Recapping Phase 1 of Baby-Led Weaning: The First 8 Weeks of Solid Foods with New Mom Kelsey Joy Tran

0 (0s):

Okay, I wish this were not true, but as someone who works in front of a computer or a phone all day, I know that of the average 20,000 breaths that Americans take a day, 90% of those and 90% of our time is being spent indoors. And the indoor air that we breathe can be up to a hundred times more polluted than outdoor air according to the EPA. And indoor air pollutants can lead to respiratory symptoms like sneezing, congestion, scratchy throat, or even more serious health problems like lung and heart disease. So what can we do about it? Well, air doctor has thought a lot about this and they've put their technology to work for you. The Air doctor is an air purifier that filters out 99.99% of dangerous contaminants so that your lungs don't have to.

0 (47s):

So this includes allergens, pollen, pet dander, which is a huge problem in my house, as well as dust mites, mold spores, and even bacteria and viruses. Air Doctor comes with a 30 day money backed guarantee. So if you don't love this product, you can just send it back for a refund minus shipping. If you head to air doctor pro.com and you use the promo code weaning, you can get up to $300 off air purifiers. And this is exclusive to podcast listeners. But you will also receive a free three year warranty on any unit, which is an additional $84 value. You can lock up this special offer by going to A-I-R-D-O-C-T-O-R-P-R o.com.

0 (1m 30s):

That's air dr pro.com and use the code weaning, W-E-A-N-I-N-G To get started today. Okay. Parenting is hard for sure, but this is easy. Listening to Stroller Coaster. Stroller Coaster is a podcast hosted by Lynn Smith. She's a mom and former news anchor for NBC and the show's Co-hosted by an improv comedian stroller Coaster is a place to be entertained to laugh over crazy parenting moments. And I know I for one, have definitely learned a few new things as I listen along too. Stroller Coaster is an award-winning, top ranked parenting podcast created by Munchkin, the most loved baby lifestyle brand in the world.

0 (2m 10s):

And the show covers topics that I know are also of interest to you, like how to stay connected to your kids once they're in daycare and school, or what your child is trying to communicate to you when they're crying and how to hold onto your patients as a parent. You can follow Stroller Coaster on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Go give them a listen for a great time. I for one know I've really been enjoying the show and I always need something new to listen to. Check out Stroller Coaster. I think you'll enjoy it as well.

1 (2m 43s):

I can't recommend it enough. This just is like opened up so many doors. I feel like he's not gonna be a picky eater. My cousin who is an SLP, she tells me all the time, like Kel, you're doing the best thing you can do for Maverick. Like he's going to have, it's improving his motor skills. He's going to be so articulate when he's able to talk. He's working all his muscles now.

0 (3m 8s):

Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, registered dietician, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in baby Led Weaning here on the baby Led Weaning 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. Today I'm talking with Kelsey Joy Tran. She is a new mom and along with her husband Kelsey and Alan, they've been figuring out how to do baby Led Weaning and how to start Solid Foods for their son Maverick. So baby Mav just turned eight months old, so he started Solid Foods shortly after turning six months of age.

0 (3m 53s):

He's eaten 50 foods so far and he's on his way to eating a hundred new foods with baby Led Weaning before he turns one. So I met Kelsey through my sister-in-Law. We live close to each other. She's like one town over from me here in San Diego. I've been doing parent coaching with their family and Baby Maverick at my house every week since he started Solid Foods. They're doing my a hundred FIRST FOODS program and I've been trying out a lot of new recipes of foods from the hundred FIRST FOODS list with their family. Maverick's kind of the the Guinea pig baby right now. And I love this baby because he has gotten to a point where he's hitting that golden age of Baby Led Weaning. It's so fun to see how far they've come in such a short period of time. Calor has been both work full-time and their own parents, the grandparents were not too keen on baby led weaning at the outset.

0 (4m 38s):

She's gonna talk about that. But a lot has changed for this family in the past eight weeks as they move through phase one of Baby led weaning. So in My program, BABY led weaning with Katie Ferraro. Phase one is The First, eight weeks of starting solid foods. We do five new foods a week. So normally the baby gets through 40 foods. We kind of sped it up a little bit with Mav. He's actually gotten through 50 foods in phase one and I want you guys to hear Kelsey's story because she is like many of you out there listening, she is in the thick of it with mom life and figuring out new stuff like how to safely start Solid Foods for her baby. She's trying to figure out, you know, and decide how long does she want to keep breastfeeding for. She's gonna talk about how difficult nursing was at first for her and Maverick and what helped her push through in this interview today, Kelsey also is gonna talk about how she picks the new foods that Maverick eats each week, including meats, which she was really surprised he likes 'cause she'll share a little bit about how she herself was vegan for seven years and what caused her to change from that.

0 (5m 34s):

Kelsey is gonna talk about why she decided to take Maverick to the emergency room after he had egg. The second time he had a reaction to egg, but she's gonna come around and explain why she doesn't really think he truly has an egg allergy at this point. And she's gonna talk a little bit about breastfeeding and when the breastfeeding session started to drop in frequency and duration as her baby learned to eat Solid Foods. So Kelsey Tran is here to recap phase one of Baby Led Weaning, how The First eight weeks of starting solid foods was. And with no further ado, here's Kelsey.

1 (6m 8s):

I was away this weekend and so Alan decided to give the almond with peanut puff works and Alan texted me that he had a rash breakout over his face.

0 (6m 22s):

Was it immediate or later?

1 (6m 24s):

Mm, no, it was a couple hours later and it was his fourth or fifth exposure already to nuts. So I just don't think it, it was that. And I know he had a reaction to eggs and it didn't look similar so, and he didn't seem bothered by it this time and he wasn't swelling. So don don't know. That was like the only thing different that he did that day. So it could have been that but don don't know having the egg reaction, I was like, don don't think don don't think it was that.

0 (6m 53s):

And you have a peanut allergy yourself. So we're gonna get into how you guys did the allergenic food introduction, but I love that your husband took it upon himself to to do the nuts himself. Well, especially while you're out of town. That's great. So yeah, let's go back to the beginning. Tell me how did you first hear about Baby Led Weaning and when did you decide like you might wanna try that for your own baby Maverick when it was time for him to start Solid Foods?

1 (7m 17s):

Yeah, so some of my mom friends had mentioned it to me like, do you think you're gonna do Baby Led Weaning or Purees? And I honestly didn't know what it was so I was just like, oh don don't know yet. But it wasn't probably until, so Maverick had a tongue tie and we got that revised around or clipped around six weeks of age. So he had a four month checkup and when we went to that, the occupational therapist that they have there, she was like, you're gonna get into feeding him solids or purees in a couple months. Do you know which one you're going to do? And I just asked her her recommendation 'cause I honestly didn't know. And she said I would do a combo of both. Here's some really great places To get started.

1 (7m 59s):

So she gave us like apps and websites to look at. And then I remember your sister-in-Law had told me like when you're getting ready to feed, like here is this, here's my sister-in-law's Instagram you can look at. So I was like, okay. And then that's when I started looking more into it and I was like, oh, oh wow, like babies just eat real food. Like that's so crazy but I think this is what I wanna do versus purees. And I watched a couple of like your reels and I watched your workshop and I was like, okay, I don't know if I wanna do the puree route, I think I wanna go forward with baby Led Weaning. And so that's when I first heard about it.

0 (8m 37s):

One thing that you said when we were doing the interviews with Paulina, who's working on the documentary about starting solid foods. So Kelsey was over at my house with Alan, her husband and baby Maverick and the documentary filmmaker was observing a parent coaching session. So they're watching him try new foods. So then they interviewed Kelsey and I was spying and just listening to your answers, I thought it was so interesting the way you described like if you don't know very much about baby Led Weaning as no parents do when you start out, a lot of people have not heard of it. Or if you have, you don't truly understand it. You were like, so let me get this straight, I'm breastfeeding, it's gonna be like milk, milk, milk, milk, avocado. And I was like, yes dude, that's, that's totally hard to wrap your head around. Tell me about your breastfeeding journey. How did that go? Because you did have a baby with a tongue tie.

0 (9m 19s):

How did you know about the tongue tie? Were you able to exclusively nurse, had Maverick had any formula up until the point or anything else really besides breast milk when you guys did start Solid Foods,

1 (9m 29s):

It was such a journey. So in the hospital they were trying to get him to latch, he was having trouble, they said here is a nipple shield that you can use and this is how you use it. And then we went to a couple lactation consultations after that and my lactation consultant just kept kept saying like, you're gonna be needing this for a long time. So I was like, okay, don't. I didn't really know what that meant and I was like, how long? You know? And I would get like so emotional 'cause it was just so hard to feed him. And so I was like pumping in the beginning we were giving a little bit of formula just to get him at weight because my milk hadn't come in and he wasn't breastfeeding correctly.

1 (10m 9s):

So I don't know, I was like maybe he has a tongue tie. And then we, the doctor, my doctor at Kaiser was like, yeah he has a little bit but like honestly he'll be fine. And I was like okay. And then our nurse was like Girl, go get it checked. And I was like okay. So I went to like a special doctor or dentist and she was like, yeah he does have one, he also has a lip tie so if you guys wanna do it. And we were so on the fence about it, like we kept going back and forth but we decided to move forward with it. Got it. Clipped or lasered actually. And then yeah, I would say don don't know if his breastfeeding like necessarily improved after that but we were working on it.

1 (10m 50s):

I was still using the nipple shield up until five months. I had read some things on Reddit that moms just like ditched the nipple shield randomly and the baby will latch on and that's what happened. And so Mav has probably been like successfully breastfeeding for really three months. Like it was just a whole process until that. But like naturally on my boob like nothing else, only three months he's been, and

0 (11m 14s):

Congratulations for sticking with it because most people would give up by then especially 'cause like the nipple shield is a pain in the neck, you know? And you're like, you'll feel like oh this is supposed to be the most natural thing in the world and yet it's the hardest. And I remember when I met you you're like, we've had a rocky go but like I'm sticking with it. But a lot of parents do feel relief when it comes time to start Solid Foods because you have been exclusively responsible for keeping this baby alive up until this point. Now it's like, oh finally like, like something else is gonna play a role. And then obviously your breast milk is still really important for your baby, but your baby's also gonna start getting nutrition from foods as you've known. And we're gonna talk about that. Take me back to The First day. How old was Maverick when he was sitting on his own and showing you that he had that head and neck control in the trunk strength to support a safe swallow?

1 (11m 59s):

He was probably like six months in, two days. Like I was like whoa, this is so crazy. And it, and it only happened within like a couple days, I was like whoa, like that's crazy fast. And I know they say it starts around six months. So yeah, six months, couple days

0 (12m 12s):

Because I think it was like six months plus one week when we first met and did avocado, which was his first food. There's no right or wrong first food, avocado's just an easy one to start with. And I did a full, you know, intake in history. I knew that Kelsey has a peanut allergy, pretty severe peanut allergy that you've had for most of your life, right?

1 (12m 30s):

Yeah, since I was like three.

0 (12m 32s):

So there was some concern of okay how are we gonna do the allergenic foods? And we're kinda like, okay, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We do like to start the allergenic foods usually in The First week, but it doesn't have to be one of the First Foods. What were some of your other fears? You know, before you ever saw your own baby eat something besides breast milk, what were you concerned about?

1 (12m 50s):

I don't know if I had too many concerns. I had briefed myself a little bit on baby Led Weaning. So I saw that gagging as part of the process and you shouldn't intervene, you know, you should let them recover. So I was aware that that would happen. And so don don't think probably just the allergies was the biggest concern that I had.

0 (13m 9s):

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break but I'll be right back. What were some of the other foods that we did that first week with Maverick? Can you remember? I know they're kind of random, we just kind of bopped all around the hundred First Foods list, but I sent you home with a bunch of stuff. Do you remember what they were that first week? Do you remember what The First meat was?

1 (13m 32s):

Oh my gosh, yes. Okay, okay. He had lamb and he loved that. He was like, it was so fun sucking out all the juices. I was like, oh.

0 (13m 40s):

And then they smell like lamb. So parents always go home like thanks Now my baby stinks like lamb. But that's, I mean it is important I think to show parents that listen, if your family does eat meat, that it is possible to make these soft shreddable strips of meat that early eaters even before they have teeth. 'cause at the beginning Maverick had zero teeth and I know meat was kind of a new-ish thing to you. Give us your history on where you came from with regards to veganism and then moving to eating meat.

1 (14m 5s):

Yeah, back in college I decided to become vegetarian and then I was a very unhealthy vegetarian so I was like maybe let me try veganism. So I was vegan for seven years and I hadn't had meat in a really long time. I started dating my husband and I don't know, maybe he indirectly pressured me, but I was like I wanna try all these foods with him. I also knew like culturally I wanted my future kids to have meat and to have Filipino food and whatever, you know, our dishes were, I wanted them to taste that. So I was like, I know eventually I'm going to have to cook that for them so I know I have to eat meat. So it was like seven years without meat fully.

1 (14m 48s):

Yeah then I, I had meat and I never looked back. I was like, why? Why did I give that up? That's, it's delicious.

0 (14m 54s):

I know at the beginning when we were chatting about, you know what's, what's your driving force behind this? Why do you want your child to eat real food? And you shared, you know, some of your own family history and experiences and then what you want for your baby from both your standpoint but also Alan's family. Let's talk a little bit about the family stuff. How are the grandparents doing with baby Led Weaning now? And be honest about what they thought about it at the beginning because I know they've kind of had a little bit of a turnaround and that's very typical.

1 (15m 20s):

Yeah, at the beginning my mom, I think when Maverick was like five months old, my mom bought rice cereal and she goes, just start 'em off with this just, just start off with this. And I was like, okay mom. But I knew like after watching your things like I wanna wait, make sure he can like sit up and things. But then I was like hmm, I don't think I'm even gonna go down this route. Like I don don't think I wanna do purees. So there was kind of like hesitancy and I know that she wanted me to start off with that and she's like, well that's just what we did. That's what we did. It was like, you know, constantly like that. But then as she has seen the videos of Maverick, they're just so impressed. They're like whoa look, he's like actually eating.

1 (16m 0s):

Like that's so crazy. And then also too, like them being in person like sometimes you can see them try to give them the spoon or give him the food and he's like backing away. Like he is very independent. Like even when we feed him now doesn't want us to help him. It's all him.

0 (16m 19s):

I know you guys travel a lot. I was like Kelsey has more friends getting married I feel like every single weekend you're at a wedding and I know you recently went on a family trip, you went to Virginia also for a wedding. Tell us how that experience was. 'cause a lot of parents are like, oh I'm not sure if I can do baby Led Weaning when I travel and I know 'cause you're talking about like the Airbnb you guys were getting and there was no highchair there. So how did that go? Taking yourself feeding baby on the road?

1 (16m 40s):

Yeah, it was kind of nerve wracking but he was so good that weekend when we went to restaurants we just gave him pieces of either what we were eating or we gave him like a cucumber tomato to munch on. Like something very simple but it kept him preoccupied and he was just quiet enjoying his food sitting there with us.

0 (17m 3s):

And I believe that trip to Virginia came shortly after he'd had an allergic reaction to egg. So I wanna talk about that because we had tried a couple of allergenic foods. Personally I always like to put egg towards the top, right? Like cow's, milk, protein, peanut and egg, those are the three most common pediatric food allergy. There's certainly no order that you have to introduce allergenic foods in, but I kind of like to get those ones outta the way especially because once your baby passes egg, then we use it a lot in recipes for like fritters for example. So all the different whole grains that babies can't pick up early on 'cause they don't have their pinch or grasp and they're super small whole grains that are pain in the neck to clean off the floor. If you can make them into finger foods and fritters the baby can pick up and feed themselves. That really helps them with the finger food progression.

0 (17m 45s):

But you can't do that till you pass the egg on its own. So it's like Kelsey, let's prioritize egg. We did egg at my house and we did fried egg strips. So I'll fry an egg and then I break the yolk into the white 'cause the white is the potentially allergenic part. The yolk is where the fat and the iron and the other good nutrients are. You want baby to get both of them. He kind of like didn't really eat much egg at my house and then I sent you home with some scrambled eggs and some other types of eggs. He didn't have a reaction at my house. But tell us what happened later in the day when you guys went home and tried egg a second time?

1 (18m 16s):

Yeah, so he wasn't really into eating at your house. So when you sent us home with scrambled eggs, we were like okay let's try this when we get home. So he tried scrambled eggs and then he wasn't into eating it at all either. He would grab it, smush it, like bring it close to his mouth and then like kind of throw it. And then we were like okay, he's just like not in the mood today. And then maybe 20 minutes later we started noticing a rash on his face and then he would like, when he gets like don don't know, maybe it's sensory overload, he starts scratching his eyes and then his eyes started getting puffy and then the rash started spreading and then it was going down his neck and we were like okay we think these are hives.

1 (18m 58s):

And he just looked so uncomfortable and his face was just kind of swollen. So it was a very quick decision. I go Alan, should we take him to the doctor? And he goes, yeah. So we like packed up our bags and we went, I didn't have Benadryl at the house and also first time mom like you know, I'm not thinking about giving him like I know that's like a hard, not a hard medicine, but it's like it's a heavier dose of something. You know, even if we take it, we like take a long nap. But when we got to the doctor and

0 (19m 28s):

Can I just point out you were texting with me and I thought you were going to your actual pediatrician but you went to the emergency room right?

1 (19m 34s):

We went to the emergency room. Kaiser is just so weird and I was like we can't just like pop into the doctor's office. Like there's just all this process and I, I think my doctor's off on the weekends anyways. We'd have to go to a different one in San Marcos anyway. But yeah, we went to the ER there, no one was there so we were helped immediately. They asked us a thousand times Did you give him Benadryl? Which I understand 'cause they don't wanna like overdose him or anything. They gave him Benadryl and then we waited it out for a couple hours and it got better. And so he was fine and yeah he just took a nap. He was, he was grouchy I think because he needed a nap. But other than that like you can just, it was like a big difference like okay you can tell this isn't a contact rash, this is him having a reaction.

0 (20m 17s):

And a couple of points since I know him, I know he had had rashes from other foods. Like for example, The First time he had tomato which is an acidic food, he's drooling that comes into contact with the tomato. He would get some, you know, some contact rashes, some atopic dermatitis around his mouth. They go away on their own if they're not accompanied by another sign of allergic reaction or anaphylaxis, we're not worried about it. He doesn't have a food allergy to tomatoes but with the egg he had the hives that were spreading accompanied by additional swelling around the eye. And when you guys were sending me those pictures I'm like, oh yeah that around the eye is definitely swelling up again. There could be then of course you know parts of the airway, your airway starts in the mouth if that's starting to swell, a baby can't tell us that and we can't see that.

0 (20m 58s):

So he was certainly fussier than usual. So any change in demeanor plus the hives plus the swelling definitely go to the emergency room. When you left, you guys left with an EpiPen, is that correct?

1 (21m 9s):

We did and I asked the doctor, I said I know he's a baby but would an EpiPen be beneficial in the future just in case this happens again? And I was like, I am definitely allergic to peanuts. I have one, I know how to use it. And he is like, I don't think so. And then when he came back he's like, you know what, I was on lunch and I was talking to another colleague of mine and another pediatrician who spec specializes in allergies and they said it wouldn't hurt like since you know how to use it, go ahead and get an EpiPen. He's like, so I'm gonna prescribe you an EpiPen. And I was like oh that makes me feel better. You know, just to have it just in case. 'cause he is like your, your chain of like action would be assess the situation, give him Benadryl, call EMT.

1 (21m 54s):

If that's not working then you know you'll, if you feel like his throat is closing and he can't breathe, then you would give the EpiPen if they're not there in time

0 (22m 3s):

And you were so chill about this the whole time A because you do have a food allergy, you're pretty chill to begin with. Both of you, you guys had tried at that point like 15 or 16 different foods. I know we did yogurt and we had, he'd had cow's milk protein just to make sure he wasn't allergic to that. But this was the second allergenic food that we did. And what's important to point out here is that there is a lot of gray area and we had talked about this that like even though this sounds scary and you know exactly how serious food allergies are because you have one, but death from anaphylaxis from a food allergy in infancy is almost all but unheard of. Like is your child's throat going to close up and they're going to die from eating that egg product? Almost certainly not. But the only way we know if a baby is allergic to a food is to offer them that food.

0 (22m 44s):

And what I thought was so interesting 'cause I'm like looking at your pictures, I know the whole history. I know exactly how much he's had and when and I would like to remind parents that he had tried egg at my house. Actually went back and watched those videos again. So we have obviously tons of content from him eating. He was eating some of the egg a little bit, licking it, getting some of it, how much, how many grams? We don't know. He was rubbing it in his eye 'cause he was tired that day and he does that. He rubs the food in his eye and had no reaction. The reaction to an potentially allergenic food is going to occur on the second or subsequent exposure. So it was the second time that Kelsey and Allen offered the eggs when he had the reaction. And it could have been the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth. We generally do it in our program six times over the course of a weekend, two on Friday, two on Saturday, two on Sunday.

0 (23m 25s):

So that by the end of the weekend that baby has tried that food at least six times and then you continue to keep it in the rotation. But you said something interesting and I was stoked to hear you say this because anytime a baby has a food allergy reaction we obviously don't feed that food again. Talk to your doctor, what are their plans for eventually testing? Just avoiding. And you said I don't feel like he really has an egg allergy. Katie, why did you say that?

1 (23m 47s):

Don don't know. I was just like, like it was just weird because we were like, wait a minute, when we had fried egg at her house, like he didn't even have a reaction And then when we gave him the scrambled eggs, that's when he showed something. So I was like don don't know if he's allergic. And I know you talked about like the different exposures and I was like I bet you if we gave him something with egg in it, he wouldn't have a reaction. So I think we were a little tentative like after but we were like down, we're like, yeah we, we still don't think he is allergic because

0 (24m 20s):

Then we did no egg for a while we did a bunch of other foods, other allergenic foods and then I was like hey are you down to try egg baked into something? Right. And 'cause I had shared the podcast episode which I'll link to in the description today. But if you have a baby that has an egg allergy, how to use an egg ladder to reintroduce and this is something that you don't do on your own, it's under the guidance of someone who's trained in this approach. And this is an interview with Corina Venter who is the world's leading expert on food allergy ladders. She did the validated studies with the egg ladder. So it's like listen to this, see what you think. But we're gonna get to a point where we're gonna reintroduce egg because he, he doesn't have a diagnosed egg allergy at this point. We did do, I think we were, when we were on amaranth, which is a whole grain, we did an amarth waffle.

0 (25m 1s):

So this was a baked in a waffle maker with a small amount of egg in it. You guys were down to try that. He tolerated it no problem. We started doing some other fritters and things with egg in there. So he has been tolerating egg in other products without reaction. I know when we sent the egg home I like, there's seven different ways that we do eggs for babies that you can, you don't have to do all of these but I just like to show parents there's lots of other ways. But one of them was a steamed egg recipe that our intern Austin had made for you guys. I think you guys put them in the freezer. Have you tried that straight up egg product yet? The baked ones?

1 (25m 33s):

Yeah we did this week and he wasn't into it. He didn't have a reaction though because like even which I forgot to mention after we gave the scrambled eggs and he had that reaction the next day we were just putting him in the high chair, we must have not cleaned the tray like super well And he got hives again and we were like oh there must be traces of like scrambled egg on here because he had another reaction.

0 (25m 56s):

But you did not give the EpiPen then, right? You just waited it out?

1 (25m 59s):

Yeah, we just waited it out. We did give Benadryl that time because we did see the hives and it was like spreading a little bit but then he was like fine after. But this week when we tried the baked egg, he didn't have like any hive reaction like cross-contamination. He

0 (26m 15s):

Didn't push his mouth but mouth if he didn't eat enough of it to cause it that.

1 (26m 18s):

Yeah

0 (26m 18s):

And we've had that with babies like when they're actually allergic to a food they sometimes just actually really just like don't like it. Egg is kind of a weird one too because egg is a food that's so easy to make safe and soft and babies usually go to town on it if you're down. I'd love to try hard boiled egg when you guys are here this week like just to see 'cause he likes in most cases to pick the foods up but you're like if he's totally avoiding it, it's like he's had it baked into other things and we know he can tolerate it. Do you need to force plain eggs on him? No. But like you just wanna know if he is or is not allergic and it is kind of this gray area. Can I ask you what your doctor has said regarding testing? Like you've obviously told him about the egg allergy reaction going to the er. Do they recommend testing or waiting until after one to test?

1 (26m 59s):

They recommended waiting. They said he's a little young but just monitor his reactions and if he does seem to continually have reactions the Dr. May recommend it a little bit earlier but they basically said he's still too young. Hey

0 (27m 12s):

We're gonna take a quick break but I'll be right back. Tell me about how many foods he has had now at this point you are moving into what we call phase two of Baby led. Meaning. Meaning we've done all the single isolated foods, we've done almost all of the allergenic foods. I think we have a couple left. He's moving into multiple combination textured foods. He's kind of eating like modified versions of what you guys are eating at this point. How many different foods has he had if you're still counting

1 (27m 45s):

Close to 50,

0 (27m 46s):

What's been the food that you were most surprised that he either liked or didn't like up until this point?

1 (27m 51s):

Brussels sprouts

0 (27m 52s):

That he liked. He loved them right? Yeah,

1 (27m 54s):

He loved Brussels sprouts. I was like really sorry he was, I was like okay. I feel like he likes the vegetables that like even adults don't like but he loved Brussels sprouts.

0 (28m 3s):

He loved asparagus too. I think he likes bright colors like most babies.

1 (28m 6s):

Yeah, I think so. But I was surprised he doesn't like avocado. Like still he's just like, hasn't been, yeah he hasn't been into it. I gave him a little bit of guac the other day and he was just like,

0 (28m 21s):

But he does love the meats and that's what I love 'cause I love making meats for babies. What practical advice would you give to other parents who are thinking about doing baby Led Weaning? They're like you like I've heard about it, my friends talk about it. I'm not really sure. Like is this something you guys are glad you had done? Would you do it with your next baby? Would you recommend it to other people? Yes or no? And you won't hurt my feelings if you say no.

1 (28m 41s):

Yeah, I can't recommend it enough. This just has like opened up so many doors. I feel like he's not gonna be a picky eater. My cousin who is an SLP, she tells me all the time like Kel, you're doing the best thing you can do for Maverick. Like he's going to have, it's improving his motor skills. He's going to be so articulate when he's able to talk. He's working all his muscles now and that she deals with, you know, kids who are two years old and they're, they've only had like 10 foods and they're so picky and they can't eat and things like that. And so she's like, you're doing the best thing for him. I think all of the grandparents too have just seen the wonders of it and they're just so impressed and they know like, okay you don't have to use purees, you know, to get him to eat foods and yeah don don't know.

1 (29m 30s):

We're just like so thankful that we came across this and yeah definitely would do it with the second child.

0 (29m 37s):

I love how much fun you guys are having with it too. 'cause I know we talked at the beginning like okay what's your dream? What's the food? don don't know if it's Vietnamese or a Filipino food that you're like, I really, really want my baby to eventually eat this. And I'm like well I'm gonna figure out how to make it because I wanna see him eat it. Has he had that food yet and what was it? Wasn't it like congealed blood?

1 (29m 52s):

Yeah, congealed blood cube. don don't even know it. It's Vietnam, Vietnamese sweet but it's

0 (29m 56s):

Not on the hundred FIRST FOODS list. We don't have blood but like, you know, I wanna figure out how we can do it and how we can make it. So let's get some blood on the menu for him. Talk to me a little bit about the open cup 'cause I know you guys were like not it's annoying 'cause the open cup makes a mess and you're pumping, you're like I don't wanna waste my breast milk but don don't wanna have to go buy formula. So we've been trying some of like the thinner purees like or some of the meats that we make for example, take the meat juice, strain it, put it in open cup. Is open something that's on your radar right now? Has he been making any progress with it? I know we tried it a couple times together but I'm not sure how that's going at home.

1 (30m 25s):

We definitely could be better at it, but we've tried it. I've been doing water like softer the, after each meal I'll put water in the cup for him and I'll have him sip from it with

0 (30m 35s):

And he doesn't gag on that thin liquid at

1 (30m 38s):

This point? No, not at all. Yeah, he actually loves it and then he'll start blowing raspberries and I'm like, okay it's, it's over now. But yeah, no he's, he's doing really well with it.

0 (30m 46s):

Tell me what you're most excited about for the next phase as we move into, you know, some more complicated foods as we finish the different allergenic foods as we're, we're basically moving him towards eating modified versions of the same foods that you guys eat. What are you looking forward to?

1 (31m 0s):

I think just having him, well 'cause he's already like eating. I know he is because I, I need to send you this video but he, I made him chicken toola, which is a Filipino like dish and he was eating the chicken and he gagged really hard because the chicken was like at the back of his throat and then he threw it up. But he was all good. But yeah, I think just like watching him like fully eat foods now is what I'm like excited for seeing the breastfeeding sessions go down. Knowing that he is getting the nutrients from real food I think is what I'm most excited for. You

0 (31m 38s):

Had that one ant that was kind of stressing you out. I know like I tagged you in a real and then your aunt was looking at it and the point of the real was like don't stress out if your baby doesn't eat very much. Early on and it was like lots of clips of maverick literally not eating the food we made in it my house and it, the message was your breast milk is still providing most of the nutrition or formula if that's what you're doing so don't stress. And then your aunt was like, I don don't know. I feel like she took it the wrong way.

1 (31m 60s):

Like what? Yeah, she's like, he might not be ready to eat if he's like that fussy, but I was like, oh my gosh, these are literally clips like on social media. Like that's not the reason he wasn't ready, you know? But

0 (32m 10s):

You weren't forcing him. You waited until he was ready. But I like to remind parents that it's not all, you know, babies don't wake up on their first birthday and magically know how to eat a hundred foods. Like it's a long process. It's a lot of work. But then I also like to remind parents like, you have to feed this small person for the next 17 and a half years of its life. Like you might as well do the work now when that all important flavor window is open and they'll like or accept all these different foods you're eating. Like he went to town on the mushrooms, remember that. Like, oh yeah. And, and you know that's a taste that older kids, adults, you know, they might not love it but like he doesn't know the difference. We made him a mushroom fritter that had egg in it. We made him the mushroom meatloaf like he was down for the mushrooms and it's like you would never have known that if you didn't try it. So I do love seeing him make progress and I hope your aunt's not mad about doing baby led

1 (32m 53s):

Weeding. No, he's eaten so much. So he, he's definitely ready.

0 (32m 57s):

What if You don't mind sharing. What is your goal for breastfeeding as you get near the one year mark?

1 (33m 1s):

Yeah, I think because our journey was so long, part of the bonding experience is like what I'm holding onto right now just because I'm like, wow, we've only been doing it successfully for like three months. So I'm like still holding onto it. But I think once don don't know when, when he hits a year, I'm fine stopping breastfeeding. There was like so many moments where I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna stop anyway like three months, six months. 'cause this was getting so hard. But yeah, now that he can do it, yeah, I'm hoping that he'll, he's just like fully on three meals a day around one years old.

0 (33m 37s):

And remember there are so many benefits to extended breastfeeding beyond one if both you and your baby dig it. Like, and if it's just a night nursing session for bonding and that's wonderful too because by age one most of his nutrition can be coming from food. But if you continue to offer him breast milk that that's added nutrition. Kinda like that insurance policy. But you have noticed the frequency and the duration of the breastfeeding, the feeds, they're dropping off as he gets more proficient at eating food, right? Like this is weaning in action And some parents are like, I'm freaking out, I need to protect my milk supply. It's like, no you don't. You're doing everything absolutely perfectly because as he gets more proficient at eating food, he gets more nutrition from food and just starts to gradually take less from you. And that's kind of, that's the weaning in action and it's, it's sometimes hard to see it like right when you're in the middle of it.

0 (34m 21s):

So I appreciate you sharing with us 'cause you are right in the middle of it. Last words of advice for a mom who's like you, who's like, wait a minute. Milk, milk, milk, avocado. I'm scared to death that my baby's gonna choke. Have you had any scary moments? Like you were literally laughing when you were talking about him eating chicken from the Filipino dish and gagging. Not that you're laughing at him, but like you totally know how to handle gagging. Like how'd you get there and how can you help another mom who's scared about Choking get there?

1 (34m 44s):

I think learning about baby Led Weaning and how it is like it can be a lot of like sensory overstimulation for them. You know, not wiping his face when he's eating. That was like big for me 'cause I'm like a clean freak. So I was like, you know that Maverick hates it when I wipe his face. So that was like good to know too. But I think with gagging, you know you so many things in babies too. You just like learn that they, they can do it. They're so independent. But yeah, every time he does gag, Alan and I kind of like cheer 'cause we're like, yeah, like you're doing it. Like you're, you're getting so much closer to like swallowing and like eating that food. And then he recovers and then he's fine and then he smiles.

1 (35m 26s):

So I'm like he's, he's doing good. Like

0 (35m 29s):

You mentioned he threw up recently. How many times has he thrown up from food?

1 (35m 32s):

Maybe a couple times. Okay. Not too often.

0 (35m 35s):

And just a reminder to parents, if your baby's throwing up at every meal or every day, that's not typical, but there is a small amount of vomit that sometimes can happen, especially if they have a particularly pronounced gag. We see it more in formula Fed babies because just the volume that a baby or bottle fed 'cause it, the volume that you take in from a bottle versus breastfeeding is a lot more. And so if you have a lot of fluid volume-wise in your belly and a particularly involved gag, that could turn into vomit. But if you have the vomiting on video, obviously send it to me. 'cause those are cold.

4 (36m 2s):

I need too.

0 (36m 3s):

Well thank you so much. It's been so fun watching him get more proficient at eating, seeing you guys get more confident in his ability to eat food. We've tried out a lot of new recipes on your baby and I'm excited to see the next 50 foods for math.

4 (36m 15s):

Thank you.

0 (36m 16s):

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that interview with new mom Kelsey Joy Tran talking about her son, baby Maverick's First 50 Foods as they moved through phase one in The First, eight weeks of Baby, Led Weaning. I will link to some of the other resources that we chatted about on this episode. That'll be in the show notes for this episode. You can get those@bwpodcast.com slash 4 8 0 or in the description below where you're listening. If you guys are on Instagram on baby LED Wean team, that's my page. I'm sharing a lot of content with Baby Maverick. He's been eating so many new foods, he's such a cutie, see him in real life. But I do like to share a lot from his earliest days as well because it is important for parents to see, you know, babies don't just wake up on their first birthday and magically know how to eat a hundred foods.

0 (36m 57s):

This is a long, slow, tedious process. But I hope you enjoyed Kelsey's message with like this is important to do because she wants her baby to eat real food and enjoy real food too, because her and her husband love food and it's been such a joy watching Maverick learn how to eat. So thank you again for being here. Check out the show notes@blwpodcast.com slash four 80 and a special 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. I'll catch you next time.

5 (37m 36s):

From the terrifying power of tornadoes to sizzling summer temperatures, AccuWeather Daily brings you the top trending weather related story of the day, seven days a week. You can learn a lot in just a few minutes with stories about impending hurricanes, winter storms, or even what not to miss in the night sky. So listen and subscribe to AccuWeather Daily wherever you get your podcasts. That's AccuWeather Daily, wherever you get your podcasts.