katie Ferraro (10m 27s):
And so I assume I'm assuming, but was your baby exclusively breastfed? So the baby had never had any cow's milk protein? Yes. Okay. So, okay. And then, sorry to get specific and I'm, I'm not interrogating you, but did you do all those foods at once or was it one day at a time hours apart? Did you sequence them? How did it go? Like which food did you do first? It

Taylor (10m 44s):
Always one food at a time. But I will say I'm a very type B mom so there was no rhyme or rhythm to like this food for this amount of days. I'm sequencing them apart this much. I, I to be honest, don't even remember. Okay. All I remember is how traumatizing it was, the reactions and then how confusing it was. The advice I got about it and I tried again. I got advice from my pediatrician to try again after he was one because most she said most babies grow out of these allergies, egg and dairy, all of that. By age one. What happened is I tried again at age one and his face blew up the size of a balloon and he never had breathing problems.

Taylor (11m 31s):
But you know, I, I called 9 1 1, I talked to them, I talked to my pediatrician because she was like, introduce it in the morning so You can get ahold of me. Which I did think that was good advice so that you know, she could walk me through, you know, if he's not having breathing issues you don't have to take him in just monitor. But yeah, I don't think, looking back that was good advice for me to wait and not try again until he was one. And I'm really curious what you would say about that.

Katie Ferraro (12m 2s):
Okay, this is, sorry, it's starting into an allergy counseling session. I'm interested like first your baby's six months old and has a reaction and then it's like wait until you're once, what did you feed your baby between six and one? Did you, because you also mentioned avocado, which is not a typically allergenic food. It's not one of the top nine allergenic foods. It's a very benign food. So can you explain to me about avocado and then also a second question, what other foods did your baby eat? And I can imagine you were really scared to offer your baby anything. 'cause here was breast milk, this safe food that worked great for six months and now all these other foods I'm introducing are causing his face to blow up. Like I, I can just imagine the stress that you were undergoing.

Taylor (12m 40s):
Yes. So avocado tended to be a very, the most minor reaction. So small rashes and I just continued to do everything else. So he loved sweet potato steak, like all the different veggies, mushroom obsessed with mushrooms, olives like he really did like everything but he didn't consume much until eight or nine months.

Katie Ferraro (13m 8s):
Okay. And that for the other moms listening, that's very typical, right? The first You can take babies usually the first eight weeks, even if they're bringing the litter bit to their mouth, they're not actually eating very much. So I really admire you for continuing and pushing through with new foods. 'cause there's a lot of moms in my experience that I work with that are like, this is too much. Like I'm so scared of every food. What was it that gave you the confidence to offer new foods despite the fact you'd already seen, gosh there's some foods that trigger my, these reactions in my baby. How did you have the wherewithal to go on and try new foods when it could have my, maybe had those same reactions?

Taylor (13m 44s):
To be honest, I have a friend who is a naturopathic pediatrician here in in the, in the area and she was the one who I owe this all to who was like, keep going, keep trying. It's about exposure food before one is fun. And because I was very stressed not only about the allergies but about how he wasn't intaking much because everyone around me, their babies were intaking a lot. And that really stressed me out. I was like, why is my baby not eating at six months? By the way, he was always like a hundred percentile. So like he was, it's not that he was you know, having weight problems but still it's very shocking to see all these other six month babies, you know, downing food and yours just kind of tasting and then spitting it up, you know?

Taylor (14m 31s):
So I really owe it to that one piece of really good advice from a good friend because I just kept going and now that's the number one thing I tell people is like, don't think what other babies are doing is what yours should be doing. And like, don't let that deter you from all the other benefits solid foods bring.

Katie Ferraro (14m 54s):
I think it's wonderful that you had an advocate and someone who also was encouraging you to try those new foods because it is very scary and a lot of parents would sometimes just stop. Which you know, if, if You can re so with when it comes to food allergies and as an aside, I do have advanced training in pediatric food allergy. So I feel very comfortable counseling families on this. But if You can recreate the reaction then we certainly would consider food allergy. So if you offer your baby eggs, they're not going to have a reaction the first time. It'll usually be the second or the subsequent one. But then if you offer the third or the fourth time and they do have a reaction, okay, if You can recreate that allergic reaction or that allergic response then then we start thinking maybe there, there's something going on here.

Katie Ferraro (15m 35s):
What I would be concerned about though is not referring to a pediatric allergist to get confirmed for food allergy. So at any point did you see a pediatric allergist to get to do food allergy testing and get a diagnosis of egg allergy or cows milk protein allergy?

Taylor (15m 52s):
Never. And I never got good, I, I never got a referral in general and I had no idea who to go to. I was just taking my pediatrician's word as word because I just didn't have anyone else to see. I did do a test, a stool test through Tiny Health because I thought for some reason I saw an ad somewhere saying that was going dead.

Katie Ferraro (16m 16s):
Oh yeah because then the internet found out that your child has a food allergy and you saw all sorts of ad and just so you know, it's a lot of gray area there. There's some of schools of thought that are like, don't even bother testing. And then we've, I've had on this show even you know, the nation's leading pediatric allergy specialist and he's like, KATIE, don't forget that 50% of all positive food allergy test results are false, false positives. So if you get a negative food allergy test result, it's like 99.99% sure your kid doesn't have that allergy. But When you get a positive one it's 50% false positive. So again, there's a lot of gray area and you didn't do anything wrong. And you, you're kind of leading back to this, this theme that I see running through our conversation today, which is, you know your baby best, I know you're not a naturopathic pediatrician, dietician, it doesn't matter at the end of the day you do know your baby best.

Katie Ferraro (17m 2s):
And so take us to the point where you decided to feel comfortable reintroducing those foods. And where is your son at today as a three-year-old? Does he eat those foods? Avocado, egg cow's, milk, protein, yes or no?

Taylor (17m 15s):
So it's really funny because I feel like I am one of those success stories about, you know, You can have a really hard, difficult start and this is why I keep telling moms to like push through because my son, it's like the running joke of all of our friends. He eats the most diverse I've ever seen out of any toddler and he eats more than I've ever seen. And to think back to that mom that was so stressed about her baby not eating anything and having all of these horrible scary reactions to think, to think back just makes me, it makes me so sad that I spent so long stressed about it and it makes me wish I got better advice.

Taylor (17m 59s):
But also I'm, I am loving where we're at now and he eats probably more diverse palate than me.

Katie Ferraro (18m 8s):
That's amazing. How about you Natasha? How about not navigating having, you know, your experience in breastfeeding education, you are a lactation counselor When you go to introduce solid foods, you have two children, age two and age four now do you have fears about starting solid foods? Is it something that you're just like, I love, I love, love, love that Taylor described herself as type B because I would say the vast majority, I'm a dietician. My community is like we're all type A and a lot of the parents that, I'm sorry listen to a podcast about baby led weaning are pretty type A, are you type, are you the type A foil to Taylor or what's your school of thought about starting solid foods?

Natasha (18m 48s):
I am the type A, like I had postpartum anxiety with my first. And I would say that that probably continued on until I had my second and introducing solids. The scariest and hardest part for me was, you know, I wanted to make the right choice and everything that I saw and read about was, was saying that baby led weaning is the right choice to start with. So I felt like I felt inspired to make that happen. And also I was so scared about choking and my son D compared to my daughter and compared to Taylor's son took to solids really well.

Natasha (19m 32s):
He was actually one of those babies that would chow down on food at six months.

Katie Ferraro (19m 37s):
Is that your first baby or your second baby?

Natasha (19m 39s):
My first baby.

Katie Ferraro (19m 41s):
Okay.

Natasha (19m 42s):
But he would stuff so much food in his mouth and then he would stuff it in his cheeks and I just didn't, I just wasn't educated on the difference between gagging and choking. And it was so stressful to me that I ended up just wanting to puree his food or, or give him flaked, you know, flaked food. And I did let him self feed but it was so stressful for me because I just wasn't educated on that. And then with my second, she didn't really want solid food in in the first, like you said, eight weeks probably when we started. And so that was just a much less stressful experience because she, yeah, I'd give her a piece of steak and I followed, you know, the protocols start with iron foods and we did that and she would suck on a piece of steak just like, you know, it was like those examples that you see online, right?

Natasha (20m 37s):
The baby takes the piece of steak and sucks on it and then she's like, and that's, that's it. And my son would try to yank off pieces and chew it and keep it in his cheeks and I, it was very stressful. So the second time was a lot less stressful for me in that sense. I don't know if I answered your question.

Katie Ferraro (20m 54s):
You did. And it's funny how going into your second child was different. So back to Taylor, you said something earlier that really resonated with me. It's like the, you were so excited for the first baby to start Solid Foods and then it's such a different world When you have more than one kid. And the thing that seemed so exciting the second time around is like ugh, this is just more, one more thing I have to do. And you guys know my story, which is like a lot of kids in a small period of time and my quadruplets were one and a half when my twins started solid. Well my twins were born so they were two when my twins were starting Solid Foods. I literally was teaching baby led weaning full time. I already had my whole a hundred First Foods program.

Katie Ferraro (21m 36s):
It was, I was, I should have been so excited for my twins to start Solid Foods. And I remember they turned six months adjusted age when we were on a road trip to Florida. 'cause my husband's psycho, we drove from San Diego to Florida and I remember being like, I should be so excited that they're sitting up in six months adjusted age and I just like don't want one more thing in my day to do, which is to have to start my own program with them.

Taylor (21m 58s):
Totally.

Katie Ferraro (21m 59s):
And I, I mean you do it because they're literally ripping the food off of your plate and like, oh I guess they're ready to eat. 'cause you know, your baby kind of shows you when they're ready to eat. So you mentioned that your daughter wasn't sitting up at the same time when your son was. So talk about that 'cause that's like one way that your daughter's showing you she's not even ready to start solid foods.

Taylor (22m 20s):
Yeah, my son just was a lot heftier and a lot more sturdy and I, I don't know, I just found myself, I would put her in the chair to just get her like, okay, I want to see, you know, how she sits and she would just kind of slump in her, her head would just kind of slump and I just felt in, I feel like the second time you have a kid and I'm sure it gets more as you know, more and more like this, you just realize how different each baby is and how you know what's right. And I just was looking at her and I was like, I don't feel like you are ready today. And then what's interesting is, you know, they changed so much day by day, week by week.

Taylor (23m 1s):
And then I want to say I started solids almost three weeks, maybe two and a half weeks into her being six months. Which was very different from my son who I started the, the minute he turned six months and was so excited.

Katie Ferraro (23m 16s):
And that's an important reminder that not all babies are ready to start solid foods, right at six months. I always felt fortunate 'cause with multiples they're premature. So you get the adjusted age, you get those extra weeks. Like my quads were born at 34 weeks. So I was like, when they turn six months and all, everyone's like shouting in your face like, oh my gosh, they need just start solid foods. I was like, and no they don't. I have an extra six weeks till their six month adjusted age. So for the moms of premature babies, remember we start at the six month adjusted age plus when your baby is showing you those signs of readiness. So a lot of babies aren't gonna be ready to sit on their own until they're six months plus one week or six months plus two weeks, even six months plus three weeks. It's very unusual to go past the seven month mark and not be sitting independently or seven month adjusted.

Katie Ferraro (23m 60s):
But again, you know you baby best and so they, they do change and one day they're, they're sitting up with really good head control and reaching for food on your plate and you're like, okay, you know, that's them showing you that they're ready to start solid foods and then it's on us, which is the hard part, you know, to be the one to actually prepare those foods. So Taylor, talk about the types of foods that you started with for your daughter. So your second time around now you're feeding yourself as a breastfeeding mom, you're feeding your toddler son. What foods did you start with When you were doing baby led weaning with your daughter when she was about six and a half months old and now sitting on her own?

Taylor (24m 41s):
So both kids, I start with a great ribeye steak and that's because my husband and I eat ribeye like three times a week. We probably eat too much ribeye, but I just gave her a big strip of it and my husband and I were like, whoa. She was like starving. She, she sucks the whole thing gray and we have to give her like three different strips. She's obsessed with it. So that's just always a easy first food for me. I love it. I love seeing the reaction and I think so easy for them to suck the juices out of it. Plus I know it's iron rich, so I loved that.

Taylor (25m 24s):
Everything else feels the litter harder for me. I have to look up, okay, how do I make spinach? The other day I, you know, thought I was so confident and I was like, I have carrots. I I'm gonna make carrots. And then I was like, wait, maybe I wasn't supposed to steam them. I was supposed to cook them, but how much am I supposed to cook them? And if they're steamed, she's gonna chomp off the litter bit. Wait, what am I supposed to do? Okay, now I'm just gonna mash it. I, I literally find myself going back into this, wait, what am I supposed to do? And second guess myself a lot. So it's interesting because I'm so confident about certain foods with baby led weaning and then other foods I find myself tripping up the litter bit and wondering what exact way am I supposed to cook this?

Taylor (26m 8s):
And what does cooked mean? Is it supposed to be really firm or really steamed? It's just I it's gets the litter bit overwhelming.

KiwiCo (26m 16s):
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Katie Ferraro (28m 1s):
So you both spend your professional lives helping women prepare for birth and feeding their babies and I'm just curious if you think that we prepare parents nearly as well for starting solid foods as we do for childbirth or breastfeeding. And I know Natasha, we just spent like a year learning about breastfeeding together. So this is kind of a biased question, but what are your thoughts there? What's missing?

Natasha (28m 26s):
No, I think we don't like everything in women's health and preparing women for this stage of life. We don't, we just do women a disservice by not having resources available. There's so much noise on social media conflicting advice and you know, stories and changing evidence. And I think we just don't, we don't, we don't prepare women for all of these stages and I know, you know, that's our goal is to help women prepare and kind of hold their hands through the how. And I know that that's your goal too because it, it can be so overwhelming, especially as a first time mom and even the second time because then after you've done it the first time, you, you know, have a certain experience and you carry that with you, like tailor with the allergies and then you have anxieties about that.

Natasha (29m 18s):
And yeah, it's, I found it to be incredibly overwhelming and just much more complicated than I learned the second time that it needed to be. Right. Just 'cause it's all so new and you're learning so much

Katie Ferraro (29m 33s):
And so much of, especially what you see on social media and online, there's so much emphasis on the birth right, which is very, very important And we know that so much of the birthing experience can drive, you know, successful breastfeeding outcomes. But I think that emphasis on what is essentially a couple of hours and then it's like, oh now you're done. It's like wait, no now the hard work starts, right? And so I know for me, as you know, I've been teaching baby led weaning for 10 years and only in the last year did I go through all the I-B-C-L-C training and really, really trying to replicate in our baby led weaning training. 'cause we have this whole certification program now for dieticians like modeling the lactation education model, which is, we know like that women who have prenatal breastfeeding education have better breastfeeding outcomes that that anticipatory guidance there, right?

Katie Ferraro (30m 24s):
If you have an ally, like someone you know You can call who's trained in this and they've told you without freaking you out, here's what You can expect and here's some things that might go wrong and here's how You can prepare ahead of time and when things go wrong, I'm here to help you. Or here's what You can do that's so important to help you get over that hump. Like just like Taylor was saying, when her child experienced all those food allergies, she had someone she could turn to that gave her the confidence to keep going on and trying new foods. If we can put that model in starting solid foods. 'cause we have so many moms that show up when the baby's six months, they put the avocado on the tray, the baby puts their hand on it, smashes it around and they're like, yeah, it doesn't work, baby led wing doesn't work. I'm like, well first of all, if you knew maybe your baby wasn't entirely ready if you put it directly on the tray, the child doesn't have the pinch or grasp yet.

Katie Ferraro (31m 10s):
So if you, you know, if you'd set them up for success, if you'd realized that we need eight solid weeks of just trialing individual foods before the baby's even really gonna be successful. Like if you had these ideas in your head, someone had told you that anticipatory guidance, you would've stuck it out. So I do see a lot of similarities between breastfeeding and starting solid foods, but I do think so much of the emphasis is on the birth and it's like that's important. We gotta get the baby into the world. But the feeding the baby stuff is like, it's so overwhelming to moms or they'll be like, it hit me like a Mack truck. I had no idea that it was coming.

Taylor (31m 45s):
I have a thought about this that I was thinking when I saw your question in the outline. It just got me thinking about how, to me birth breastfeeding and feeding your baby in general are some of the most primal and human things that a human could experience, right? And we no longer have this generational wisdom that's living with us, this village, these friends that are, you know, I've never seen another baby or another mom go through starting solids. I've never seen them at home in their isolated house doing the step-by-step, figuring it out. So like we're all doing this at home, postpartum, figuring it out, Googling trying it, it just feels like we've lost all of this knowledge and we're trying to unlock it and regain it.

Taylor (32m 34s):
And it just brings so many similarities to me of How I feel about the stuff that we educate women in is it feels like we've lost this universal knowledge of how to do things and I feel that way about feeding babies. It really makes me feel like, well what were people doing back then? Like they weren't going and buying a pouch at Target. Like why is that what we, anyway, I'm spiraling, but it just makes me think of that

Natasha (32m 58s):
We know through our breastfeeding education, right, that front loading breastfeeding support in the first eight to 10 weeks creates much higher rates of breastfeeding success long term. And so I would think similar to breastfeeding, that if you have education on birth, if you have education on postpartum, if you have education on feeding your baby and what that looks like, that you would be more set up for success too. Because to Taylor's point, we are isolated, we don't have a village. And so yeah, going into the first time, not knowing what it looks like and just thinking like, oh here's some food and expecting them to put it in their mouths and then that's how it goes.

Natasha (33m 44s):
Like no, that's not realistic

Katie Ferraro (33m 48s):
And that's the audience that needs the most help. It's, I have shifted totally front load, I would say 90% of my content now to the pre feeding period four and five months of age because that's when moms need me the most. And I get a lot of like shade sometimes people like, why don't you share more recipes? Like by the time you're making a fritter out of mushrooms for your baby, no offense, you don't need me. Like You can go get that off of somebody else's account. Like we, When you need help is in the pre feeding period, how to know if your baby's ready, the different exercises You can do to get ready, the anticipatory guidance I can provide so that you're doing this safely and the right way. Like that's actually the most important period where a credentialed expert like myself can help. Like, and I'm not, I'm not, we make, I've over 300 recipes in my program, so I'm not dis dissing recipes, but making the recipes isn't the problem, right?

Katie Ferraro (34m 36s):
Like we all have access to more information than we've ever had in our whole life. It's the support structure. And you're right, it's the lack of the social structure. We don't sit around in communities with great grandmas, grandmas aunts that are all breastfeeding in the open. We were at Disneyland last week and just the amount of moms breastfeeding in public, my kids were like, mom, I bet you're loving this, all these moms breastfeeding. I was like, yeah, this is actually awesome. You know, this is like, to me it's heaven. I think it's fantastic. And I even saw mom at the Padres game last night waiting in line, we're checking out buying hot dogs and she just not, no cover nothing. And my daughter was like, that's so cool. Mom is like, I love that you're seeing that, but it's so few and far between, right?

Katie Ferraro (35m 16s):
To see even, you know, unless you, you have babies around you all the time. We have babies around us all the time for work, but I, I know for a lot of families they've never ever seen somebody breastfeed. They've never seen a baby feed themselves. You know, we we're at restaurants of my dad who's, we live in Poway, hang on, sorry, I do not usually say where I live. I'm gonna start over. We live in San Diego and my dad is such a creeper, like he'll walk up to other moms in restaurants and be like, is that baby led weaning? This is so cool. Like my, my daughter does this and I think it's great, it's like the creepy old grandpa but like congratulating moms on, like their babies feeding themselves and I'm like, dad, like maybe just let them enjoy their restaurant meal. But I do love to see like, you know, a mom breastfeeding in public or a baby feeding themselves in public and I honestly wish there were more of that.

Katie Ferraro (36m 3s):
Exactly. So Natasha, you've watched Taylor go through pregnancy, postpartum, breastfeeding, and now starting solid foods. The two of you are also building Moms Interrupted. What have you noticed about this particular transition for her, your type B friend?

Natasha (36m 18s):
I just aspire to be like her as a type a anxious girly. She, you know, she feeds her, she, she really listens to her intuition and it's inspired me to try to find my intuition because I always say like as an anxious person, like what intuition? I don't have an intuition, I have anxiety. And so just seeing her navigate it is inspiring because she's like, we're having steak tonight so the baby's gonna have steak. And I just think back to myself the first time especially being like, what am I gonna feed my baby today? How am I gonna prepare it? Like stressing about it all day and then like, do I feed them one hour after I breastfeed and 30 minutes?

Natasha (37m 3s):
Is that okay? Like, did I mess up the timing so that now it's all messed up and when do I feed again? Is he hungry? Do I give him solids now or do I breastfeed 'em? And it's just, it's very, what's the word I'm looking for? Just like aspirational to me to see her navigate it in like a like yeah, she's hungry so I breastfed her and we're having steak for dinner and I chopped up this tomato for her because why not? And especially having gone through severe allergies with her first, I'm like, it, it's just cool to watch and it, and it makes me feel less anxious in my own experiences because I'm like, well Taylor's not stressed so I should relax.

Taylor (37m 50s):
I will say though I have not introduced allergens yet.

Katie Ferraro (37m 54s):
Does your baby have severe eczema?

Taylor (37m 57s):
No. None.

Katie Ferraro (37m 58s):
Okay. So just because a family member has food allergies, doesn't put your baby in the high risk category for having food allergies and because your baby does not have severe eczema, also not in the high risk category for peanut allergy. So the only thing You can do as a mom to lower your baby's risk of food allergy is to actually offer those allergenic foods. So it's the best thing You can do is to offer those foods. So I'm gonna send you an email with my program login as soon as we're done. And you're gonna do one new allergenic food a week and in the next nine weeks you're gonna knock 'em all out so you'll know your baby's not allergic and it will give you that peace of mind that you know you did everything You can to lower your baby's risk of food allergy.

Katie Ferraro (38m 40s):
And you don't need fancy supplement programs. You don't need all the garbage that every single targeted ad is selling you because they know your first baby had food allergies. We use food to help prevent food allergies and you know how to make real food for your baby. So You can do this.

Taylor (38m 56s):
I love it. I'm inspired already.

Katie Ferraro (38m 58s):
Okay, I have one final question for Taylor. For the moms listening who maybe have already done solid foods with one baby and are feeling like you like ugh, this is one more thing I have to do with the second baby. Or they're about to start solid foods with their first baby and they're fearful, what would you say to a mom whose baby's coming up? Like just starting to sit up on their own and they're feeling overwhelmed and inundated by all the stuff they see. Everyone else's babies already started solid foods and I wanna do baby led weaning, but I don't know what it's like that, that feeling of overwhelm you get When you open your phone and you know your baby's entering like a new phase. How would you suggest that moms handle that as they move into the next phase of starting solid foods?

Taylor (39m 41s):
I would say turn off the social media and tune out other people and other babies and turn on your intuition. Look at your own baby and you'll feel a lot more peace.

Katie Ferraro (39m 57s):
Awesome. Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here. You guys are amazing. Great to chat with

Taylor (40m 1s):
You. So are you. Thank you. Thanks for everything and everything that you do for moms. Really awesome.

Katie Ferraro (40m 7s):
Well I hope you enjoyed hearing from Natasha and Taylor. They are the moms from Moms Interrupted. I really admire them. They're doing a lot. They, Natasha, she edits her podcast by herself. She does all the clipping of the Instagram videos. Like, I'm like, I think it's so wonderful to have those skills, but that's a lot of work to do on your own. So please go give them a Follow on Instagram at Moms Interrupted. Their podcast is Moms Interrupted. They have, I really like their approach. They're very conversational. Taylor is legit just like breastfeeding on the couch all the time, which I think is amazing. If you're that good at breastfeeding and I really loved what Taylor was sharing about, you know, just standing in front of the fridge and looking at the carrots and being like, Ugh, what do I even do here?

Katie Ferraro (40m 49s):
Like how, how do I not know how to cook? Carrots, okay, we're all dealing with a lot and I always think that, you know, moms like Taylor, this is exactly who I created my baby led weaning program for. Like, I went and made the exact program I wished I'd had when I was starting Solid Foods with my quadruplet babies. So if you're also looking at a fridge full of food, you're, you're lucky if your fridge is full of food. Mine's generally empty. I go to the store and buy the food and cook it all. Check out the baby led Weaning with Katie Ferraro program. I've got my a hundred First Foods Daily Meal Plan in there. It's 20 weeks of done for you menus you guys, so you don't even have to figure out which food to feed your baby. Next You can get $50 off the program When you use the code that I put in the description.

Katie Ferraro (41m 31s):
Wherever you're listening to or watching this, head to baby led weaning dot co slash program. The show notes for this episode that links to all of Natasha and Taylor's social media stuff from Moms Interrupted. That's gonna be@bwpodcast.com/140. And a special thank you to our partners at Airwave Media. If you guys like podcast that feature, food and science and using your brain, check out some of the podcasts from AirWave. We're online@blwpodcast.com. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you next time

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