The GAPS Babysitter and Grandparent Handbook

A babysitter or grandparent needs a food plan they can use without learning the whole GAPS protocol first. Write down what your child can eat now, prepare the food in a familiar form and leave clear contact details. A short, specific handoff makes the visit easier for the person helping you and for your child.

Our third-born’s first eczema appeared in March 2026, around the time she spent several days with a grandparent while I gave birth to our sixth child. I do not know what she ate there, so I do not assign a food cause to that stay. Our family usually packs food or eats ahead for outings. A written food handoff is my practical advice here, rather than a claim about what we did or did not send on that visit.

What “GAPS-Legal” Actually Means to a Caregiver

The Full GAPS food list is broader than an Intro-stage list, and a food being allowed somewhere in GAPS does not mean your child has introduced it. The caregiver’s job is to use your child’s written list, including the preparation and serving form, rather than decide on a new food while you are away.^[1][2]

Grains, added sugar and starchy additives are common problems in foods that look suitable at first glance. Check the actual ingredients. The length of a label or a box, bag or can is not the rule by itself; the sources include particular packaged-food exceptions, such as certain canned fish.^[1]

The One-Page List to Print and Send

Copy the short handoff below and fill it with your child’s current details. You can print the completed version or send a copy the caregiver can keep open. Update it when the food plan changes, rather than expecting anyone to remember the last conversation.

Foods for Your Child’s List

For a child already eating the relevant Full GAPS foods, you might pack cooked meat, vegetables, homemade cultured dairy, tolerated cheese, fruit or a nut-based food. Choose only foods already introduced and tolerated, and give the caregiver ready-to-eat portions in a form your child handles well.^[1]

Raw vegetables, whole nuts and whole grapes are not universal snacks for every age. Prepare the child’s usual texture and serving shape before the handoff, and write it down. A baby’s feeding plan is different from an older child’s Full GAPS snack list.

What’s Off the List, Even When It Looks Fine

Keep foods containing grains, excluded sugars or starchy additives off the child’s list. A familiar-looking cracker, sweetened yogurt or sauce may still contain ingredients outside the plan. Use the actual ingredients and the child’s written food list to decide.^[1]

The newer book describes qualified later exceptions, including live additive-free commercial yogurt a few months after cheese has been safely introduced, when digestion has improved enough to handle it, and occasional cocoa once digestive symptoms have gone. These are not foods for a caregiver to introduce independently. If an exception is already part of your child’s plan, name the exact product and serving form.^[8]

Do not give honey to a child younger than 12 months. For an older child, age alone does not establish GAPS-stage fit or tolerance; honey still needs to be part of that child’s existing food plan.^[6]

Easy Grab-And-Go Snacks to Pack

Snacks are easiest when they are already packed and labeled. The examples below are options for an older child who has introduced them, not a universal menu for babies or early Intro:

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Cubed hard cheese, cheddar, gouda, colby or swiss
• Cut raw vegetables, carrot, cucumber, celery, cherry tomato
• Fresh fruit, whole or cut, apple, banana, berries, grapes, orange segments
• Plain almond butter, or a small container of raw or soaked, unsalted nuts, if your kids are old enough and nut-safe
• Dried fruit with no added sugar, dates, apricots, raisins, prunes^[1]
• A properly prepared insulated container of hot meat stock, or stock kept cold for reheating according to your written plan.

For hot stock, preheat the insulated container with boiling water, empty it and add piping-hot stock. Keep it closed and maintain at least 140°F (60°C). If you transport it cold instead, keep it at 40°F (4°C) or below and give clear reheating instructions. A lukewarm container is not a way to hold stock for hours.^[7] My chicken meat stock recipe fits Intro Stage 1 and Full GAPS; use the amount and serving arrangement in your child’s own plan.

What to Say (the Script)

Keep it short. You’re not asking permission, you’re handing over information.

“[Child] is following a specific food plan. I packed everything they need, so you shouldn’t have to buy or make anything extra. If they ask for something that’s not in the bag, the answer is no, even if it’s something a sibling or a friend is having right in front of them. If you’re not sure about something, don’t give it, just text me. I’d rather answer a text than deal with a reaction later.”

You can answer questions without turning the handoff into a debate. Ask the caregiver to call before substituting a food, and make sure they know where the food and contact details are kept. A clear list is more useful than expecting them to memorize the diet.

If a Child Is Partway Through the Introduction Diet

Put the current stage beside the child’s meals, together with the foods and preparations already introduced. Stage 1 includes meat stock, cooked meat and soft cooked vegetables, with gradual probiotic-food introductions. Cooked fermented vegetables in soup and the dairy-introduction or previously tolerated dairy branches need their own clear instructions.^[2]

The usual egg-yolk introduction is Stage 2. Stage 3 adds the specific fresh-squash, egg and nut-butter pancake preparation and avocado. Stage 4 includes fermented nut- or seed-flour bread; raw vegetables start at Stage 5 and raw fruit at Stage 6. These stage labels describe the usual sequence, not a caregiver’s permission to start a new food.^[2]

Send the stock and other meals your child’s plan calls for, in the portions and frequency you have established. The book emphasizes regular stock intake, but a single cup target is not a feeding instruction for every infant.^[3] My different-stages cooking guide helps with planning when siblings need different food.

What to Do if Something Slips, or Seems To

Leave the child’s actual allergy and emergency instructions with the caregiver. A known serious food allergy follows that plan; it is not a food to retry because an ingredient is allowed on a GAPS list.^[4]

If a food was offered unexpectedly or a symptom appeared, record the food, amount, preparation, approximate time and what happened. Contact the parent rather than deciding from timing alone that the child has die-off or an intolerance. My food-and-symptom journal guide explains useful notes.

The GAPS sources distinguish a newly introduced Intro food from an identified intolerance or a suspect food eaten routinely. Those have different later retry windows: often about a week for a new Intro food, a few weeks for an identified intolerance, and three to four weeks for a routinely eaten suspect food. Probiotic-amount reactions have a separate response-led approach.^[5][8] Those decisions stay with the parent’s plan; the caregiver should not start a trial during the visit.

Pack the Bag: A Short Checklist

Before every stay or babysitting shift, whatever the length:

• The one-page food list, printed, not just texted
• Snacks packed and labeled by meal or time of day, not left loose in a bag
• A thermos of homemade meat stock
• Your phone number written on the bag itself, not just saved in a phone
• A one-line note on any current Introduction Diet stage, if it applies

Before you leave, check that the food, written list and contact details are together and easy to find. My Babysitter & Grandparent Handbook is listed in the WFLI Shop. This article gives you the practical handoff fields to use.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if the Caregiver Forgets the List or Runs Out of What I Packed?

Pack more food than you think you need, and make the instruction explicit: if they run out, the answer is to call or text you, not to improvise with whatever is in their own kitchen. Most slips happen out of good intentions and a genuine “I didn’t know what else to give them,” not carelessness.

Is It Too Much to Send a Whole Handbook to a Grandparent’s House?

No. A short list can make the visit easier for a grandparent, especially when it answers the meal, snack and substitution questions in one place. Keep it specific to the child rather than handing over a long explanation of the whole protocol.

What if My Child Has a Reaction I Can’t Explain and I Wasn’t There to See What Happened?

Use the notes and contact plan above. A caregiver should report what was offered and what they observed, rather than choose a diagnosis or retry a food. Serious symptoms follow the child’s emergency plan and require urgent help when indicated.

Can I Just Say “No Sugar, No Bread” and Skip the Full List?

You can, but it usually backfires, because it leaves too much room for someone to guess wrong on foods that look healthy but aren’t legal, like flavored yogurt or a grain cracker. The specific list takes the guessing out of it entirely.

What About a Special Occasion, Like a Birthday at a Grandparent’s House?

In our house, the rule for any gathering is the same: eat before you go, or bring something the kids can eat, and compromise where you reasonably can. It works just as well for a birthday at someone else’s house as it does for a holiday, and it takes the pressure off the caregiver to produce something from scratch.

References

1. GAPS Diet / International Nutrition. Full GAPS Diet: Recommended Food List and Foods to Avoid List, including named food and packaged-product exceptions.
2. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), “The GAPS Introduction Diet,” usual Stages 1–6, dairy introduction and individual food responses.
3. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), homemade meat stock and daily intake; the New Baby Diet has its own feeding sequence.
4. Natasha Campbell-McBride. “Food Allergy.” Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine (2009), distinctions between serious identified allergy and other food reactions.
5. Natasha Campbell-McBride. GAPS FAQs, food reactions, food allergies, leaky gut and probiotic introduction.
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Foods and Drinks to Avoid or Limit, honey before 12 months.
7. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Keeping Bag Lunches Safe, insulated hot containers and cold holding.
8. Natasha Campbell-McBride. Gut and Physiology Syndrome (2020), food-introduction responses; later live natural commercial dairy and the qualified cocoa introduction.