Episode 16 of Airway Answers: "Baby Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro, MPD, RD"

Welcome to the "Airway Answers: Expanding your Breath of Knowledge" with Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM®.  Learn all About Baby-Led Weaning and How It May Apply To Helping Grow The Jaws.   In this conversation, Nicole Goldfarb interviews Katie Ferraro, a registered dietitian and expert in baby-led weaning. BLW is a safe and reliable alternative to conventional adult-led spoon feeding. It involves allowing babies to feed themselves from their first bites and introducing a wide variety of textured foods. BLW promotes jaw growth and development, which is crucial for airway health. It is recommended to start baby-led weaning at around six months of age, when babies can sit relatively independently. The process of baby-led weaning takes time and patience, but it offers numerous benefits for both babies and parents. This conversation explores the method of baby-led weaning and the transition to solid foods. It emphasizes the importance of sensory experience, proper feeding gear, and the gradual introduction of utensils. The conversation also addresses the challenges with sippy cups and the benefits of open cup drinking. It highlights the adaptability of baby-led weaning for special needs children and the role of registered dietitians in guiding parents through the process.

Takeaways
*Baby-led weaning is a gradual process that involves introducing solid foods and reducing milk feeds over time.
*Sensory experience and the use of appropriate feeding gear are crucial for a successful transition to solid foods.
*Open cup drinking is encouraged to promote oral motor development and reduce excessive milk consumption.
*The introduction of utensils should be gradual, starting with spoons and later incorporating forks.
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ABOUT THE GUEST:
Katie Ferraro is Registered Dietitian and mom of seven specializing in baby-led weaning. In 2016, she created the original 100 First Foods approach to starting solid foods with baby-led weaning. Through her workshops, podcast, courses, and digital content, she has helped tens of thousands of families give their babies a safe start to solid foods using the alternative to conventional, adult-led spoon-feeding known as baby-led weaning. Teaching families, daycare providers, and healthcare practitioners how to do baby-led weaning safely is her passion. Katie is a Nutrition Instructor at the University of California San Diego Extended Studies and a Lecturer in the Exercise and Nutrition Science department at San Diego State University. While she works as a dietitian specializing in infant feeding, her real job is at home where her husband and she are parents to seven kids, age 9 and under: a singleton, quadruplets, and twins. She started Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro to help educate parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers on how to give their babies a safe start to solid foods using baby-led weaning.
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ABOUT THE HOST:
Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM® is a Speech-Language Pathologist, Certified Orofacial Myologist, International speaker, author, Ambassador for the Breathe Institute, a Talk Tools educational partner, and she has served on the faculty for the Sleep Education Consortium and the Airway, Sleep, and Pediatrics Pathway (ASAP) program. She has completed over 50 presentations nationally and internationally and is the author of many articles. Nicole is the owner of San Diego Center For Speech Therapy & Myofunctional Therapy. She currently serves as a mentor and consultant to patients, professionals, and colleagues nationally and internationally in the field of orofacial myofunctional therapy.  Nicole’s life-long quest is to help in the early identification and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing and airway issues. For more on Nicole, visit her practice: www.sandiegocenterforspeechtherapy.com. Follow her Facebook: San Diego Center for Speech Therapy.