In this episode I am talking to Jenna Helwig, the food director at ‘Real Simple’ magazine, the mom of a 1 one year old and author of 3 fantastic cookbooks. Besides others she wrote the number one bestseller ‘Baby Led Feeding’ and that is the main reason I’m so excited to talk to her about:

• What is baby-led weaning?
• The biggest mistakes while baby led weaning
• How to make the process more simple and enjoyable
• How to simplify food preparation
• The difference between meal prepping and meal planning
• Favorite supermarket shortcuts
• How to minimize food waste

Find Jenna Helwig online at jennahelwig.com or get her amazing cook books Bare Minimum Dinner and Baby-Led Feeding.

00;00;01;05 – 00;00;23;29

Jenna Helwig

There are so many moms out there who have these rules about starting solids that are really not based in anything scientific. You know, there are a lot of baby legs, meaning rules that are like, well, you can never let a puree pass to your child’s lips. If you do that, then it’s not baby led weaning. And you have to just like go back to breast milk or formula and start all over.

 

00;00;24;01 – 00;00;51;22

Dr. Mona

That is not true. Welcome back to the PedsDocTalk podcast. I’m fangirling a little bit because I’m welcoming my most favorite author of the only cookbooks I own, which says a lot because I don’t own many cookbooks, but she’s the only one that I purchase cookbooks from. Her name is Jenna Helwig. She is a author, my mom, as well as food director at Real Simple magazine, and we are talking about how to simplify and enjoy baby led feeding or baby led weaning.

 

00;00;51;23 – 00;00;54;17

Dr. Mona

Thank you so much for joining me today, Jenna.

 

00;00;54;19 – 00;00;57;16

Jenna Helwig

I am so excited to be here. Thank you.

 

00;00;57;18 – 00;01;19;07

Dr. Mona

So like I said, I discovered you when I was searching for. But when I was doing baby led weaning for my son Ryan, when he was six months, seven months old. And I found your book, baby Lead Feeding. And I loved it. It’s actually, I think, one of your bestselling books. And then recently you came out with a new book called Bare Minimum Dinners, which I also love.

 

00;01;19;07 – 00;01;29;15

Dr. Mona

And it’s great because it also has stuff for the whole family. It’s amazing. So tell me more about yourself, what you do and what brought you to write all these books because they’re phenomenal.

 

00;01;29;17 – 00;01;50;25

Jenna Helwig

Oh, thank you so much. I’m so happy to hear that. Especially with baby led feeding. It really just makes my day, my week, my year. When I hear that people found that book useful. So thank you. As you said, I’m the mom of one. And when my child was a baby, I really got into making baby food. And this was pre baby led weaning.

 

00;01;50;25 – 00;02;10;18

Jenna Helwig

Like I didn’t even I’d never even heard of it before but I so I was making trays and really doing the kind of like homemade baby food thing. Not that I feel like everyone needs to. We can talk about that after, but that was just my jam. And I was not in the food world at all at that point, but that’s what really got me into cooking.

 

00;02;10;20 – 00;02;31;25

Jenna Helwig

And fast forward a few years, I went to culinary school, and I became the food editor at Parents magazine. And this is really all because of baby food. I’m not joking. Amazing. So I was the food editor at Parents magazine for eight years, and I wrote the cookbook Real Baby Food Smooth, Delicious and Baby LED feeding and the Multi-cooker Baby Food Cookbook.

 

00;02;31;26 – 00;02;44;06

Jenna Helwig

I’m all in on this. And then a couple of years ago, I became the food director at Real Simple magazine. And last September, as you said, my book, Bare Minimum Dinners came out amazing.

 

00;02;44;06 – 00;02;57;04

Dr. Mona

And I wanted to ask for the baby led feeding versus baby led weaning. Is there a reason why you chose the word feeding for it? Is that just. Yeah, because I like that you chose the word feeding. I don’t know, I want to talk about that, but was that strategic in any way?

 

00;02;57;05 – 00;03;22;16

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely, yes. So first of all, in this country, weaning means a little something different than it does in the UK. And this baby led weaning term really came to popularity in the UK and Australia. Here it usually means like weaning off of breast milk. Right. Or you know, weaning off of nursing. But when we’re talking about baby led weaning it means starting solids.

 

00;03;22;18 – 00;03;43;26

Jenna Helwig

And so I was like baby lead feeding. Both makes it clearer. But also that’s what we’re talking about here. It’s about baby lead like there. So it’s whether you are doing finger food or whether you are doing purees here and there. It’s about your baby taking the lead. And the feeding part, I think, just makes it clearer and more accessible.

 

00;03;43;26 – 00;03;44;26

Jenna Helwig

Yes.

 

00;03;44;28 – 00;04;02;04

Dr. Mona

Yes, I totally agree with that. And that’s why I think maybe I gravitated towards that book, because I did a mix of purees and baby led weaning, but I wasn’t a traditional baby lead winner because I did purees right? Like we did spoon fed mom directed like, you know, a caregiver directed where it was on in our hand.

 

00;04;02;07 – 00;04;22;20

Dr. Mona

And I just felt like it was more of a blend of some recipes that were puree recipes and, you know, obviously promoting the baby led feeding or self feeding component that I talk about too, like in that book, if you all are not familiar with it. She has also how to cut the vegetables and steam them for safety, which I think is super valuable.

 

00;04;22;26 – 00;04;38;11

Dr. Mona

And then in bare minimum, dinner’s not so much of the baby led feeding. But like I said, it’s like it’s such a great book because now that Ryan eats like a, you know, two and a half year old, I’m able to make all these amazing recipes. Just a few days ago, I made the zucchini pancakes, by the way, from your bare minimum, and they were a huge hit.

 

00;04;38;27 – 00;04;56;27

Dr. Mona

So thank you. I really again, I’m a such a fan because I just feel like cookbooks. There’s so many out there, but when you can really get a good cookbook, especially for that infant feeding, time and then also food that’s great for the entire family. It’s really makes our life simple. And that’s kind of what we’re talking about today.

 

00;04;56;27 – 00;05;21;14

Dr. Mona

Like, how can parents approach baby led weaning in a simplified way and actually enjoy it? Because I feel like there’s just so much stress around mealtimes, especially when parents are starting out, that it actually takes away the joy of meal times, which can inadvertently cause mealtime struggles. So this is actually really an important concept to me and why I wanted you on the podcast today.

 

00;05;21;16 – 00;05;36;10

Jenna Helwig

You know, I think that those are all such good points you made. And I just want to go back to something you said there about how you did some purees and some finger foods. And I think that I call that the mixed approach, this idea that, you know, you can do a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

 

00;05;36;10 – 00;06;02;07

Jenna Helwig

Yeah. To me that is one of the biggest ways to simplify starting solids. And that approach, I think I feel like so let me just back up a little bit. I feel like on Facebook, maybe even on Instagram or Facebook seems to be worse. There are so many moms out there who have these rules about starting solids that are really not based in anything scientific.

 

00;06;02;09 – 00;06;21;26

Jenna Helwig

You know, there are a lot of baby led weaning rules that are like, well, you can never let a puree pass to your child’s lips. If you do that, then it’s not baby led weaning. And you have to just like go back to breast milk or formula and start all over. Like, that is not true. Or this idea that if you also feed purees, your baby’s more likely to choke when they try a finger food.

 

00;06;21;29 – 00;06;38;04

Jenna Helwig

Also not true. So to me, one of the biggest ways of reducing the stress of starting solids is by saying that you can do it either way, or do it both ways together. You do not have to do just baby led weaning to be a good parent.

 

00;06;38;12 – 00;07;02;06

Dr. Mona

Yes. And that’s again why I’m just resonating and loving this conversation already when we’re only just a few minutes and it’s just, it’s so important to squash that culture. And yes, there is so much coming out about Self-feeding baby led weaning. But I think there is also a culture online, like you mentioned, that people feel like, well, if I want to have puree touch my baby’s lips and I’ve now sent them down a path of they’re going to have picky eating, that’s not how it works.

 

00;07;02;06 – 00;07;23;11

Dr. Mona

It’s not how we approach mealtimes in general. Whether you are puree, feeding or baby led weaning, that matters way more to a child’s eating habits. And, you know, all this stuff. And I see picky eaters and both. Right. I think marketing baby led weaning is like, oh, if you baby lead wean your child won’t be picky. I think is false advertising because we absolutely see picky eaters in both methods.

 

00;07;23;25 – 00;07;41;26

Dr. Mona

This comes down to the concept of allowing self control, whether we are putting a spoon in their mouth, or whether you are allowing your baby to feed themselves. The difficult reality is, is that when you are spoon feeding, you’re more likely to set the pace versus allowing the baby to swallow and then show indications that they’re ready for another spoon.

 

00;07;42;01 – 00;07;58;11

Dr. Mona

But both principles everyone can lead to a child who enjoys food, enjoy meals, time. But the kicker here is that Jen is going to get into is that we also have to enjoy and simplify meal times too. Like if we’re coming into it as like, this is stressful and oh my gosh, like I have to think about this and that or the other.

 

00;07;58;19 – 00;08;16;24

Dr. Mona

They’re going to sense that energy and they’re not going to love meal times either. And my goal is to make meal times not stressful for families, because I love meal times. Like I think it should be enjoyable, but I understand that so many listening probably find it very stressful. Especially starting out. Or maybe you have a toddler who you find it stressful or to, you know.

 

00;08;16;26 – 00;08;39;24

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely. And I think that your point there about, you know, spoon feeding and how that can still be baby lead is really important, you know, and like it’s really about feeding responsively. Like and that’s the technical term. But like following your baby’s cues, they’re like if they close their mouth and turn away, you know, don’t make the little airplane to get more into their mouths.

 

00;08;39;24 – 00;09;01;27

Jenna Helwig

Like, you know, really, it requires more attention and connection with your baby, really getting to know them, their facial expressions, which I think is really cool, actually. You know, just having to pay that much attention and just, you know, pick up on their smallest signals, I think is really one of the special things about parenting and feeding.

 

00;09;02;07 – 00;09;19;15

Dr. Mona

I agree, and, you know, I know you’ve written the book about baby love feeding. What do you think the biggest mistake a parent makes when approaching meal prep, maybe. And baby led feeding like, how would you you have a platform here? How would you want parents to simplify this process?

 

00;09;19;18 – 00;09;50;28

Jenna Helwig

Good question. Okay. So I think there are a couple of mistakes. So we’ll talk first about simplifying. But then you know we can also talk about like some things that I see out there that maybe aren’t so safe for your baby. So love it. But in terms of simplifying, I am all about, you know, making a little bit extra of things, using the freezer, defrosting things can stay in your fridge for a few days, like it’s okay, you don’t have to make something different for breakfast seven days a week for your baby.

 

00;09;51;01 – 00;10;16;05

Jenna Helwig

Yeah, I mean, we all. Yes, variety is great, and this is a time when your baby is more open to new flavors than possibly he or she will ever be again. But you know, you have to make things easy on yourself, too. So I would say, first of all, don’t expect that you have to live up to this ideal of variety every single meal, every single day.

 

00;10;16;08 – 00;10;41;21

Jenna Helwig

Yeah, leftovers are there for a reason. Use them. And then secondly, single ingredient finger foods are also wonderful. And there are lots that you don’t have to cook like avocado and berries, hard boiled eggs, and you have to cook. But so simple, so nutritious, making a scrambled egg, you know, that’s going to take you 45 seconds and wow, your baby is getting such excellent nutrition there.

 

00;10;41;24 – 00;10;55;21

Dr. Mona

Absolutely. These are all already great tips. And like I said in your books you always talk about ways to kind of make things simple, especially in that baby live feeding book. What else did you say you were saying? Like obviously this, but there was other strategies as well.

 

00;10;55;24 – 00;11;17;25

Jenna Helwig

Yes. So the other thing is, you know, one of the beautiful things about baby led feeding is that you can bring the baby to the family table earlier. So it’s important that the foods that you serve are a safe shade, safe texture. But the goal is to just be making one meal for everyone. And that’s why baby led feeding.

 

00;11;17;28 – 00;11;31;23

Jenna Helwig

And then also in real baby food, there’s a whole chapter of family meals. So after like the first month or so of your baby starting salad, you can just be making the same thing for everyone. Just being conscious, like sodium and texture and shape.

 

00;11;31;25 – 00;11;49;29

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I think that’s, I think why it can be stressful for parents when they’re being told, hey, feed your baby where you’re eating. But then the safety thing obviously is a huge reality. Obviously. Yeah. Although we do agree that you can feed your baby what you eat, there are some stuff that you can’t touch is like whole nuts and the globs of peanut butter, things like that.

 

00;11;49;29 – 00;12;10;27

Dr. Mona

But yes, simplifying the food prep and not having to make many meals for everybody is the goal. I mean, that is what the goal is for even life after infancy and childhood is that you’re not making, you know, the short order cook, like you’re not making five different meals for everybody in your home is the goal. And that can start from the moment you start small is that you’re saying, hey, we’re going to do this.

 

00;12;10;27 – 00;12;29;23

Dr. Mona

And, you know, like you said, single ingredient vegetables. Like if you’re making something and there’s a carrot, you can make the carrot as a baby led weaning style. And so it’s the same thing you’re eating, but maybe you’re eating it as more of a hard carrot or something, you know, like there’s just different ways to make it simplify, but also be what you’re eating in a way, too.

 

00;12;29;25 – 00;12;50;00

Jenna Helwig

Yes. I think that exactly what you just said, you know, if your baby can’t eat exactly what it is you’re eating, depending on what it is you’re cooking, pull out some of that, like the carrots or the vegetables, you know, even the chicken, like, shred the chicken for, you know, after it’s cooked, you shred it and then you could add the sauce to yours, although your baby would probably appreciate the sauce too.

 

00;12;50;00 – 00;13;00;19

Jenna Helwig

But, but I think that as much as possible that you can just make one meal for the whole family that will save you stress in the kitchen.

 

00;13;00;22 – 00;13;16;05

Dr. Mona

And of course, you’ve written, you know, these few cookbooks, obviously five or so. But what would be like your biggest hack with meal prep? You said that obviously freezing things, but what has really helped you as a mom? Save time in the kitchen with all the recipes that you do.

 

00;13;16;07 – 00;13;40;01

Jenna Helwig

The number one thing and it sounds so basic, is I prep, not cook, but wash and cut vegetables ahead of time because I find like I really try to serve a vegetable with every meal that’s, you know, I see, like that’s what makes dinner. You gotta let it manageable. Yeah. Even though it’s not a real rule, but it’s one of my family rules is there needs to be a vegetable.

 

00;13;40;01 – 00;13;57;28

Jenna Helwig

And I find that when I’m cooking dinner, I’m coming home from work, I’m tired and we’re in a rush. That the thing that is so easy to leave off is the vegetable. So I find that if I have the broccoli, for example, already washed and chopped in the fridge, it’s pretty easy to just put on a sheet pan to roast.

 

00;13;58;01 – 00;14;12;20

Jenna Helwig

Or if you know, I’ve got the lettuce already washed, how much time does it take to make a salad? Like 45 seconds? But if I have to, like, wash the whole head of lettuce right before dinner and then dry it, then that is much less likely to happen.

 

00;14;12;22 – 00;14;30;18

Dr. Mona

I completely agree with that. I mean, I end up sometimes, you know, utilizing frozen vegetables, but even that the warming, the thawing process like, and then you’re like trying to make the meal, but you also have to thaw everything out and cook the vegetables and pre-cooked them if you will, like. It’s a lot of extra time, like you’re saying, that could have been saved.

 

00;14;30;18 – 00;14;31;27

Dr. Mona

I love that idea.

 

00;14;32;00 – 00;14;55;10

Jenna Helwig

And I think also I am not a meal prepper, but if anyone is amazing, go for it. I’m not someone who’s like spending a few hours on a Sunday, like making the meals for the week. You know, I am a meal planner and I find that that really helps me a lot, you know? So I will like on Friday or Saturday I’ll sit down and think, maybe four nights.

 

00;14;55;10 – 00;15;10;04

Jenna Helwig

What am I going to make for night? Yeah, week. So it doesn’t have to be seven. What am I going to make four nights then? I can make the grocery list, and then I know when I’m ready to cook dinner those nights. But I got the food. I already have the plan. It just makes things much more seamless.

 

00;15;10;04 – 00;15;17;07

Jenna Helwig

If I open the fridge at 5:45 a.m., like, what am I going to cook? Like I can do it, but it takes too much brainpower at that point.

 

00;15;17;07 – 00;15;36;24

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I love that. And I relate to that so much because I think for a long time I was also trying to do meal prepping and not the planning. And I later realized that the planning is actually what works better for me, that, hey, this is what I’m going to plan out this night will be takeout night, or this night will do frozen like chicken nuggets if I don’t come up with something else by 6:00, right.

 

00;15;36;24 – 00;16;01;16

Dr. Mona

Like, I, I plan that in my head so that when that time rolls around, you’re not feeling guilty of, oh, shoot, what am I feeding my child? It’s already 6:00 or whatever time you know, a meal is if you’re doing lunch or dinner. And I completely resonate with that because that has changed my life, too. And something else you said earlier was about the, I think, the parental assumption or feeling like we need to serve everything all the time.

 

00;16;01;16 – 00;16;18;12

Dr. Mona

And that, I think, just adds so much stress. You know, I think people try to focus on the variety. But one thing I always tell my families is that even as an adult, you don’t eat everything. Like, you know, you also, as an adult, probably eat the same 4 or 5 things for breakfast or maybe the same 1 or 2 things or lunch.

 

00;16;18;12 – 00;16;29;13

Dr. Mona

You’re not eating everything. So I think we hold our child to this expectation that I have to introduce this and this and this day, in this day, and that stresses parents out. And I’m sure you can agree to that, right?

 

00;16;29;15 – 00;17;00;29

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely. Yes. And a word that you also just said this word guilt. Oh boy. Like I know that it’s so easy to feel that way, but I also just do not believe in it. Yeah. Like we are all doing the absolute best we can and that is good enough for your baby. That is great. So yeah, just we all just need to take a good like 30% of the pressure off of our shoulders when it comes to feeding our kids.

 

00;17;01;02 – 00;17;11;29

Jenna Helwig

You know, I love of course, I’ve written these cookbooks. I love homemade meals for kids, but it’s not going to happen every night. And that is, yeah, 1,000%. Okay.

 

00;17;12;01 – 00;17;31;13

Dr. Mona

And I love that you’re saying that because I am always on my social media channel trying to remind moms, especially because I have 98% of my followers are moms. And I’m like, look, everyone can be amazing at their niche, right? So you are really good at cooking and you also even at your great at cooking, also serve ready to eat meals and you’re not always in the kitchen.

 

00;17;31;13 – 00;17;55;02

Dr. Mona

It’s important to remember that when you’re on social and seeing someone who is great at cooking and you’re like, well, they’re great at cooking, they’re just amazing at everything, why am I not great at everything like that? That is really important for people to hear that even someone who is a world renowned author, you know, part of obviously, magazines of food directors also understand that there’s balance in life because that’s what is survival.

 

00;17;55;02 – 00;18;13;25

Dr. Mona

And like you said, like taking off that pressure and saying, yeah, I could, maybe I didn’t. It’s okay. Like I’m feeding my child. Not that I’m feeding them X, Y or Z. I’m feeding that. My goal is variety. My goal is introduction of different things. But I’m not going to hold myself to like a, a standard that it has to be X number or this or that.

 

00;18;14;03 – 00;18;19;28

Dr. Mona

I’m just going to kind of go with it. And I just look, we’ve kind of lost the go with that mentality a little bit.

 

00;18;19;28 – 00;18;45;03

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely. And you feel that what you just said is exactly what led me to write bare minimum dinners, because, you know, as my life got more busy and my friends lives got more busy, I realized that we were holding ourselves to these higher standards that just didn’t fit into our lives anymore. And in fact, if we just kind of let go of some of our ambition in the kitchen, we would be much happier.

 

00;18;45;03 – 00;19;07;01

Jenna Helwig

Our families would be happier because no one wants a stressed out mom like, you know, putting the three courses of dinner on the table before she goes and cries. So, right, you know, bare minimum is great. Like I eat can still be delicious. They can still be, you know, healthy ish, but it just doesn’t need to live up to a lot of what we see on social.

 

00;19;07;04 – 00;19;16;28

Dr. Mona

Well, I love Bare minimum dinners, the book, because you organize the book by meals that you know, for time prep, and then you also organize it by ingredients, correct?

 

00;19;16;28 – 00;19;17;19

Jenna Helwig

Yes.

 

00;19;17;21 – 00;19;32;00

Dr. Mona

Yes, I remember seeing that. Yeah. And I love that I mentioned to you before we started recording. My mom was visiting and she, loved the book. She was like, wow, Moana, this is like such a great cook. And that says a lot because my mom is like a phenomenal cook. So she was like, this is so nice.

 

00;19;32;00 – 00;19;51;23

Dr. Mona

She’s like so organized. And for me, the reason why I appreciate that book. Obviously we’ve already talked about why I love baby led feeding, but I love that because of how you organize that, because sometimes in my brain, I look at recipes online or someone shared on their social, and there’s so many ingredients and I’m like, I don’t have those spices in my spice rack.

 

00;19;51;28 – 00;20;14;04

Dr. Mona

I’m not this amazing cook. Like I’m not. I’m very I will admit to everybody that I’m not this amazing cook, but I do know how to follow a recipe. And I need those ingredients though. But you really simplify it so that it can help when people are meal planning that. Okay, I’m going to make the zucchini pancakes on Thursday, so I gotta make sure I, I get these things and I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen on Wednesday.

 

00;20;14;04 – 00;20;30;12

Dr. Mona

So what’s a meal that maybe is a little more quick to whip up? That’s in bare minimum dinners. And the title, although it says bare minimum like the meals are phenomenal. I mean, you know, it’s bare minimum means taking the thought process as much out of it and just really enjoying the experience because it is a really great book.

 

00;20;30;12 – 00;20;32;10

Dr. Mona

So again, thanks for writing that one.

 

00;20;32;12 – 00;20;52;14

Jenna Helwig

Oh, thank you so much for saying that. And I think that, you know, another thing that I really came to embrace was like these supermarket shortcuts, right, that, you know, and it could be anything from and same when it goes for feeding your baby. You mentioned frozen vegetables before. Like, you know, I think frozen spinach, like there is so much you can do with that.

 

00;20;52;17 – 00;21;16;20

Jenna Helwig

And how great to not have to, like, wash a whole boatload of spinach. That frozen spinach, frozen broccoli, frozen cauliflower. You know, even, like, shortcut sauces, like enchilada sauce. Like, I try to find the brands that I think have good ingredients and, you know, that I think are delicious. But I used to shy away from those, like, after I got out of culinary school, I was like, well, I’m going to make everything from scratch.

 

00;21;17;01 – 00;21;25;14

Jenna Helwig

Yeah, I’ve really seen a lot. I don’t need to first of all of the time. And second of all, they’re just such great options out there better than ever before.

 

00;21;25;17 – 00;21;35;02

Dr. Mona

Yes. Thank you so much for mentioning that, because I think that is also a misconception about frozen vegetables. You know that they’re not as nutritious. And from your experience, obviously you’re saying that it’s a great option.

 

00;21;35;02 – 00;21;54;16

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely no frozen fruit. I’ve got so many of both of those in my freezer. And also, you know, when we’re talking about feeding babies, one of the really important things for finger foods is texture. You know, the food needs to be soft enough to squish between your thumb and forefinger with just gentle pressure in order to be safe.

 

00;21;54;18 – 00;22;04;22

Jenna Helwig

So frozen vegetables you have to do have to defrost them and, you know, heat them up. But they are already cooked, so you’re already well on your way to that soft texture.

 

00;22;04;25 – 00;22;19;19

Dr. Mona

Oh, this is so great. Thank you for adding that one, because I just really feel like that is a really, really big misconception. And there’s a lot of judgment about frozen vegetables and fruits like you mentioned. And I’m like, wow, it’s a vegetable. Still. It still has the nutrients. Like, what are you.

 

00;22;19;19 – 00;22;20;08

Jenna Helwig

Why are you.

 

00;22;20;12 – 00;22;36;21

Dr. Mona

And I knew it’s fine. But like when you hear again my followers on social or moms talking with each other and I’m like, no, no, like because I know what’s going to happen. Another concept that we have to really remind ourselves like to simplify things. Then there’s going to be way more waste, right? If you have fresh spinach and then you should either freeze it or store it.

 

00;22;36;22 – 00;22;56;21

Dr. Mona

You don’t want things to go bad. What would you say? Like someone who may be listening and is kind of worried about waste? Like, you know, when they’re trying to approach meal planning and, you know, trying to make it where they’re utilizing all of their ingredients. Do you have any tips on how to minimize waste of produce or meats or anything like that?

 

00;22;56;24 – 00;23;02;20

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely. So first of all, if you don’t buy it, it’s not going to go to waste.

 

00;23;02;23 – 00;23;04;10

Dr. Mona

So yeah. Yeah.

 

00;23;04;12 – 00;23;23;26

Jenna Helwig

I think that this is another place where meal planning really comes into play. Because if you’re going to the grocery store and believe me, I’ve been there, done that and you’re just winging it, it’s so easy to buy more than you need, especially if something is on sale. You’re like, wow, look, you know, all this, you know, I don’t know why I’m using spinach.

 

00;23;23;26 – 00;23;59;07

Jenna Helwig

No one gets that excited about spinach. But all the strawberries I love, I love okay, all these strawberries are on sale, but, you know, just being really realistic about how much your family is going to eat before the food goes bad is really important then, too. You know, when we touched on this already using your freezer, if you did buy all those strawberries and you’re like, oh boy, these are these have got like another hour before they turn to mush, either you could just put them in a bag and throw them in the freezer, or if you want them to kind of stay separate, not glob up into one big ball.

 

00;23;59;09 – 00;24;17;18

Jenna Helwig

You can freeze them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. So put them in the freezer that way. Then they’ll stay separate. This works also for like blueberries and raspberries or banana slices. Then once they’re frozen, you can put them into a bag, and then you can still be able to take out just 1 or 2 or whatever quantity you need.

 

00;24;17;20 – 00;24;34;12

Dr. Mona

Yeah, these are phenomenal tips. And I you know, I think one of the biggest things I hear from people who are doing the baby led weaning approach is they’re concerned about the amount of waste if their child doesn’t eat. And I hear that, I mean, I understand that food is valuable and the stuff we’re lucky to be able to afford these things.

 

00;24;34;17 – 00;24;56;02

Dr. Mona

One thing to add is that when you’re approaching the meal, also remember everyone that you can start with smaller portions, right? I think what happens also with the feeding with children is that you put like a whole kings platter on there in front of their face, like start with a little bit like, you know, Jenna was saying, like, the carrots that are steamed that you can put between your fingers, but starting out with a couple pieces of carrots, if they eat that, you can always add.

 

00;24;56;08 – 00;25;12;23

Dr. Mona

And that way you’re not wasting stuff that’s been kind of missed around or mushed around in their mouth or anything, and that preserves the food. But I think, you know, people get into that mindset that I have to give everything at once. I’m like, yes, you should present what you’re feeding, but you can do a little rice, a little, you know, a little, carrot.

 

00;25;12;23 – 00;25;28;22

Dr. Mona

And then if they eat all of it, add and and when you start to be more responsive with their feeding, they’ll tell you when they’re done. I mean, I think parents forget that. Yes. If they start pushing away and like, over it, but let them lead the show. But you can always add I think that’s a big mistake that people forget.

 

00;25;28;25 – 00;25;52;27

Jenna Helwig

That is such a good point. And I think also then as many kids get choosier, you know, ask them, you know, like 15 months or so. Yeah. Then you know, also wanting so insurmountable like if you’re giving your kid a giant plate of carrots. Yeah, they might be a little choosier about the carrots. I just say, well, 1 or 2 and, you know, and maybe they’re going to eat it, maybe they’re not going to eat it, but it makes it seem less intimidating.

 

00;25;52;27 – 00;25;55;04

Jenna Helwig

And you don’t want to wait.

 

00;25;55;07 – 00;26;09;03

Dr. Mona

The intimidation. Yes. And then also it gives you unmet expectations as a parent. Right. Because you put something out and you expect in your head that that child is going to eat all of it when you can’t control how much they are going to intake, nor if they’re really that hungry.

 

00;26;09;07 – 00;26;10;07

Jenna Helwig

That’s right. Right.

 

00;26;10;07 – 00;26;29;04

Dr. Mona

It’s like, oh, it’s like it’s so funny because I’m like, sometimes I want to eat like a steak dinner for dinner and like I want all the fixings. Other days I’m like, I’m just to a bowl of cereal. Like, I’m not that hungry. So children are the same. And actually I have a whole thing about food refusal. But children will go through waves of this many times as they grow, and the parents will be like, wow, my kid’s not eating.

 

00;26;29;04 – 00;26;35;16

Dr. Mona

They’re a picky eater. I’m like, actually, they’re probably just not that hungry. And there’s a whole nuance to all of that. But this is these are such great tips. Jenna.

 

00;26;35;18 – 00;26;59;19

Jenna Helwig

Yes. Oh. Thank you. I just want to piggyback on one thing you said there that could be a whole other podcast about picky eating, which I feel like. Yeah, thought and read and written so much about. But, you know, if kids aren’t hungry, we shouldn’t encourage them to eat right? Yeah, I think especially as they get a little older and they maybe have more snacks and stuff, and also their growth slows down like they, you know, toddlers don’t eat as much.

 

00;26;59;23 – 00;27;05;00

Jenna Helwig

Right? They’re just not as hungry. Bodies don’t need it as much. And that is totally okay.

 

00;27;05;02 – 00;27;21;19

Dr. Mona

And that that switch can be really hard for parents. Like I remember when Ryan was an infant, he could I’m giving you an example. He would be able like at 11 months to down two slices of pizza. I’m giving an example. I’m like, it actually happened, right? And then when he became a toddler, some days I would give him pizza.

 

00;27;21;26 – 00;27;39;01

Dr. Mona

No, mama, not hungry. I’m like, okay. And then my mother in law would be there and she’s like, Mona, give him something else. And I’m like, mom, he loves pizza. Like, if he really wanted the pizza, he would eat the pizza. And then, you know, he wouldn’t eat it. So it’s so crazy because in your if you feel you’re seeing your child eat so much and like parents, I get it.

 

00;27;39;01 – 00;27;54;07

Dr. Mona

Parents love to talk about their children eating so much. And look at how much my kid eats. But then when it switches, because naturally they’re going through to go through the phases, you’re going to be confused and be like, do they not like my food? Do they? Are they not hungry? What’s going on? Like, is something wrong? And that leads to that spiral.

 

00;27;54;11 – 00;27;56;17

Dr. Mona

But I don’t want anyone to have listening to this okay.

 

00;27;56;19 – 00;28;05;15

Jenna Helwig

Absolutely. Yeah. You put I think parents put so much judgment on themselves when that happens. Yeah. It really is a natural phenomenon.

 

00;28;05;17 – 00;28;17;26

Dr. Mona

Oh, this is so great. Is there anything else that you wanted to add? I think we talked about really great tips on the simplification process and some mistakes we make when doing baby led weaning, but is there anything else that you wanted to add? Before we wrap up.

 

00;28;17;28 – 00;28;43;25

Jenna Helwig

I would just say, and what I’m about to say sometimes this is a tall order, but as much as possible, try to have fun with food, you know, especially when you are just starting out. I mean, I love food more than almost anything in the world. So this idea of like introducing the whole world of flavors to your child is just like such a special, incredible thing.

 

00;28;43;27 – 00;29;07;25

Jenna Helwig

And, you know, I just really like to encourage parents to come at it from a place of like, fun and joy and less about anxiety. You know, my cooking mantra and even kind of my feeding mantra is like, you know, assuming everything’s safe is like, it’s going to be fine. It’s going to be fine. So let’s just remember that and then just enjoy it.

 

00;29;07;27 – 00;29;29;11

Dr. Mona

Yes. Just enjoy it is my closing statement too. And I get it. It’s so hard sometimes to just enjoy it. I’ve been there with the food refusal, but really what Jenna said like it is just it can be the simplified, enjoyable process. But I think we overthink it sometimes. And you know how I like to end these episodes, Jenna is just a random kind of question, just to kind of get to know you a little bit, and our audience can get to know you.

 

00;29;29;17 – 00;29;38;09

Dr. Mona

So you are a mom. So tell me your biggest parenting fail and your biggest parenting victory. Things in your you know, I know you have a child who’s 16 years. Yeah.

 

00;29;38;09 – 00;29;38;20

Jenna Helwig

So I.

 

00;29;38;20 – 00;29;48;16

Dr. Mona

Guess so. I’m sure there’s 16 years to to. Sure. But something let’s start with the fail first. But then I also like to And it would like a victory. Like something that you’re really proud of that you’ve done as a parent.

 

00;29;48;19 – 00;30;09;24

Jenna Helwig

Yes. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well I’m going to switch it around because I mean trust me, there are plenty of places I failed. It’s not going to be that amazing thing. But I will say, I don’t even know if this is actually maybe this is a failure, but I love that my kid sometimes takes pictures of their food because I take pictures of my food all the time.

 

00;30;09;29 – 00;30;35;11

Jenna Helwig

So forth, but I just, I don’t know, there’s something I find that’s so touching about it to me. I’m like, oh, they’ve watched me doing this, you know? And food is an important part of our lives. And sometimes so they’ll cook something, you know, go in the kitchen, make themselves like they like to use spices and onions and, you know, so they’ll make themselves like, you know, souped up macaroni and cheese or whatever, and then take a picture of it and it just, like, makes my heart filled with pride.

 

00;30;35;12 – 00;30;41;00

Jenna Helwig

I don’t think they actually do anything with that picture, but it just I’m like, oh, they’re proud of what they cooked.

 

00;30;41;02 – 00;30;43;09

Dr. Mona

That is so sweet. I love that.

 

00;30;43;11 – 00;31;05;10

Jenna Helwig

I do love that. Like, okay, here is an actual fail. This is something I regret when we live in New York City, and I feel like we’re always in a hurry. And when we’d, like, take the subway to preschool, I was always saying, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. And I look back on that and I’m like, you know, why was I in such a hurry?

 

00;31;05;15 – 00;31;23;12

Jenna Helwig

Like, let’s let the poor kid just walk a little slower. You know, I do wish that I had just been a little more relaxed about getting from here to there. Let’s stop and smell the flowers a little bit. So that is something that I wish I had done differently now.

 

00;31;23;16 – 00;31;24;01

Dr. Mona

You know, I think.

 

00;31;24;03 – 00;31;24;13

Jenna Helwig

No.

 

00;31;24;19 – 00;31;41;00

Dr. Mona

No, I just can see it’s not negative. That’s why I love these questions because it actually from the fail and I shouldn’t really use the word feel. But from that you just taught us such an important thing. Like you’re teaching a new generation of parents to just kind of slow down. And that is why I love that you ended with that.

 

00;31;41;00 – 00;31;58;09

Dr. Mona

So I, you know, talk to other guests the same. I’ve asked the same question. And I’m like, well, through the fail, we’re learning something, right? You either learn something or that we are learning something from your experience. And I love being able to ask parents from different parts of their journey, whether you have a, you know, one child, an older child, you’re just a new mom.

 

00;31;58;09 – 00;32;07;01

Dr. Mona

It’s just so nice. So thank you so much for that. This is a whole two topic and conversation on baby led weaning, but we got some a parenting tip about slowing it down, which I just love.

 

00;32;07;03 – 00;32;12;13

Jenna Helwig

Oh good. Well, I hope that was helpful. And this is yeah, a lovely conversation. Thank you.

 

00;32;12;13 – 00;32;29;06

Dr. Mona

So much. Really an honor. I again, just like I said, I love your books. You have five of them, but I personally own the baby led feeding and bare minimum dinner, and I know I have to get the other three. Now, where can people find you? Where can they buy your book? And then anything else you wanted to share with everyone listening today?

 

00;32;29;08 – 00;32;43;00

Jenna Helwig

Yes. So on Instagram, I’m at real baby food, real baby food. My website and blog is jennahelwig.com. You can check out my books there or they’re all on Amazon, of course.

 

00;32;43;02 – 00;32;49;27

Dr. Mona

Thank you so much. I’m going to link everything in the show notes. And once again, Jenna, thank you for joining me today. This is such an honor.

 

00;32;50;04 – 00;32;51;26

Jenna Helwig

Thank you so much. Was great to talk to you.

 

00;32;51;28 – 00;33;07;22

Dr. Mona

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always, please leave a review, share this episode with a friend, share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel, PedsDocTalk TV. We’ll talk to you soon.