Tips needed for dealing with the food mess of feeding my 8mo!!

[BotBotticelli]

Please can someone help?! I know this is not a serious problem, but it is driving me up the wall!

DS1 is 8mo and at the moment he is destroying one item of clothing every time he has a meal! he has just got rapspberry juice all down a brand new M&S vest - the 6th one ruined this week from a new pack of eight :( I don't have the money to keep throwing away on new clothes. And I can get the stains out, even with vanish.

As it's still pretty hot here atm, he is usually only wearing a sleeveless or short sleeved vest when I feed him, and I put a rubbery pelican bib on him, but food always seems to find its way underneath the bib. The juices from fruits he likes eating as finger food are the worst (watermelon, berries etc etc), but he also manages to get pasta sauce etc down there as well.

He also chucks/spits water form his tippy cup all over himself at every meal.

I am dreading the autumn when he is going to be in jeans etc whilst eating...WHAT ON EATH CAN I DO ABOUT THIS??

DH suggests changing DS into a special filthy 'eating vest' everytime I feed him, but this is not practical when we're out an about, and won't work when it gets cold. Plus, he hates getting dressed/undressed, and screams blue murder when I change him, so don't really relish doing this an extra 6 times a day :-S

Please has anyone got any magic tips for dealing with this really messy stage?? Realised yesterday when I got to a cafe to meet my friend, that DS's vest, visible underneath his cardie, was covered in watermelon stains. Felt like such a slummy mummy! Is it acceptable for your baby to just be covered in food stains all the time?!

Joking aside, this is getting me down and I find myself feeling really cross with DS. Which I know s stupid, cos he is a little baby and doesn't know what he is doing, but it is really irritating me! Please help!

Strip him off to just a nappy and bib while it's still summer?

When out and about don't feed him anything messy (we stick to sandwiches, rice cakes, chunky veg like steamed/cooled carrot sticks, cucumber sticks).

Overall bibs with sleeves, and if you still get neck drips underneath stick a standard bib on before the overall bib.

And Asda Oxy Stain Remover spray knocks Vanish into a cocked hat. As does Shout.

If you still have stains on white vests soak in Napisan and leave in the direct sunlight to dry as the sun will bleach them.

Was just about to say what Beaunatt said. There are certain meals which are guaranteed to make stains - spag bol, beans etc. Just whip his top off. The alternative is two bibs, one cloth one that fits snugly round the neck with a larger plastic cover all and then teatowels over the leg. I have only done this if I'm elsewhere and had no change of clothes. Otherwise it's no bother to me soaking the stains. Perhaps if the stains aren't coming out you need a better stain remover or you're not using enough of the one you have? I used to do that and think the products didn't work, but my friend pointed out I wasn't using nearly enough. Very rare now that I can't get stains out.

I'm with coola on the products. Biotex is very good for organic type stains as well.

I use a muslin, folded in half to make a triangle, tie around back of neck like a massive dribble bib, then put rubber pelican bib over the top. Make sure you tug the neckline of clothing down a bit first, so the muslin is fully covering the clothing neck iyswim.

This pretty much always works to protect the neck and front of clothes. The muslin gets disgusting and a bit stained but who cares they're only muslins! it also means less food ends up caught under dd's chin as the muslin is there to catch it.

however dd does still sometimes drop bits on her trousers... I have yet to find a solution for that other than trouser removal...

Ace sensitive stain remover (big green bottle)
Bibetta sleeved neoprene bib
Just a nappy underneath
BLW is great but its not the be all and end all. It's messy, as you know, and often wasteful. there's nothing wrong with a spoon once in a while!

Thanks wise ladies of the internet :) I will try those other stain removers....Vanish is shite!

Minipie, I tried the muslin this lunchtime under the pelican bib and it did seem to help, especially with the water from his tippy cup. So thanks for that tip. Although this might also be cos we went swimming this morning so he was really thirsty and therefore decided to drink it properly rather than spitting it out everywhere for fun

I used long sleeved bibs from mothercare (towelling on top, waterproof underneath) till ds was almost 2!
Ariel stain remover & drying things on the line is the best way of getting stains out.
Also, maybe lower your standards a bit? I've had a number of tshirts that have been wrecked within minutes recently. Now they're worn when he's going to get messy anyway. I think all mums live with this & those that judge to harshly aren't worth the stress!

I do the double bib tip and also drape a muslin over DD's legs. She still gets absolutely filthy but not so bad that I feel ashamed!

Are you using fairy liquid directly on stains and then washing in bio liquid?

And don't throw away perfectly good vests! Kids clothes get stains, so what?

IKEA full body vests are great, I don't get ds dressed till after he has eaten breakfast and I take his clothes off before dinner so it's just lunch he needs to eat dressed, I usually try to choose tge less messy meals for lunch.

I also give ds a bath after both breakfast and dinner to make cleaning the food out of his hair easier.

A plastic painting coat (I don't think that is the technical term, there's one on amazon called an 'eat and play smock'). They have long sleeves and tie at the back, nothing gets through them.

These are what you need. I know they're quite expensive but they wash well (DD is now 15 months and I think we bought them at about 7 months). Just don't put them in a dryer as they're plastic backed and it disintegrated (obviously, I'm an idiot ). I liked them better than the plastic ones as they sit better and are more comfortable on a littlie. The arms are just terry cloth. If it's something really messy I also put a cheap terry bib underneath as sometimes the neck slips a bit, especially as they've had more use.

Also, for getting stains out, Napisan is the way forward, even better if you can leave the basin it's soaking in in the sunshine outside! I've not been beaten yet.

I'm sure this will pass although I wish someone would tell me when.