BLW on the Go: How to Pack a Feeding Bag for Traveling

Katie Ferarro (0s):

How are you doing with the introduction of allergenic foods for your baby? I know it can feel like one more thing to do on your never ending to-do list, but early introduction of allergenic foods can help reduce the risk of food allergy down the road. If you're not sure where to start, peanut is a good one. Puffworks Baby Peanut Puffs are a low mess, no stress way to safely introduce peanut protein to your baby. I love the Puffworks Baby Peanut Puffs cuz they are the softest puff on the market. They dissolve really easily in your baby's mouth, so you can do these early on in baby-led weaning. Plus, Puffworks Baby Puffs have no added sugar, just a smidge of salt for preservative and they're the perfect size for baby-led weaning. And I just checked the Puffworks Baby Peanut Puffs are back in stock right now https://puffworks.com/ and my affiliate discount code "BABYLED"

Katie Ferarro (43s):

works for 15% off. If you wanna grab a case while you're there, be sure to check out the Puffworks Baby Almond Puffs. That's an easy way to introduce your baby to a separate allergenic food category, which is tree nut. And that code "BABYLED" works for 15% off on baby almond puffs, too. It's all online at https://puffworks.com/. I generally talk about how babies don't need snacks, but when you're traveling, the assumption there is that you're probably gonna be off of your schedule. So if you're gonna deviate from your regular schedule, I think snacks are important to help tide your baby over to the next meal. 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 Made Easy Podcast, I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leaving you with the confidence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby-led weaning.

Katie Ferarro (1m 42s):

Alright, you're hitting the road and it's time to feed your baby and you're like, "Oh my gosh, how do I feed this baby when I'm outside of the home?" Well, I recently traveled to Boston with my little girlies and we were going to feed a friend's baby, Baby Locklin and I wanted to make the packing as lean as possible. I wanted to bring everything we needed to start five new foods with this baby over the course of the weekend, but I'm too cheap to pay for check bags so I had to pack lightly. So I wanna share exactly what I pack in my bag for feeding a baby on the go. Alright, what kind of bag do you use first of all? So I'm a- I'm not a diaper bag bag fan for the most part I like, like convertible functional bags that look nice. One of the bags that the girls that I work with got me is from a company called BAGGU.

Katie Ferarro (2m 23s):

So, B A G G U not sponsored at all. I don't work with them, but I absolutely love their bags. A lot of 'em are waterproof, you can just wipe 'em down. Super big bag. So you can have, you know, all size bags, I pack kinda like a medium sized bag with some feeding gear. I love the BAGGU ones. Lots of different like compartments and keeping everything separate. And I know it sounds odd, but I always pack my own feeding gear, plates, mats, bowls, not a ton of it, but spent my whole high school and college careers working at a restaurant. So I know kind of how gross the surface of some of the tables where your baby might be eating at a restaurant in particular can be. And also if you just use plates that kind of slide all over the place, your baby's gonna tip the food on the floor. So I like the plates that mats the bowls from the company EZPZ. They make the original silicone suction mats and bowls and they have this amazing, brand new product called the Tiny Place Mat.

Katie Ferarro (3m 9s):

So it rolls up super small, then you roll it out, it suctions to the table where your baby's eating and it has a lip. So we were doing this with Baby Locklin, when we went out and the lip on the place mat means the baby has a barrier against which they can rake or scoop the food up and into their mouth. The Tiny Place Mat from EZPZ is awesome, but I also will bring one of their bowls or one of their mats as well. If you wanna check out any of the feeding gear from EZPZ, my affiliate discount code "KATIE10" always works for 10% off at https://ezpzfun.com/ and I regularly pull my audience, like when you're at a restaurant, you know, do you bring your own food for the baby? Do you order something specifically for the baby or do you order your own food and then just adapt pieces of it that you're gonna feed the baby.

Katie Ferarro (3m 51s):

And like it's kind of always split like 33% each way. People you know do whatever you want at a restaurant, but if you're inclined to bring the food, the EZPZ mats and bowls have lids that affixed to the top so you can pack some food and put it in your bag and they stick pretty well. So I just kinda shove 'em in my bag. Obviously you need to be concerned about like temperature control. So I'm not keeping potentially hazardous foods in the danger zone temperature-wise for any period of time. But if you're just pulling outta the fridge, throw it in the in the plate, put a lid on it and take it to the restaurant, it's really nice to have that food already ready in case you're not sure what they might be eating when you're there. As far as the other like little bags that I carry with me, I love the Stasher bags. I use those a lot for my bigger kids' lunch boxes, but we have tons of Stasher bags at our houses.

Katie Ferarro (4m 35s):

They're silicone, reusable bags just to kind of cut back on plastic and you know, throwing plastic out. But as far as storing, I take like a couple of the little tiny spoons from EZPZ and one or two of the Tiny Cups, I'll put them in one of the Stasher bags and then put them into my bigger bag. Now as far as food, if you are inclined to bring food with you, if you're that prepared, what are some easy things you can stuff in your bag to take with you on the road? And I generally talk about how babies don't need snacks, but when you're traveling, the assumption there is that you're probably gonna be off of your schedule. So if you're gonna deviate from your regular schedule, I think snacks are important to help tide your baby over to the next meal. So some of the snacks that I'll bring with me for traveling on the go, banana. Super basic, but I love it because it comes with its own hygienic carrying case, right?

Katie Ferarro (5m 19s):

The banana peel. We never offer the banana peel to the baby though you guys don't eat bananas with the peels on. Don't give your baby a banana with the peel on it is definitely a huge choking hazard. Some other things, I always have the little oatmeal packets with me. Just instant oatmeal with no added sugar. Super plain, so boring. This works great on an airplane actually just ask for a cup of hot water and you add it to the oatmeal, you can stir it up and you instantaneously have a meal that your baby can feed to themselves. Yeah, it could be a little messy so I clean it up before the oatmeal dries for sure, cuz hardened cement oatmeal is so hard to clean up.

Katie Ferarro (5m 59s):

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Katie Ferarro (6m 60s):

[AD BREAK] I also always have hard boiled eggs with me. I know after Easter we had so many hard boiled eggs, it was taking them everywhere with me. A little bit on the stinky side, but a super easy portable snack, that nice cool rubbery texture of the hard boiled egg white for your baby. And then the mealy texture of the egg yolk for all the iron and the good nutrition is that's a super easy snack on the go. I also don't do a ton of packaged snacks for babies, but one of the brands that I love is Puffworks Baby. They make these peanut puffs and almond puffs for babies that have no added sugar and just a smidge of sodium. They travel super well. Now if you're traveling on an airplane and it's a peanut-free airplane, this wouldn't work. But if you're out and about in a park or a grandma's house, this is a really low stress, like almost no mass way to safely introduce your baby to peanut or almond protein.

Katie Ferarro (7m 45s):

I generally won't do allergenic foods for the first time when I'm on the road, but if your baby's had peanut or tree a number of times with no reaction at home, take these puffs with you on the road. They're amazing. My affiliate discount code for Puffworks is "BABYLED." If you wanna grab a case of peanut puffs and a case of almond puffs, I think that code "BABYLED" works, I can't remember, 15 or 20% off, but they come right to your house. You have a nice portable snack to take with you and your baby will absolutely love them. Be careful though, your bigger kids will devour them. Mine keep finding them and eating them. Then I go to feed 'em to babies. I'm like ah, we're all out of Puffworks, but I love that brand. Puffworks they're at https://puffworks.com/ and really any snacks that have zero milligrams of sodium and zero grams of added sugar, they're out there.

Katie Ferarro (8m 27s):

They tend to be a little bit more appropriate for older babies cuz some of them might be a little bit on the crunchier or crispier side. Again, I don't do any hard, crunchy, or crispy foods for early eaters, but for the most part, you know babies don't need snacks. But I know some of you just like to have a few snacks in your back pocket or in your travel bag. So there's some good ideas. Now next up, what about managing the mess? The goal is not to prevent the mess with baby-led weaning, but we can do a lot to minimize the mess. So one thing that I always travel with is a splash mat. This is key. I love the Splash Mats from the the brand Bapron Baby. They're huge. They pack down super small, very lightweight, and you put them underneath the highchair where you're feeding your baby or they act as like a big picnic blanket.

Katie Ferarro (9m 8s):

If you guys are sitting outside or if you're going to grandma's house and you're concerned about the mess, you put the splash mat out, you can just fold the whole thing up after, put it right back in your bag, okay? Or you can shake it out somewhere else. These are so lightweight, they're amazing, and they're really big. So you can put a couple babies on 'em. So you used to put my quadruplets on the corners of each of one of the Bapron Splash Mats. They're wonderful. The code "KATIE10" works for I believe 10% off everything at https://bapronbaby.com/ and I'll link up all the codes in these products in the description, in the show notes for this episode if you wanna check some of them out. And then I also always travel with a bib. I do not like those heavy silicone trough bibs. It can be quite heavy. Weigh your baby down. The trough also is sometimes a barrier between the table and your baby's body.

Katie Ferarro (9m 49s):

It can restrict their range of motion. I don't like the big tent like contraption bibs, but the Bapron Baby Bibs. A bapron is like a hybrid between an apron and a bib. It's a pinifore style bib that ties in the back of your baby underneath their shoulder blade so they can't rip 'em off. Plus it doesn't go all up in their neck. So it's not like a super negative sensory experience like some of those other bibs are. It's purposely sleeveless, which allows your baby to have their full range of motion, which is really important when they're learning how to eat. And the Baprons are wonderful cuz they're the super lightweight material, the same material they make their splash mats out of. Kelsey makes the B apron bibs, so they come in solid colors and prints, they rinse out underneath the faucet and you just hang 'em on the drain board for the next meal.

Katie Ferarro (10m 32s):

So you don't have to pack like a bunch of bibs. I literally take one per baby with me and they work wonderfully. Another kind of cleaning thing, I do always have wet wipes with me. I know it's tempting to clean your baby as they're eating, but please try not to wipe your baby down when they're eating, whether you're at home or out on the road. Okay, that can be a very negative sensory experience for your baby. Like how would you feel if you were trying to learn how to eat oatmeal and this lady came and attacked you with her wet wipe or her washcloth? We don't want babies to have negative associations with food and feeding and the wiping, which can be very distracting. And then have food aversions and food refusals. So just hold off on cleaning up the mess until the meal is over. The wet wipes are a good one to obviously have with you and you probably have 'em for diaper changing anyways, so they serve two purposes.

Katie Ferarro (11m 22s):

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Katie Ferarro (12m 15s):

[AD BREAK] Now what about the highchair? This is probably the most problematic point for most parents cuz we're like, I'm gonna be out and about and there's either not a highchair or if there is a highchair, then it's definitely not going to have a footrest. And we know that importance of baby's feet resting flat on a solid footplate when they're starting solid foods. I actually travel with my own portable highchair. I have a article that I wrote with some of my favorite portable highchairs for feeding on the go. I'll link those up as well in the description and the show notes. But one that works like my favorite one for travel is from the company's Summer Infant. And this is not sponsored by them. They sell like, it's like $25 or $30 portable highchair. It's called the Pop 'N Sit Booster. It's like a little tiny camping chair. It's so stinking cute.

Katie Ferarro (12m 55s):

It's covered in canvas. It folds down like a little chair. It has a tiny little tray. The tray is quite small, but a lot of times I don't even use the tray because the Summer Infant Pop 'N Sit Booster has straps that attached to the back of an adult chair and underneath an adult chair or bar stool. So you can get your baby, so their feet resting flat on the actual, you know, butt part where your butt would go on an adult chair, their feet go there and then you can pull the baby right up to the table and they can be participating in mealtime with you. One thing I don't love about that chair is the canvas is not removable, so they get pretty dirty pretty fast, but I just kind of scrub 'em down in between meals from time to time. And it's a wonderful, very small, lightweight chair to take with you so you have a safe place for your baby to eat. So I hope some of those tips were helpful.

Katie Ferarro (13m 37s):

Those are all the things that went into my packing bag for my most recent trip to Boston. If you're feeding your baby on the go anytime soon I would love, love, love to hear which gear or what products or what attempts and approaches are working for you. Leave me a review on Apple Podcasts if you can. Let me know how it's going and also drop any ideas that you have for future episodes of the podcast that you want to hear. I read every single review and I really, really appreciate your guys' honest feedback. Some of the best podcast episode topics come directly from those reviews. So if you've been listening and if you've been learning, please take one minute, go to Apple Podcast, leave me a written review and I greatly, greatly appreciate it.

Katie Ferarro (14m 17s):

Thank you so much for listening. Thanks to our partners at AirWave Media. If you like podcasts about food and science and using your brain, be sure to check out some of the podcasts from AirWave Media or online at https://blwpodcast.com/ and I'll see you guys next time. Bye now!