Starting Baby on Solid Foods & Nutrition Considerations for Mothers with Plant Based Juniors

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As a new mother, we want to give our baby the best nutrition and care. It is of our highest priority, and feeling empowered with nutritional information and support is so crucial to helping mom’s feel confident during the postpartum phase. In this follow up episode with two dietitians Whitney and Alex from Plant Based Juniors, we sit down to discuss postpartum care, optimal nutrition for mothers, and a dive into starting baby on solid foods.
I loved this conversation about the messy yet beautiful journey of the postpartum experience, and value all the information and expertise Whitney and Alex share.Both mothers to predominantly plant-based children themselves, Plant Based Juniors was created because they saw a need for easy-to-access information on evidence-based nutrition for pregnancy and kids. They’ve since helped families all around the world feel confident and empowered in nourishing their families with plants as the primary focus.
In this episode we cover tips for successful breastfeeding, what the science says about raising children plant-based, baby led weaning, and much much more! I hope you enjoy today’s episode.
We also cover:
- Nutrition considerations for postpartum mothers and throughout the breastfeeding journey
- If diet plays a role in successful breastfeeding
- Starting baby on solid foods & what the research says
- The optimal foods to start baby on
- Picky eating and how to introduce new flavor profiles
- The importance of food play and food exposure
- The research around raising plant based kids
- and more.
WHERE TO FIND WHITNEY & ALEX
website: plantbasedjuniors.com
instagram: / plantbasedjuniors
Learning Center: plantbasedjuniors.com/learnin...
Course: plantbasedjuniors.com/learnin...
WHERE TO FIND ME
Get The Empowered Pregnancy & Birth course: go.theempoweredbirth.com/ellen
Get my ebooks: www.ellenfisher.com/ebooks
My instagram: / ellenfisher
LISTEN to these episodes on Apple Podcast or Spotify: link.chtbl.com/ellenfisherpod
Family CZcams channel: / ellenfisher
Elevate your videos with record-label quality music from Musicbed:
share.mscbd.fm/ellenfisher

[@loriwilliams2167]

Listening to this conversation really takes me back to when I had babies. I had a rough labor and birth with my first and he ended up in NICU for a week. It was very stressful and I had no breast feeding support. When he had trouble nursing the pediatrician told me to just give him a bottle of formula. This was 30 yrs ago.. When I had my 2nd son and daughter I was more relaxed and had a breast feeding support group which was wonderful! Even though my kids are grown and I'm a grandma now I love listening about mothering 🥰

[@Reallifelex]

This is EXACTLY what I needed right now. Thank you for bringing this interview to us, Ellen! 🩷

[@oceana3070]

Great timing! I’m seeking out qualified education about introducing solids, for when we do that with our first bub in a few months time. I hadn’t even really heard much about introducing family foods/BLW, flavour training, texture play, adventurous eating, etc. Thank you to your guests for such a great introduction to these key concepts, I’ll definitely check out their books and resources

[@kyciarelli3847]

This was a great conversation! I have followed Whitney for a little while here on CZcams, so it was nice to see this collab!
I honestly don’t think I could ever start directly with BLW. I think if historically parents were pre-chewing food and then giving it to baby, that’s all the reason I need right there to start with purées. To me, puree doesn’t mean liquid (like a juice or really thin smoothie) texture, rather it just means mashing it enough! My baby from the start has also always grabbed the spoon himself. So I put purée on the spoon, and he takes it from there and does the rest. This has worked for us :) I have seen far too many videos of BLW where the baby is gagging for a minute at a time and the baby looks uncomfortable. That seems far more unnatural than just giving purées, to me personally. I respect whatever a parent decides to do. I would definitely be interested in an updated video as more definitive research emerges about possible benefits of BLW! I have an open mind about it! For now, I will stick with purées!

[@angelofmusic314]

So I went on Whitney and Alex’s website and saw a food group chart. What gave me an unsettling feeling was that on the side of all of the pictures of foods in the pie chart was “supplements.” This has been the biggest reason for me not going completely vegan and just sticking to a more plant-based notion of eating. I just don’t feel that supplements should be part of every day eating in a “complete” diet, and should instead be used in special cases like Vitamin C and Lysine if you’re ill, etc. If supplements need to be used in a diet, then that means they are making up for something that the diet is lacking.

[@MichaelaHutchison]

So strange 😕 I agree, I don't think anyone should have to take supplements, and shouldn't be a standard/every day thing in someone's diet. If you need a vitamin pill to get your nutrition then something needs to become more balanced. I'm just a random person but I've been vegan over 8 years and do not take supplements. It is possible to get all your nutrients on a vegan diet alone.

[@CassandraEvergreen]

I think it's important to acknowledge the impact humans have had on nutrient levels in foods, and the subsequent solutions we've come up with as a result of this. For example, we evolved to consume B12 from plant foods- B12 is produced by bacteria found in soil and before large scale farming and pesticide use, humans got their B12 from plants grown in soil. Due to the industrialisation of farming practices- desertification and mineral depletion has resulted in soils void of B12. As a result, the only reason meat eaters obtain b12 'naturally' from their diet, is because the animals they consume (who eat plants that are void of B12) are supplemented themselves. When a vegan supplements their B12, it's in response to a systemic issue, not resulting from their diet, but from the difficulty of growing food that is nutritionally adequate in the first place. The vegan diet isn't unnatural, vegans simply take out the 'middle man' (the animal) and consume the supplement themsleves. Seems silly to consume animal products purely as a source of B12 when you could supplement it yourself- Either way, a supplement exists in the chain of food production- either the animals takes it, or you. We created an unnatural problem, and as a result have come up with an 'unnatural' solution, which is supplementation. The only way to remove supplements from the equation now would be to improve the soil conditions, which should absolutely be something we're prioritising (but unfortunately it isn't). Many people live in colder climates that we would simply not have inhabited in the past, and we've become capable of living in these climates due to rapid technological growth in a very small period of time, and it results in populations with low exposure to sunlight and subsequent low vitamin D synthesis- the solution is to move locations or to supplement (or eat animal products who are also supplemented). I hope this was insightful to anyone who read it 😊

[@s.venkateswarpatnaik2484]

Respected Ellen Fisher I liked your Podcast.The program is very useful expected mothers around the world🌎 I always watch your programs in utube channel and you're very good human being🎉

[@JJ-di5vj]

Hey Ellen, thank you for your helpful, engaging videos! I was wondering about the supplements that you and your children take. I tried looking on your website, but no luck. Please point me in the right direction.

[@jesss.5808]

This was such perfect timing!! I’m a plant based mama raising a predominately plant based baby. We’re LOVING baby led weaning right now. Question though. I would love to donate breastmilk. Is it possible to build up my supply when I’m 9 months in? I have been slacking with pumping lately but if it’s not too late for me to produce a little extra, I would love to donate to a mama in need!!

[@universpresent9845]

When I was pregnant I felt the urge to eat tuna. The feeling lasted for 2 weeks, so I ended up eating a small can of cooked tuna. Except I was vegetarian at that time and for 7 years already. But I followed my instinct because I thought my baby needed it. Lack of DHA maybe ?

[@kyciarelli3847]

Hm, that could be! I have heard some vegan moms craving big juicy hamburgers in pregnancy, presumably due to iron level concerns so that would not surprise me about the tuna! I took an algae oil supplement in pregnancy for my omega-3’s :)