Meg Mason (1s):

Knowing that she can grow out of it and that we can try reintroducing that I talked to the allergist about it and what age, and he said, you know, you can start now in six months, you can start reintroducing. See how it goes. If you see a reaction to kind of pull back.

Katie Ferraro (16s):

Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, Registered Dietitian, college nutrition professor, and mama 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. You guys. Welcome back to another episode of the baby led weaning made easy podcast today. I'm interviewing a mom named mag. Her name is Megan Mason. She's outside of Chicago. She's a first time mom with a daughter Camila who's had a wide variety of food allergies, some intolerance stuff happening, but Meg has just recently completed a milk or a dairy ladder.

Katie Ferraro (1m 7s):

Now some of you guys might be familiar with a milk ladder or a dairy ladder, but basically her daughter is intolerant to dairy products. So starting at seven weeks of age, she's going to tell us her story, but she had to start cutting dairy and soy out of her breast milk because it was causing gut problems and stool problems for her baby. At seven weeks of age. Now the baby in the meantime, developed some other food allergies, there's food allergy in the family. But apart from that, she was never actually diagnosed with a milk allergy. So she had cow's milk protein intolerance. And so Meg did some research and she started looking into this idea of using a dairy ladder or a milk ladder to slowly re-introduce milk foods into meal as diet. And then mom, who's still breastfeeding stays one step behind and she's start to slowly reintroduce those foods as well, kind of in an attempt to keep her breast milk clean.

Katie Ferraro (1m 55s):

So Meg, again, she's a mom located outside of Chicago. She's self-educated, but I love having the stories of real life parents who are going through some of the same stuff that you guys might be. And I hear from my audience all the time that many of you are advised to remove or stay away from dairy and soy so that it doesn't go through your breast milk and possibly be problematic for your baby. But sometimes parents think, well, gosh, this is a lifelong thing. My baby's never going to be able to eat dairy foods. And so in Meg's case, because her daughter did not have a severe milk allergy instead she had an intolerance, she was cleared to start this milk ladder to then be re-introducing foods. So she's going to tell you guys her story. I do just want to say at the outset here, though, the milk ladder can only be used by infants and children who have a mild to moderate cow's milk allergy.

Katie Ferraro (2m 44s):

This is what we call a non IgE mediated milk allergy. This is not suitable for babies who have a milk allergy that results in severe or immediate type allergic reaction. So it's not for those that have an IgE mediated milk allergy and Meg will. She did the same thing, but it's recommended. You need to talk to your own pediatrician who may in turn refer you to an allergist. You may be working with a pediatric dietician to help you through this. Meg mentioned that it was actually her lactation consultant who advised her to talk to her pediatrician because what she was seeing in the stool, even as early as seven weeks of age was concerning. So I'm going to let Meg tell her story about the milk ladder, all of the resources that she's going to mention in the interview.

Katie Ferraro (3m 27s):

I will link up for you in the show notes for this episode. So if you go to B L w podcast.com/ 34, that's where you can find the resources that Meg's going to mention. The milk ladder that she used. It's a, a British one. A lot of families use that. There's some recipes in it. Cause at the beginning of the milk ladder, you start with baked foods that have the dairy product baked into it, which is easier to tolerate it. The recipes that were included had added sugar. And so Meg is doing baby led weaning. She'd taken a number of my courses and workshops and she's like, wait a minute. I, I want my baby to have milk, but I, in these baked goods, but I I'd prefer if it didn't have added sugar. So Meg is actually made a free download for you guys that has recipes you can use for baby led weaning.

Katie Ferraro (4m 11s):

If you're doing the dairy ladder again, under the guidance of your pediatrician, knowing that it's safe to start re-introducing these foods, she made some recipes that don't have added sugar, and I'll be linking to that at the show notes again, that's B L w podcast.com/ 34. So with no further ado, here's Meg Mason, mom of Camila talking about how she used a milk ladder to reintroduce dairy foods for her daughter. All right. Well Megan, thank you so much for being here today. I am really excited to hear how things are going. Cause I touched base with you awhile ago when you were in the process of the milk ladder and now you guys are done. Is that correct?

Meg Mason (4m 51s):

Yes, that is. And hi, thank you for having me

Katie Ferraro (4m 53s):

And you guys Meg's daughter Camille, but she also calls her Mila. So do you want me to call her Mila or Camila? What do you prefer?

Meg Mason (4m 59s):

You can just do Mila it's easier. Okay. So

Katie Ferraro (5m 2s):

Mila is almost one, but Mila now has a number of diagnosed food allergies, which Meg will tell us about later. So she's almost 12 months of age, almost one, but Meg, I was wondering, can you take us back to right after your daughter was born? What was your first indication in those first few weeks of life that she might be having some issues with either allergies or digestion? Take us back

Meg Mason (5m 28s):

There. Yeah. So when she was first born, I mean, she was pretty fussy as a newborn baby and you never know what's going on with that. And kind of the weeks went on. We noticed she still, she was just very fussy. She didn't sleep well, crying a lot wanting to be held. And then it started, we've noticed some changes in our bowel movements, right around seven weeks old. She was exclusively breastfed when they turned from like the yellow stool that most breastfed babies to like a green, a really bright green. And then the next day it changed to mucusy green. And the following day there was blood in the stool. I mean saw blood and mucus in the stool.

Meg Mason (6m 9s):

I would say like three different times. And I sent photos of that to our pediatrician. And we talked to a GI specialist and some other doctors to see what was going on between them. And also from I talked to a lactation consultant and all three of those, the GI doctor, the pediatrician and the lactation consultant at that time, all advise that we kind of, I cut out dairy and soy from my diet, so that to see if it would make a change in Camilla while she was nursing in her stool and her demeanor at the time.

Katie Ferraro (6m 44s):

And so did that suggestion from your medical team, which was to cut out dairy and cut out soy from your diet. So essentially that you weren't, I hate to use the word contaminating, but tainting your breast milk with those proteins that might be potentially problematic. Did that help alleviate those symptoms of blood and mucus?

Meg Mason (7m 2s):

It did. It took quite a while. They warned me, especially I talk a lot with the lactation consultant. We were in touch quite often and she warned me. It can be a slow process. Like sometimes it would be like a weekend. I wouldn't see much change or after the first few weeks I saw blood in the stool again. And I was like, what's going on here? And she, you know, just stick with it, you've got to stick with it. So I did and they say it can take like eight weeks for it to be completely not just out of my system, but out of my system to go through her. And then also to kind of clear out of her gut and to kind of for her gut to heal. So I would say around eight to 10 weeks of me not eating anything with any form of dairy or soy, we finally started to see that improvement.

Meg Mason (7m 46s):

And she was such a happier baby. She wasn't crying as much. Her stools looked back to the normal yellow breastfed babies stool. So yeah, it definitely made a difference.

Katie Ferraro (7m 59s):

So seven weeks you see blood and mucus in the stool, you try all the dairy and soy removal. The next few weeks are a little Rocky. It takes about eight weeks. You say so then it sounds like you're kind of smooth sailing up until about the six month mark. And so people who listened to this podcast are generally aware, but it's at around six months of age when we start solid foods for babies, take us back there. What, how were you feeling at the six month mark? Like, were you dreading having to start solid foods for you excited about it? What was it like when Mila was six months of age?

Meg Mason (8m 29s):

I think a little bit of both. I was definitely excited, you know, to try something new with her, but also dreading just, you know, you're scared of the choking and the gagging and then trying to find foods that would give her, I would say like the health benefits that sometimes she might be lacking if she's not going to have the dairy and nervous about trying any type of food allergy and just, I think just like all moms, you know, a little bit of excitement, a little bit of nervous and I took your class. I can't remember the name. Do you remember the name of the one feeding baby is of course you are. Yes. Yes. That's it. The self feeding baby course and, oh my gosh, that definitely helped so much because that kind of go went through everything between, you know, the what to do for gagging and choking and foods and how to serve them.

Meg Mason (9m 13s):

And it just helped me feel much more prepared for introducing solids to her in general, at six months,

Katie Ferraro (9m 19s):

I should add that Mila is Meg's first child. So she's a new mom going through all of this. And I wanted to ask, did you have any diagnosis of food allergy or any testing done prior to six months of age? Or were you just working off like the suspicion there's something going on with dairy and soy and that's why I'm avoiding

Meg Mason (9m 35s):

It. We had not had any testing done at that point and I did want to have testing done before we introduce other allergenic foods because I was nervous. My husband also is allergic to nuts, so I really pushed for some testing on different types of nuts. And then also just I wanted all the allergens, but that wasn't necessary. I found out.

Katie Ferraro (10m 0s):

Okay. And did you do that before? Like, did you have the testing for nuts, for example, cause your husband is allergic, so it's not inevitable that your baby would have nut allergy. However, there's a higher risk if the first degree relative like the dad has it, did you do that testing before you trialed those foods or food first and then testing later?

Meg Mason (10m 16s):

I did. I wanted to, so I contacted her pediatrician about the nut allergies and she recommended that we see an allergist before feeding those foods. If it was something that I was worried about now, they said, you know, it's not really super common if it's just a parent, like you're the dad that has this nut allergy to be passed on to a sibling, but it would be more common. You know, she had those other symptoms like eczema, or she had a sibling who had that allergy, but I still felt more comfortable speaking to an allergist first. So we set up an appointment with the allergist and we met with him and I kind of talked about, you know, the dairy, the soy, my concern with nuts. At the time we had introduced egg and I noticed her stool was a little runny there.

Meg Mason (11m 2s):

So I talked to them about that. So I did do some of the allergens before meeting with an allergist or having any testing done. I think egg was the only one that I actually introduced me for that. No, I had done wheat also. So we have been egg and wheat, but the ones that I was extra nervous about because of our personal reasons I didn't serve until I had the testing done.

Katie Ferraro (11m 24s):

You talk a little bit about the testing. What did you do? A blood test? Did you do skin scratch testing?

Meg Mason (11m 30s):

Yeah, we did. The skin scratch testing is what the allergist said.

Katie Ferraro (11m 34s):

And you mentioned, you had asked a lot of parents do this. They ask like, well, I'm here, I'm here at the allergist. Like just give me every single test. And the allergist generally tend to say no. And they're pretty specific about which ones there'll be testing for. Did they give you that feedback? Like you don't need all these allergens to be tested just a few.

Meg Mason (11m 50s):

Yes. He kind of lasted and pretty much I think every single, like you said, single new parent that is worried about that asks for all the, all the allergens to be tested. And he kind of went in to an explanation as to why that's not a great idea because when you're testing like the skin test, especially on babies, so young, they say there are so many false positives that it could be holding you back from feeding a food where that baby isn't even allergic to it in the first place. So we decided with his guidance, he suggested just doing the eggs since we had seen like their running stool, all types of nuts. And then he actually didn't do a skin test for dairy or soy after seeing the photo of her stool and hearing kind of the breast milk and how that changed it.

Meg Mason (12m 39s):

He explained the difference between a dairy or soy allergy versus cow's milk protein intolerance. So what Mila had shown symptoms of at that time was being intolerance, which if she were to eat that typically the reaction isn't going to be like an actual allergy reaction.

Katie Ferraro (12m 59s):

And that's an important differentiation because a lot of parents unfortunately will hear or use the terms intolerance and allergy interchangeably. And they're very remarkably different things. Right. And in tolerance, think about like if you had lactose intolerance and you drink milk, it there's, there's gas and bloating, it's discomfort, but you're not going to die from it. If you are truly allergic to the protein in milk and you had an anaphylactic reaction, that's potentially fatal. So I think sometimes parents say, well, my baby is allergic to milk and I always write back, okay, do you have a, a true diagnosis? Not that I don't believe you, but in many cases, what they're describing is intolerance over allergy. So we're going to talk mostly in this episode about the dairy ladder, but before we do that, could you just give me a real brief now, like that meal is almost one, just tell us exactly which foods sheet has been diagnosed as being allergic to, and then we'll get into the dairy.

Meg Mason (13m 47s):

Yeah. So the skin test showed that she was allergic to peanuts, cashews and pistachios. And then we also fed her quinoa flakes and we noticed she had a reaction around her mouth. So strangely enough, she's also allergic to quinoa. Now we haven't gone into the allergist because that happened while we were here quarantined at home. So we haven't been in to test the quinoa. So we're not sure if it's more of like a skin reaction or like an actual allergy, but he said to hold off on that until we can get tested. So those are the things that as of right now are allergies

Katie Ferraro (14m 24s):

At the time of recording. It's the middle of COVID-19 everyone's in coronavirus, quarantine. And we actually did a live interview together too. I think it was the day that you had tried quinoa so that's an unusual food. It's not a big eight allergenic food, meaning one of the eight foods that causes 90% of food allergy, but it is a high protein food. There's the potential to be allergic to it. And so the guidance right now is if you suspect an allergy, hold off on eating that or feeding that food until you can go in and be tested. So let's go ahead and talk a little bit about the dairy ladder. Can you just tell us how you got turned onto this idea a little bit about how it works and then what your experience has been using the dairy ladder for the reintroduction of milk foods, because Mila has an intolerance as opposed to a severe milk protein allergy,

Meg Mason (15m 9s):

Right? So I joined a group of other moms who breastfeed and also their children have the cows milk protein intolerance. So they have a ton of suggestions on how to reintroduce dairy. And I should say the pediatrician and the allergist, the allergist especially was, how should I say very what's the word I'm looking for? He was very sure that she would grow out of this cow's milk, protein intolerance. So he said, babies who have the intolerance, it's not an allergy. You know, she could grow out of it. Typically they grow out of it before the age of one, but it can take longer for other babies.

Meg Mason (15m 49s):

So knowing that she can grow out of it and that we can try reintroducing it. I talked to the allergist about it and what age? And he said, you know, you can start now at six months, you can start, re-introducing see how it goes. If you see a reaction to kind of pull back. So we talked about that. We talked about how to do it and how to build it up. There are so many different dairy ladders out there. A lot of them are similar and that would be because you're kind of building up the protein as you go through the ladder. So you want to start off with the smallest amount of protein to, for the baby to ingest and then kind of work your way up the ladder. I went with the UK, it's the Royal Berkshire ladder.

Katie Ferraro (16m 33s):

Go ahead and link to that in the show notes for this episode, for parents that want to check out, that's also the milk ladder that most of the parents that I work with have used, and that a lot of pediatric dieticians recommend. If you want to find the link to that, go to the show notes for this episode, which will be B L w podcast.com/ 34. So you're using the British one. Did your GI doc or pediatric dietician, did they recommend that one or was it kind of like, you just stumbled upon this because of the group of moms, of food allergy children that you were talking with?

Meg Mason (17m 4s):

It was, I kind of just did my own research with that. They weren't really, they didn't like hand me anything and said like, here you should, you know, follow this ladder, this one I asked about it. They just kind of said, you know, you want to try a little bit at first and work your way up, but I wanted something more specific to follow. And this one seemed to have good research and, you know, kind of go over the exact amount of each food to work your way up. So I, I found that I liked this one personally, to

Katie Ferraro (17m 31s):

Work with for the most part, fairly similar you start with, well, why don't you tell us what you started with on step one for the re-introduction of dairy?

Meg Mason (17m 38s):

Yeah. So step one, step one is a cookie or biscuit. They call it and it has like milk powder

Katie Ferraro (17m 46s):

Recipes, this particular ladder that we're going to link to. And she's talking about, I love this one because at the end it has, well, it's so funny cause it's so British. It's in like ounces and grabs it's like America is like, I don't know how to do this, but there is a conversion there with the cups, et cetera. And it tells you how to make these little biscuits that starting at six months of age is safe for your baby to eat. If you're doing baby led weaning, or even if you're doing traditional spoonfeeding, I think parents wait a little bit longer, but you actually baked this, is that correct? Just for step one.

Meg Mason (18m 12s):

Yeah, we actually, so step one, I actually, I skipped step one if I'm being honest here. So we just, I did some other research and some other ladders and none of them use like just the milk powder. And I felt like her reaction while nursing, like she didn't have hives or any of those things. So I felt like I could start off with the muffins, which is still just baked in dairy very, very low on the ladder. So we started with those instead of the milk powder

Katie Ferraro (18m 40s):

And the notion there is that when you start at the bottom of the ladder, you're starting with foods that have milk ingredients baked in them. It's usually smaller amounts, easier to tolerate. And then you're working your way up to more challenging dairy foods. Is that how you would describe it?

Meg Mason (18m 56s):

Yeah. Yeah. So the first steps, it's the milk baked in. So like it's, you know, it's not, the protein is kind of, I don't know, dissolved a little bit and it's mixed in with all these other ingredients and the muffins, and then you were working your way up and you, you know, you start with that baked in and then you go to a pancake which isn't baked in at that same temperature. So the pancake is on top, you know, it's heated. So it's still kind of diluted. And then you move on to actually like cheese, which is obviously a different form of that milk, protein and different form of dairy and so cheese. Then you go up to yogurt and then you go on to soft cheeses and it goes all the way up until you get to just straight cows milk.

Katie Ferraro (19m 38s):

You don't introduce straight cow's milk as a fluid beverage in place of breast milk or formula until the baby is one. And a lot of parents hear that recommendation, but they don't realize it's perfectly safe for your baby. You actually, especially if you don't have cow's milk protein allergy, you do want to be introducing the protein from cows milk to help prevent food allergy down the road early and often with babies who don't have milk allergy, but you just don't substitute fluid cows milk in place of breast milk or formula until one. Now, Meg, could you talk a little bit about how, how you are one rung behind the baby? Cause you're still breastfeeding at this point, is that correct?

Meg Mason (20m 14s):

Yes. Yeah. So they recommend that you stay one step down below the baby on the ladder, because if she were to show a reaction, like let's say can be lose on step three, which is a pancake. And she reacts, you know, I noticed her stools runny and she's just maybe there's blood and mucus there. Maybe she has a rash. Then if I were already on that same step with her, then she couldn't drink my breasts mouth. So I wouldn't be able to nurse right now. I could always give her, you know, milk if I have some stored up, but she couldn't nurse on me right now because I'm on that same step and she's not her. Body's not tolerating it. Then that wouldn't be ideal. So that ideally you want to say, if you're still breastfeeding, you want to say one step behind the baby.

Meg Mason (20m 59s):

You want to say at the step that they've already passed so that you know that your milk is basically safe for them to ingest at that time.

Katie Ferraro (21m 6s):

So then how long did the whole process take and where are you with the milk ladder now?

Meg Mason (21m 12s):

So it took, I mean, it took a few months for us to work our way all the way up at the time when I started it, it was suggested that you do three days on that step and then three days off of that step to watch for your reactions. So basically a whole week on each step. And now I've read that it's kind of suggested even longer that you do a whole week of the baby eating that food and then three days off. So basically 10 whole days of watching that baby's reaction. Like I said, we did three days on three days off. We didn't notice any type of reaction until we got to basically the very top of the ladder that we could be at. We have not giving her cows milk just as a liquid yet, because she's not one, but at the top right below, that is softer cheeses.

Meg Mason (22m 0s):

So she's had ricotta and then below that is yogurt. She's had yogurt and we noticed kind of those, if she eats a lot of those dairy products that have more of the protein in them, if she eats it often a lot, we noticed she gets a little constipated, a little fussier possibly. I don't know. It's hard to tell when a baby's fussy. So we feel like we've passed the ladder, but we just don't give her those foods in like an excessive amount.

Katie Ferraro (22m 29s):

I remember when we first were chatting, I think you hadn't had cheese in like nine months. So I was curious, how are you doing? Have you been able to reintroduce those foods and are you still breastfeeding and is your goal to continue breastfeeding past one?

Meg Mason (22m 44s):

Yeah. So I wish I could say that I've had cheese. I still have not.

Katie Ferraro (22m 49s):

Is that because of the ladder or?

Meg Mason (22m 52s):

Well, they recommend if you've stopped dairy for that long to kind of start the ladder yourself will also cause I had to start below her, I guess. So I noticed my very first step was a muffin and I thought, oh, I'm going to make, you know, any type of muffin with dairy baked in. So I made a muffin that had sour cream baked them, which is the high up on the ladder. I didn't realize it needed to be just milk at that time. So that made me sick. So then I, you know, took a week off and I made the actual recipe of the muffin in, I also got sick. So I have not even been able to pass the first step of the ladder, which yeah, I,

Katie Ferraro (23m 34s):

And when you say sick, you mean like you're kind of describing, you don't have to get graphic, but like intolerance, you're not having like you're not having signs of anaphylaxis or allergic reactions. You're having gut stuff.

Meg Mason (23m 44s):

Yes, yes. Up all night. It was so many gut. Just the weirdest. Yeah. Just stomach problems. A lot of that, like my skin started to break out, which is say, can happen with theory if you're intolerant. So that has been quite the challenge. And we, they say, if you, cause at that point, I think the last time that I tried, I had been, I hadn't had any form of dairy in 10 months. So now it's been almost 11 months. But

Katie Ferraro (24m 10s):

To that, like prior to having Nila, did you have any trouble with lactose intolerance?

Meg Mason (24m 14s):

No, not that I'm. I mean, I, pizza is like my favorite food in the world, ice cream, I eat all the time. So yes, I used to.

Katie Ferraro (24m 24s):

Cause if you think about like lactase, the enzyme that our bodies need to break down, lactose the milk sugar, like a lot of things in your body, if you don't use it, you'll lose it. And so as adults, we're not as prone to drinking, let's say like a cup of cow's milk on an empty stomach for a lot of you guys. If you go do that, like your body doesn't make as much lactase if it doesn't need it. And so sometimes we get older, like you took a year off basically of giving your body that milk sugar, and now your, your stomach and your digestive tract doesn't make as much. lactase, it's kind of, it's funny that it's not funny, but your daughter now is able to tolerate the foods. And because of this now you're not.

Meg Mason (24m 58s):

Not. I know. And that's what they say that usually like for the adult, if that happens, it's a lactose intolerance versus it's not the actual protein of the cows milk that I'm probably intolerant to. It's more of the lactose. So they say you can take, you know, last date and stuff like that to try and help. But right now I just, I kinda, I, I just stopped because it was so painful. So I don't know what I'm going to do if I'm ever going to eat dairy again. I hope but yeah. So that's where I am. I am still nursing and I will probably continue that with, you know, I would like to do it only once or twice a day. Right now we're doing it about four or five times a day nursing sessions.

Meg Mason (25m 40s):

But hopefully after the age of one, she can get some other liquids too.

Katie Ferraro (25m 44s):

So in conclusion here, if there's parents out there who are listening, who suspect that their child has intolerance. And again, I just want to clarify here that the use of the dairy ladder that Meg is talking about is only for infants and children who have a mild to moderate cow's milk allergy. So this is what we call a non IgE mediated milk allergy. It's not okay to use if your child or baby has a milk allergy. That is the severe or the immediate type of reaction. The one that's called the IgE mediated milk allergy. So in Meg's case, it was, it was intolerance. It was not true. Cow's milk allergy. She was able to reintroduce it. All the symptoms she's describing are certainly those of lactose intolerance for other parents in the same boat.

Katie Ferraro (26m 27s):

What would you recommend if they suspect either cow's milk intolerance or allergy in their baby?

Meg Mason (26m 33s):

Yeah. If you suspect that, I would definitely recommend talking to your pediatrician first about what you're seeing, what is making you think that they might have that, and then they might send you to another specialist. Like I said, we saw a GI specialist cause I wanted to get some other opinions also, but yeah, I would just talk to your pediatrician first and kind of go from there.

Katie Ferraro (26m 54s):

Can you talk briefly about the other people on the team, like with the allergist, did you have to advocate for that or does your pediatrician recommended, you mentioned a lactation consultant. Did you ever work with a pediatric dietician who's involved in helping you kind of navigate through this period of meal? His

Meg Mason (27m 9s):

Life? Yeah, so I started off at the pediatrician talking to her and then I also, I had been in contact with the lactation consultant off and on this whole, I mean for the past year. So I felt comfortable reaching out to her. We talked through email, so I kind of wanted to get both of their opinions on what was going on because I had also read that you could have some breastfeeding issues if you're seeing green stool. After that, the, my pediatrician was the one who recommended. We see a GI specialist because of the blood in the stool just to be safe. So we went there and then the allergist, I did have to kind of advocate to see one of those when I was ready to start Mila on actual foods around six months.

Meg Mason (27m 50s):

And I just wanted to feel more comfortable doing that. So I advocated and kind of reached out to my pediatrician to see if she could send over a referral for that.

Katie Ferraro (27m 59s):

So when the coronavirus quarantine ends and you're able to go back to see the allergist for routine testing, what's your plan moving forward. Do you want to have her tested for more food allergies for quinoa or are you kind of like, we're just gonna play it by ear? Yeah,

Meg Mason (28m 14s):

The quinoa, I would definitely like to do some type of testing for that or bring in quinoa and kind of serve it in a different form. Like I said, it was quinoa flakes, which I don't know. I, I, I'm just not super convinced that it was a full on allergy and not just a skin reaction for that one. And I do want to have her retested for the three nuts that she's allergic to because like he had told me at first, you know, this could be a positive skin test, but it could be a false positive. So I would like to have her eating those foods eventually. So I would definitely want to get her retested for those.

Katie Ferraro (28m 51s):

I always remember from when I met you, is that your husband has food allergies. I was like, which ones? You're like some sort of nuts. I, he doesn't even really know. So do you think you would get him tested or ask him if he wanted to? We've

Meg Mason (29m 1s):

Actually talked about that because especially with me still not eating dairy now a lot of the like substitutions include almonds. So I would love to know if he's allergic to that and Mila can't eat peanuts right now either. So she eats almond butter all the time. So it would just be nice to know if he's allergic exactly which ones he's allergic to. So I definitely think that we would like to get him tested.

Katie Ferraro (29m 27s):

One of the points of baby led weaning is that we can then be all eating kind of the same foods and the baby can eat modified versions of the same foods. You definitely don't want him to get in a position of having to short order cook for your husband once you figured out how to get your baby to eat so well, thank you so much for sharing your experience with the dairy ladder and with the different food allergies. It's been really informational. And I know you've helped a lot of parents in sharing your stories. So thank you.

Meg Mason (29m 51s):

Yeah, no problem. Happy to help.

Katie Ferraro (29m 53s):

So I hope you guys enjoyed that interview with Meg Mason, all about how to use a dairy ladder to reintroduce foods, with milk for your baby and for you mom, if you're breastfeeding now, Meg has made you guys a download that has recipes for some of the first foods that she used on the lower rungs of the dairy ladder that don't have added sugar. So if you're doing baby led weaning, and you also have the clearance from your pediatrician to do a dairy ladder to start re-introducing dairy foods to your baby, you're going to want to look for foods that don't have added sugars. And some of the recipes out there have, especially in some of the mom groups, even some of the professional resources, they have too much added sugar for babies. So Meg went ahead and made you guys a free download that has recipes.

Katie Ferraro (30m 34s):

You can utilize. If you go to the show notes for this episode, you can find that download as well as the actual ladder she used. Plus a few other resources that might help you if you're in the same spot, that show notes URL it's blwpodcast.com/ 34. Again, BLW podcast.com/three four, and you can get all of Meg's resources. Thanks for listening. Bye now!