Katie Ferraro (0s):

The reality is we can't extract the baby from the High Chair. Every single time they bust. There's definitely some coping strategies that you can implement so that you're not removing the baby. Cause I know you've noticed, but your baby super smart and you take them out. They're going to be conditioned to expect, to remove them every time that they fuss . 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 competence and knowledge. You need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby led weaning.

Katie Ferraro (41s):

Hello there. Welcome all of the parents and caregivers of the babies who will not sit in the high chair, talking to you, but really to your babies, like, do you have that baby who will not sit in the high chair? What do you do if they cry or they don't like it? Are they bus? Well, we are going to dive into some coping mechanisms for babies who do not like to sit in the high chair and I'm trying to start some solid foods with you. So I need you to be in the High Chair. Now, I like to start each of these mini baby led weaning trainings out with a tip of the day. And today's tip is the High Chair really is the safest place for your baby to eat. And even though you might be tempted to extract your baby from the High Chair, when they bus your baby is also very smart.

Katie Ferraro (1m 26s):

I know, you know, but your baby is going to easily become conditioned to know, Hey, if I fuss this nice lady or this nice guy, this nice person is going to come and get me out of this contraption. So hang tight. I'm going to be sharing some tips, a couple of different strategies for how to call them your baby down and get them back to a place where it's safe to be offering new foods. Because the reality is if your baby is freaking out, we can not be offering them new foods because a baby who's freaking out is primed to choke on foods. So even if your baby isn't the biggest fan of the High Chair right now, here's a few strategies that might work for you inside of this episode. So I wanted to hear a quick story about a mom.

Katie Ferraro (2m 6s):

I was just working with my friend Arlene. So I was doing her baby Jacobs. First 10 days of baby led weaning. We were doing it mostly for Instagram, but she was actually on the podcast. I interviewed her a while back in episode 190, that was the episode it was called. Why this mom decided to do BLW after spoonfeeding her first three. So that's my friend, Arlene Peck. And this is her first time doing baby led weaning. So she's my friend that had three really picky eaters. She had kids like before. All of us are her kids are a little bit older now and she has an eight and a half year gap between baby number three. Who's now eight and a half years old and baby Jacob. So it's their first time doing baby led weaning super hopeful that this approach is going to help her sidestep.

Katie Ferraro (2m 47s):

Some of the challenging, picky eating situation that she has been in the past with our older kids. So day one, Jacob shows up to my house cause I do all my baby feeding at my house. She lives close to me and I had gotten her a Nomi High Chair and we put Jacob in the High Chair, literally loses his, you know what? And she says, oh, I forgot to mention. Jacob hates being wrapped into things like he hates this stroller and he hates the car seat. He freaks out. He hates all of it. So apparently he hates being in the High Chair too. I was like, okay, I've got like the FIRST FOODS prepared for him, but like, yeah, can I do it if the kid's not going to sit in the High Chair. So let's look at a couple of scenarios. I'm going to share what I did with Jacob, but also some other ideas that have worked for other babies that I've worked with in the past.

Katie Ferraro (3m 27s):

The first one is Jacob. Didn't like being strapped in the High Chair. So we went no straps. If you're using a High Chair, like the Stoker trip trap or the Nomi High Chair, they have this baby guard that essentially is going to hold a six month old baby. Now you read the manufacturer's materials and it says you have to strap the baby in, but is your six month old baby gonna climb out of the High Chair? Heck no, I have, in my experience, literally feeding thousands of babies encountered one baby who could climb out of a High Chair at six months. If that's your baby. Yeah, you got to strap it in, you know, your baby best. If you've got that plastic baby guard around them, holding them in and you've got their feet resting flat on the footrest. And even if they pop up a little bit, they're not going to fall to the High Chair.

Katie Ferraro (4m 7s):

Now there are straps and you can put them on if you want to. But if you have the baby who doesn't like to be strapped in, it's okay to leave the straps off in my very humble opinion. Why think about it early on in baby led weaning is when your baby is at a slightly higher risk of choking, right? They've never had anything in her mouth except breast milk or formula. And while we know that baby led weaning does not increase the risk of joking as compared to traditional spoon-feeding provided the parents are educated about reducing choking risk. We also know that choking is a very rare, but a real risk. So in the event that your baby would have a choking incident, you want to be able to really easily extract the baby from that High Chair. And you don't want to be fumbling with or dealing with a five-point harness that you don't really know how to use. Cause you just got it. You know, baby stuff is like, you got that car seat and you're like, this is impossible.

Katie Ferraro (4m 50s):

New to you at a hundred times. You're like, this is so easy. I can do it in my sleep with one finger. It's kind of like that with the High Chair straps also with the bibs, be careful with some of those contraption dibs or like tent, like ones. There's one that goes over the baby's head. Now it goes over the whole tray, completely restricts their range of motion, steer clear of those. Those can actually inhibit your ability to extract her baby from the High Chair. I'm perfectly fine with baby Jacob asking his mom, are you okay with this? Like, let's sit him in here and let's see how he does. If we don't put the straps on, he actually was a little bit more chill. So technique number one, depending upon your High Chair, see if you're comfortable doing those drafts. If that makes your baby more comfortable, once they start popping up, moving around a little while into baby led weaning. Yeah. Yeah. You got to put the straps on, but early on, there's definitely certain natures like the trip trap and the Nomi that there's another guard to hold the baby in and the straps might not be necessary.

Katie Ferraro (5m 35s):

Second. What about taking a break? If the baby's freaking out, like you're working something new into the schedule, right? I know you get your schedule down with your naps and your playtime and your tummy time. And then you get thrown for a loop with this new, oh, I gotta do solid food stuff. It just might not be the right time for your baby. It's totally fine to take a break. It's okay. If the time that you decided the baby's going to eat the solid food, the baby has decided I'm not into this. So with we took them out of the High Chair, we put him down on the carpet. We gave him a toy to play with. I actually got some video of him sitting upright to show you guys that this guy's sitting up and ready to start solid foods. He was chilling. Put him back into the High Chair a few minutes later, just build in that pad where you might have to take a break and don't get mad at yourself or be frustrated if your baby decides that they're not in the mood for eating at the very 15 minute increment that you decided the baby's going to eat.

Katie Ferraro (6m 21s):

The next strategy is to have a snack very early on in baby led weaning that baby is not eating in response to hunger. We don't want your baby to be starving. When we come to eat solid foods, because they're going to freak out, they don't know how to eat. So the food, there's no way I could possibly alleviate the sensation of hunger early on. So you got to kind of find that sweet spot where your baby's like satiate and enough that they're not starving, but not so super full of milk. That if when they start solid foods, they gag and that gag elicits a vomit response. You can expect a little bit of vomiting and baby led weaning. Actually one of the most downloaded episodes on this podcast is episode 20, all about vomit. And what do you do if your baby vomits during baby led weaning, you guys are gross, but you love vomit.

Katie Ferraro (7m 1s):

But we really want to build in a little bit of a pad. And so a pad, meaning from the end of the milk feed to the beginning of the food feed, some babies will need. In the case of some bottle fed babies up to an hour. If you give a baby a huge bottle, they might need an hour. Now we aren't going to take an hour break with Jacob because his mom was at my house to start solid foods. She's like, I'm not going to be here all day. So we give him a snack a little bit. He's a formula fed baby drinking from a bottle. He had a little bit of a snack till it calmed down, chilled out, relaxed, sat down at the chair and was fine with trying the solid foods, especially with breastfed babies. This totally works because you know, the volume that babies drink when they're breastfeeding versus a bottle is way less. So Jacob was one of those babies where if he saw what was left in the bottle, he would freak and flip.

Katie Ferraro (7m 41s):

But like, so his mom just gave him a little bit of a snack to chill him out, put him back in the High Chair. He was actually fine. Another technique that I learned from working with Jacob, who even like a few days into, it was just like a little bit more comfortable in the chair to be honest, practice makes a progress. And again, we don't feed a baby who's actively freaking out or screaming or throwing a fit because they could joke. But he was one of those babies that responded really well to block and bridge. For any of you who have had formal media training, perhaps you have the block and bridge approach. You block the question that you don't want to answer. And you tactfully Bridget to an answer to a question that you wished that they asked you. So the application here with baby led weaning is distraction.

Katie Ferraro (8m 21s):

Basically you put Jacob down. For example, I remember the day that we were doing pork. I think it was day for a baby led weaning for him. He was kind of freaking out still a little bit. And the pork was in strips with a bunch of juice in it. But I know from working with Jacob for three days that he loves the tiny spoon, the little baby led weaning spoon from ezpz. So while he was kind of fussy, freaking out, when I brought the food in, we're trying to get stuff set up. I just gave him the tiny spoon. How does he need the tiny spoon to eat strips of baby led weaning pork carnitas with a bunch of low sodium broth. No, but having the spoon in his hand kind of chilled him out. He could the spoon, he could play with it. When then when I got the food in front of him kind of distract him and I just kind of yanked a spoon out of his hand and he actually went for the pork and picked it up.

Katie Ferraro (9m 4s):

He didn't eat a ton of it, but the point was it chilled him out to have that tiny spoon. You can also do this with a tiny cup. It's not a good idea to start bringing a bunch of toys and iPads, et cetera in there. But if you know, I'm totally fine. If there's another feeding implement on the table to let the baby have it, to distract them crying about being in the High Chair and then redirect them back to the food that you're trying to get them to eat. Another technique is to reposition the baby. Sometimes the baby will cry or stress or fuss because they're uncomfortable in their High Chair. So you can actually start by getting your baby comfortable in the High Chair. Prior to six months of age, a lot of families at four and five months of age will put the baby in the High Chair. We prefer high chairs that don't need a tray. So you can pull the baby right up to the table so that they're participating in the meal with the rest of the family.

Katie Ferraro (9m 44s):

You can give them the empty, tiny cup. You can give them the empty, tiny spoons, but you can get the baby familiar with being in the High Chair, even before they're safe to eat anything except breast milk or formula. And even when your baby is six months of agents starting solid foods, just take a look at the chair. A lot of the chairs have a bunch of extra C R A P that babies don't need, including cushions. Cushions are not developmental. Your baby's bottom is equipped with enough fat that they do not need a cushion. The cushion is an any High Chair. Manufacturer will tell you this, just a ploy to get you to buy an accessory. A baby does not need a High Chair cushion. And by the way, you do not need one more food stained thing to clean.

Katie Ferraro (10m 25s):

Every time I've gotten the manufacturers always send me the cushion and I'm like, thank you. Put it in the closet. In case the parent never asked me about it, but I never used them. Okay. You've got to make sure your baby is positioned properly. And sometimes the chairs, when they have the cushions with them, it actually interferes with proper positioning. So remember the goal is to get the three by 90 effect, meaning your baby's ankles are at a 90 degree angle resting flat on a solid foot plate. Your baby's knees are at a 90 degree angle and your baby's waist is at a 90 degree angle. This may require you to physically manipulate or adjust your baby. You might have to scooch their bottom forward to get the knees to bend. You may have to add something on top of the foot rest that your High Chair has. You may need to turn an adult Barstool or chair around and push it under the baby's dangly feet and then put a phone book or an Amazon box on top of it.

Katie Ferraro (11m 11s):

But there might be some adjustments that you're going to need to get your baby to be comfortable sitting at that 90, 90, 90 angle. And if this information is new to you, or you'd like to learn more about safe high chair positioning, be sure to listen to episode number 172, that was called High Chair. Positioning is about reducing choking risk using this one simple move. And that was an interview with Jeff Durkee of Nomi high Chair is great suggestions there for how to make positioning safe in lots of different highchairs and how the adjustable footplate on the Nomi really helps to make it. One of the safest chairs out there for your baby. Another strategy is come back later. There's no shame in the feeding failure game, right?

Katie Ferraro (11m 52s):

Hey, guess what? Today? Trying lamb didn't work out for the baby. Let's come back later. Let's come back after the nap. Babies will blow your mind the same food that they wouldn't eat earlier in the day. They might eat later in the day, the same food that they love today. They're going to hate tomorrow. It's not, you don't take it personally. It's totally fine to take a break. Come back later in the day, you already went to the effort to make that food, bring it back later and try it again later. So I mentioned with Jacob that we were using the Nomi High Chair. That's my favorite High Chair for baby led weaning. It has the adjustable foot rest that you can move without tools. It's got this really cool knob on it that modulates the adjustable foot plate and a separate knob that moves the adjustable seat.

Katie Ferraro (12m 33s):

So what this allows you to do is to constantly be adjusting the seat and the foot rest to meet your baby, where they're at, as they're growing that equate to the increments that your baby grows in. Cause a lot of other chairs, even if they have an adjustable foot rest, they only adjust in one inch increments, which those are not the increments in which your baby grows. So I love this chair because it's incredibly lightweight. It comes in a ton of different wood colors and different seat colors. So like if you're a matchy-matchy person and you want it to match your decor and I'll be real, I'm not a furniture person, but like the nicest piece of furniture, my house is always the Nomi I chairs and actually have a bunch of them for our older kids as well. They're wonderful. They grow with your child through to the teenage years. It can hold up to 300 pounds. I'm sitting in a Nomi High Chair right now.

Katie Ferraro (13m 14s):

It's my desk chair, but a fabulous investment because the reality is you've got to use this chair three times a day for the duration of your child's time with you. This is a chair that will actually grow with your baby into adolescence. So I know a lot of you are familiar with the Nomi High Chair. It's only been available for sale in the United States for about the last three to four years. It's been around in Europe for a long time. It's really a lot different looking than other chairs, but a lot of those design features, all of those design features rather are about helping your baby be independent and to participate in meal times with the family as well as safety, especially in infant feeding. So again, it is certainly an investment. I kind of always laughed like parents who buy a $1,200 stroller then turned around and won a $30 High Chair.

Katie Ferraro (13m 57s):

I'm like, but you'd never even used that stroller. Why don't you sell your fancy stroller with the money that you make with it, turn around and buy a Nomi, which is something that you're actually going to use three times a day, again for the foreseeable future. But if you're shopping this High Chair, I do have a workaround for you for the Nomi and a way that you can get into this High Chair, which I'm not permitted to share the details of it here on the podcast. But if you email me and you put Nomi in the subject line, that's N O M I, I will write you back with the details of how you can get into this High Chair at a point that I promise you will make you happy. So email me, katie@babyledweanteam.com, or I'm going to link in the show notes, how you can just send me an email and it has Nomi in the subject line. And then I'm going to respond with a special tip that if you're shopping the Nomi High Chair, I'm promise you, you're going to love.

Katie Ferraro (14m 43s):

So this is just for US shipments only. I apologize. They only have an affiliate relationship with the Nomi distributor here in the United States. But if you're looking at this High Chair, I want to make sure can get into it. So I will link that information up as well as all the links mentioned in this episode, including other episodes that I've done about High Chair safety. If you're like in the market for shopping a High Chair right now, it's all going to be linked up at the show notes for this episode, which you can find at blwpodcast.com/205. So if your baby doesn't love the High Chair right now, hang in there, try some of those strategies. And now you have my email address. Send me an email. Let me know how they work. Thanks for listening guys. See you next time.