Moms on Call Share Practical Routines & Confidence Tips for Parenting with Food Allergies

In this episode, Laura and Jennifer from @momsoncall share their inspiring journey from healthcare providers to parenting resource experts, emphasizing the power of routines, confidence, and love in navigating childhood sleep, development, and feeding challenges, especially for families navigating food allergies.

Resources

📖 Navigating Food Allergies: A Parent’s Guide to Care, Coverage, and Confidence by Dr. Alice Hoyt - preorder from Amazon and more 

For Parents ➡️ Office Hours for Parents 

For Providers ➡️ Food Allergy Pediatric Hub

For Schools ➡️ Code Ana

For Potential Patients ➡️ Hoyt Institute of Food Allergy

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This podcast is the official podcast of the Hoyt Institute of Food Allergy. Information on, within, and associated with this site and Food Allergy and Your Kiddo is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice.

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Moms On Call

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Hello and welcome to Food Allergy in Your Kiddo. I'm your host, Dr. Alice Hoyt. Incredibly excited to have two very amazing women on the show today. Y'all probably know them as the moms on call. We have Laura and Jennifer with us. Good morning, ladies. Hey, we're so excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yes, so much for you.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Thank y'all so much for coming on. So if if you're listening to the podcast today and you haven't heard of these wonderful women, um, they have been helping hundreds of thousands of families for over 20 years and specifically helping moms and dads um live life with less stress and more joy, navigate the world, especially in those baby years, toddler years. Um they're both nurses, and they have best-selling courses and books on practical guidance on sleep, feeding, routines, routines. Um, and so I'm so excited to welcome them to the show. They do have a new book coming out, specifically a really cute board book to help you and your little baby, your toddler. Um, I I think my I think it goes up, I don't know, how how old does the book go up to? But I think my kindergartner is gonna really enjoy it.

A Bedtime Book For Any Age

SPEAKER_00 1:33

They will love it. Yes. They will love it.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

So I don't think that you ever outgrow wanting to hear really positive, encouraging things about nighttime from your parents. And it our favorite part at the end of the sleep book is we say, I love you, I believe in you, and I'll see you when the sun comes up. And I just don't think you outgrow that.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

I think I still want to hear that every night. I think I'm gonna start making Jim say that every night.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

I love it. I love you, I believe in you. That's so nice. I was I was looking at it and prepping for this. I was like, this just looks like such a nice book. And a nice book too is they get older and they have little siblings. Like right now, my kindergartner is learning to read. And last night we were reading a Veggie Tales book, and so she was reading it to us and reading it to her little brother, and this is just a beautiful book. It's illustrated beautifully that I think it it's a great way to empower older kids to read to us, we want to hear it, and to and to their little siblings.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Love that. We have a good behavior one that's coming out in March. Uh we will also have that one available to go along with the bedtime routines.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

What's the title of that one?

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Good behavior.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Good behavior. Oh, that sounds good. That sounds good. And one of the reasons I was so excited to have y'all on the show is because y'all are, as I mentioned before we started recording, y'all are really queens at helping parents really tackle routines, which when it comes to families with food allergies, this can be so helpful, so reassuring, such a way for us to be more in control when sometimes we don't feel like we have a whole lot of control. Um, so I'm gonna ask about that. Right, right. Um, I'm gonna ask about that. But before, I want to ask you guys y'all have served so many families and blessed so many families with so much information and guidance and encouragement. How did y'all start, how did y'all get together? How did y'all start doing this?

How Moms On Call Began

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Out of desperation, I think. I'll let Laura tell the story. That is we were all great things are born in desperate desperation.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah, we were in desperate mode in our own homes, right? Because we have eight kids between us and we each have a set of twin boys. So wow. Eight kids, all different ages. We had them full term, we had them premies, we had, you know, two at one time. Um, but the way Jennifer and I met were we both worked at the same pediatric office here in Atlanta. And for whatever reason, Jennifer and I were the ones that seemed to always be on call, on the phones. We were the ones taking those calls every time. We're like, guys, we would love to like work the floor and stuff, you know. Um, but no, they wanted us on the phone because we could get through these calls and we could take care of these families and, you know, kind of weed through all those things that were coming into the office and uh and really navigate that well. And from that came Jennifer and I taking the after hours calls. So we ended up, so you know, and I'm sure the same thing in New Orleans is, you know, you typically have your children's hospital take all of those calls for the pediatricians here in Atlanta. And there's just always things that happen overload, diversion, and the the docs were still getting a ton of calls. And and asked Jennifer and I to kind of step into that space because we know our patients. We know our patients, we know what our doctors want. So we were able to kind of make it a lot more personal than just an algorithm that someone was following on a computer screen. And uh it exploded.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

How reassuring for the patients.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Oh, it is absolutely one of the best things that I think Jennifer and I have had the opportunity to do because we did know these families. We weren't some random people on the other side of the phone. And it was a brilliant marketing tool for the practice, right? Um, but it also allowed the practice to not have people coming in unnecessarily so that that could free up some time as well. So what Jennifer and I quickly realized through all of these phone calls were yes, we had the the illness calls and the injury calls. And a lot of times those calls, you know, their kid would be vomiting. I'd be like, Yeah, I got one vomiting too. Let's get through this together, you know. Um rottering. Right, you know, but we quickly realized that a lot of these calls were just the day-to-day realities that they just didn't know how to deal with. And so we began uh back in probably 2003, um, going into the homes of our clients proactively. So we started going into the homes carrying our little purple folder with just an outline format of the day-to-day stuff, how to put a diaper on. This eye drainage is okay. This is, you know, this is what you're gonna do. This is when you're gonna call the doctor. Don't worry about this poop. We're gonna really worry about this poop, you know? All of those things.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

And along with real things. That is the real things they were worrying about.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yes. Nur, you know, whether you were nursing or bottle feeding, or whether you were doing both, or whether you were going to work, or whether you were gonna stay home, or we covered at bath time. We would go into the home and do baths a lot of times for the first time with these sweet families.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

And what we did the bath with babies, we'd helped the families to get to baby.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

I often said it, you know, get in the bath with them, and it's fabulous, but I'm not gonna do that. Um so you know, we from that, what Jennifer and I really and we talked about routines. We did have a routine in our own households, we put that on paper. We had no idea the impact, Dr. Hoyt, that it was going to have on sleep. That's not, we did not set out to create a sleep method at all. That was never on our radar to be known as a sleep method. But what we quickly found was the byproduct of confidence, yeah, routine, and a sleep foundation, just a few things. We don't have to train our three-week old to know how to sleep. They know how to sleep. They were born knowing how to sleep. So when we put a few of those key things as the foundation, what we quickly realized was, oh, wait a second, this baby is sleeping four hours instead of one hour, and now this baby's sleeping six hours or eight hours. And over and over and over again, confidence was the key factor in all of that. So a lot of times, even with your patients, Dr. Hoyt, these parents have to be confident in the plan. They have to know that they know what to do in case of an emergency. And when that confidence is there, then everything we can have less stress and have more joy, right? When that confidence, but it starts with confidence, and that's what Jennifer and I did. And from that, in 2004, we began making that folder into a book. Um and then self-published the book, had it out uh with a DVD, peel and stick DVD in the back because it was back in the olden days.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

I love it. Our kids used to peel and stick them in our basements. Like we would get the books ready every you know day, and they would get them you know put together because it just wasn't a thing. The internet wasn't a thing yet. So this was all the information anybody was ever gonna get, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:37

We did because how the video and I mean just being able to film something back then.

Routine Builds Confidence And Sleep

SPEAKER_00 9:44

It was yeah, it's completely different that long ago, right? But technology has changed so much. I mean, I think we had MySpace. Well, we weren't on MySpace, but that's about all we had, you know? Um and and so from that we self-published the books and and then began doing the online courses in 2006. And that was a time when there were no online courses unless they were court mandated. There was no such thing as an online course. And so we were able to kind of create this online course, and then we created the app. And I mean, it was just this crazy adventure that we've been a part of, and to be able to look back and think, wait, this was a folder that we printed off of our computer, and we just did what we were called to do, and we were called to help families and to be that voice, that voice of hope and encouragement, that voice of, hey, you've got this. It doesn't have to be so complicated. We don't have to figure out, you know, some big math formula. Let's keep it simple. Keep it simple. It's amazing. And it's amazing and just every moment.

SPEAKER_01 10:53

The grit and dedication, like thinking back to that time where the technology was not really on your side. Wow. And self-publishing wasn't even as I mean, it's not easy today, but it's certainly much easier than it was 20 years ago. And so the the dedication that y'all had to have to put that together after seeing a problem and saying we have solutions to help these families. I mean, wow, ladies.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

It's pretty easy.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

And it was one of the first books that ever existed that came from the perspective of a mom. So really preceding this, we had more Dr. Spock. You know, a lot of people may have heard of that. And, you know, there were a lot of or a pediatrician, but not a mom. And so for us, we put it in outline format because we're like, we don't have uh moms don't have time to read 365 pages about how to get this kid to sleep. We're exhausted. Right. So, you know, one of the things we did, interestingly, for moms, is what became the thing that dads loved most.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Because it was just to the point. It's not the whole like, why should your kid sleep through the night? It's just here's an outline format, here's what to do, here's when to do it. And we did our little routines in there. So you don't have to do math. It's just mapped out for you. And now with technology, that's turned into our brand new app. So you can have that schedule in your hand, and your husband knows, and your mom knows, and your caregiver knows, and everybody can be on the same page. And so it's just really amazing to see where these resources have gone. But our heart has always been to serve each family that is brought into our path to the best of our ability. And that's what drives every decision that we make. We want something good, positive, encouraging, and effective in the hand of every mom who's looking for that. And whatever we can, you know, use to get from here to there, we figured out our tiny team of amazing people. It's not just Laura and I, but we have a team of amazing people that come alongside us and provide these things. And over and over again, we hear from families. They are the kindest, the most wonderful, generous people that you would ever meet. And they stop us in stores and, you know, come to our book signings, and they they just tell us that it it means a lot to them. And so we keep doing it. We keep plugging forward, just like you. Like you've seen that there's such a need. And together we can really make a huge impact. And it's so meaningful to have somebody who understands and somebody who can have a plan when there's so many voices that really you have access to these days. We've seen that whole pendulum swing from nothing to so much that you're paralyzed. And to just really get a trustworthy voice in that space is, you know, is just an amazing help for for parents. And I think we've all been there. And that's why we're here. Right.

Fear And Too Much Information

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Yes. And I was gonna ask y'all about that. I mean, since you've been doing this for a long time, you have seen different stressors come into families' lives, different, I mean, screen time, how that disrupts sleep, or just in general, child development. And I would love to hear what have y'all noticed or some of the changes, some of the good changes, some of the not-so good changes that have been impacting families regarding routines, regarding sleep over these 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I would say that it's the amount of information. There's not necessarily right or wrong ways, you know, there are some extremes, but right or there's not necessarily right or wrong for the most of those options. But I would say for myself, watching my clients, it is the comparison, it is the amount of information that's just being thrown to these sweet families from all directions. It's the opinions of people that you don't even know that are telling you whether you're doing it right or whether you're doing it wrong. So I would say that that excess inform excessive information and so many opinions that don't have a vested interest in the outcome leave families unable to move forward with confidence. It shakes that confidence, it gives them this um this fear. So I think fear if it if we pick one word that has completely seemed to change things over the last 20 years, it would be fear. The fear that I'm not gonna do it right, that I'm not gonna do it perfect, that oh my gosh, I yelled at my kid yesterday and lost it, and so now that's it. There's no recovery. I ruined them.

SPEAKER_01 16:51

They are ruined.

A Positive Shift In Dads

SPEAKER_00 16:51

I ruined them for life. Or they cried for 25 minutes because I'm just I'm tired, and and I just had to take a break, and now they're ruined forever. It's that fear that our kids are not strong, adaptable, and resilient, and we know they are. So trying to convince our families that they are has been difficult in a world that tells them everything but that. Jennifer, what world?

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Well, I would say um I'll let I want to go with the positive. Uh, one of the first things Laura and I talk about this a lot is we've been able to really watch the the dads like just blossom into these really amazing caregivers. They're attentive, they're attentive to their wives, they're attentive to their kids, they're a big part of what's happening. They want to be really involved. And if there's anything that just has been an absolute beautiful thing to watch, it's watching that. The the dads, millennial dads, all the names that they have for, you know, who comes next. We've seen them all. Um, they're really, they're really killing it. It's really fantastic. So we'd like to just say and encourage those dads to say, you know, this generation is going to be better because you're taking an active role, because you're concerned about, you know, what your wife or your other caregivers are going through. And we've just had an opportunity to meet so many amazing people. Now, of course, moms, you know, we have huge responsibilities. We have a hundred things to do at any given moment, and uh what we navigate, because we are the most marketed to generation ever to walk the earth. So what moms have to sift through in this generation is enormous and different than any other generation. And they are doing an amazing job. These kids are thriving. And what Laura and I try and do is help moms to recognize that. So we'll say, you know, I think what you're trying, what you need to be doing is pat yourself on the back. You know, don't say that, oh, everything's just gonna be so horrible. Really, this is an amazing time. You are doing such an incredible job. And if you're worried whether or not you're doing it right, then you're doing it right. Like, you know, bad parents don't worry about that kind of thing. Right. So by virtue of asking the question, you're already doing an amazing job. And we don't want moms to miss out on that, on what um an amazing thing it is to wade through all of that information for the love of this baby.

Sleep Protects Parent Health

SPEAKER_01 19:33

I wonder read one of the quotes on y'all's website that I love, will be your voice of hope as you parent out of truth, grace, and love. And what I think is so wonderful about y'all's approach is that you have the clinical skill set and expertise, but you're coming from that that mom side of you and marrying those two so beautifully that it really does. It it meets parents where they are, and at a time where, you know, you talk about the importance of the children needing sleep, and then one of the benefits of children getting sleep is then parents can get sleep because especially in those early years where the sleep schedule is so just you know, it's interrupted sleep, interrupted sleep for child, but also for mom. And everything just seems like such a big deal sometimes when we don't have a lot of sleep. And so we need that love, we need that grace, we need that hope, and we need to remind ourselves as parents that we deserve love and grace and hope and grace and grace and grace. And I love that that's where y'all, that is that is where y'all come from with everything you're doing. That's your guiding light, as you talk about.

Food Allergy Safety Through Structure

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Yes, yes, that is so true, and it has continued to be that way ever since we started on this journey. And you know, because we do believe in that hope. We do know how important sleep is, especially when we have other kids, right? We've got to be mom or dad almost 24 hours a day. And so to be able to have good rest really is the foundation to everything else that happens throughout the day. And and I wish, I wish I would have took my own advice. You know, I was on call 90 hours a week, taking, you know, two, three hundred phone calls a week, and I didn't sleep a whole lot for almost 20 years, and it really did affect my mental health, my physical health. Um, I am so much in a better place physically and mentally than I was in those years, right? And I think that it's just so important that we recognize the importance of sleep. It's on everybody involved and in every aspect of our being. Uh, I can be a much better mom when I'm I'm rested. I can handle the hundred things that Jennifer was talking about uh so much better when I have the rest that I need. So it's important. And routine is a huge part of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Yes, yes, and getting back to routine and parents of kiddos with food allergies. I'm sure over these last 20 plus years, y'all have seen changes in the amount of food allergies we're seeing, in it's not always being outgrown anymore, right? And helping those families really navigate getting their toddler and Little kiddos into preschool and dealing with childcare. What sort of strategies have have you guys found that you really lean into to help these parents? And just in general, what kind of advice have have you been giving to families of kids with food allergies?

Early Allergen Introduction With Planning

SPEAKER_02 23:06

Well, first of all, helping everybody to be educated is one of the, you know, paramount things. And you always fear that they don't take it as seriously as you do. When my kids were little, we had one of their best friends had a peanut allergy and we called ourselves the peanut police. And so, you know, every environment they were in together, they were helpful. Um, but structure is protective. And so when we're in a structure, when we prepare things in the same way, when we, you know, depend, we do have to depend on other caregivers and we we give them organized instructions. It's so helpful. It's empowering. And so, you know, being prepared, helping to educate, you know, the other caregivers and making that fun, but also making it predictable. That predictability is so protective. And so those would be the things that we help, also getting great sleep. And, you know, that just helps us to be healthier overall. So when we have those things in place, then we feel like, you know, we can do our best, we can put our best foot forward. And um also, you know, for the younger babies, exposing them a lot earlier as you know, what we've spoken about and what we've heard, you know, encouraging, getting the word out there that, you know, we really want to start to take a preventative type stance. And that information has changed so significantly here for the past three to five years. And so getting that word, you know, out to all of the people that we get to see face to face and helping that, you know, from a preventative standpoint has been, I think, probably have one of the biggest impacts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

And especially in families who've who have kids who have food allergies and then they have babies. So then trying to utilize those early introduction strategies but trying to Right. And so that's where having planning in place and routine in place can be so helpful because it is important to help prevent the younger siblings from developing food allergies. But it has to be done in a way and is totally doable with planning. Right. But that can feel very overwhelming to families sometimes.

Teaching Toddlers To Self-Protect

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Right. And I think that's that's where the, you know, is it a separate time when we know that, okay, you know, the the one that has the allergy is at preschool today. So today, you know, we're gonna do our best at, you know, 11 o'clock every day to introduce some of these higher allergen foods when those kids are out of the way. But when you have a routine, you're able to do that. Right. You're able to make that planning and to look ahead because you have, like Jennifer said, that predictability. You know, it's not exact, but you have that predictability so you can see the places where, okay, you know, because it's not just introducing, we have to introduce it early and often, right? Early and often. Early and often, early and often. And so it's like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna, okay, well, you know what? At five o'clock every day, we're all at home. So dad's gonna take the allergy one out, and they're gonna go and play whatever those plans are, but there are opportunities, and we're gonna try and find those opportunities to get it in early and often and safely for that older or that higher allergen kit.

Don’t Be Scared Be Prepared

SPEAKER_02 26:44

So well, and also I think too, like learning how to speak to your toddler. So we do a lot in our toddler resources about the ways that toddlers receive information about how they process. It's not the same, they're not little adults. And so being able to speak to them repetitively, when is their heart open for instruction? So we can help them to protect themselves in that way as well. And so, how do we do that? If a toddler doesn't respond to reason and they don't make decisions now on the basis of a future outcome, how do we protect this child and help them to learn how to protect themselves? And so we go over a lot of that in the toddler resources about when and how to say they want two pieces of information, what's happening and what am I supposed to do about it? Instead of like a whole diatribe about what would happen. And then, you know, maybe we'd have to do your epi pen and you don't like that, or we have to go to on the ambulance. Well, toddler sneaking ambulance is a great time. Like they don't they're just overtime. That kind of seems pretty funny. Like, well, what do we do? And I think a lot of parents fear that that child's really missing out on so much of life because they miss a a couple of foods, or they can't be in the same, you know, environments where those foods might be present, um, you know, without having to worry about it. But those kids don't know any different. They don't know. They don't think they're missing out. They get you, they get loads of incredible options. And so when we don't treat it like it's just this absolutely, you know, horrible missing out on life, but we treat it as very normal part of life, like these things just can be hurtful for you. So we're gonna choose those things. It's and look at all these great choices we have. And where our attitude is more like that, then they adopt that attitude. And so we can help our kids not to, you know, think it's a horrible thing, but also put things in place that will help them to know this thing is harmful, this thing is good, and you're such a great decision maker, and we'll figure this out together. And that just takes so much of the pressure of all of it out when we're so scared. We don't want that fear to be contagious, we want the confidence to be contagious. So we do talk about how to communicate to your toddlers in that way and build that part of your family and your lifestyle up as well.

Medical Disclaimer And How To Follow

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Ladies, I could talk to you for days and days and more days and have so many more questions. Um, but we'll come back. I mean, thank you. I this was fantastic. I know that if if you're listening and you're new to the show, um we haven't had moms on call before. They are absolutely welcome to come back. You guys are awesome. The amount of knowledge that y'all just shared with this audience, I mean, what a blessing. What a blessing to me personally. Um, as the mom of a five-year-old and three-year-old, you know. Um there's just, and you can't say it enough that planning, having routine, because we all know plans get changed by by factors outside of our control, but having plans in place help manage the chaos. And so thank y'all so much for coming on the show and sharing this amazing information. It was so fun. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Thank you for having us. And just if we leave you with one last little thing, is don't be scared, be prepared. When you're prepared as a family together, then that gives you such incredible freedom to enjoy these beautiful kids' beautiful life.

SPEAKER_01 30:39

Thanks so much for tuning in. Remember, I'm an allergist, but I'm not your allergist. So talk with your allergist about what you learned today. Like, subscribe, share this with your friends, and go to foodallergy in your kiddo.com where you can join our newsletter. God bless you and God bless your family.