Coping with the mess of weaning

[MrsCKT]

I don’t claim to be the most cleanest person ever but I’m already dreading the mess of weaning! my son is 5.5 months old and showing signs of wanting food so I’m starting to introduce him to baby porridge etc but how does everyone cope with the whole weaning stage and mess of it? Is BLW better? Or am I just having to suck it up and just clean the high chair and my baby 3 times a day?

Get a dog! But otherwise, I know some people stick a tarp or something under the high chair. Sainsbury's do some excellent bibs that cover arms and chest, so minimise the mess of baby. And have an easy to clean high chair! I can stick our IKEA one in dishwasher.

Suck it up I'm afraid. We had a splash mat thing (you could use an old sheet or shower curtain) under the chair - easier to clean or shake over the bin.

Ikea high chair trays are easy to remove and wash or put through dishwasher. Other high chairs with padded seats etc can be fiddly.

BLW is probably messier than spoon feeding, but overall a bit less work I think as you can be eating alongside DC instead of standing there with a spoon.

Eating outside can be less of a stress. But generally you just lower your standards of cleanliness :)

I do not love the food mess but getting messy and playing with food is part of how your baby learns… so you just have to get used to it. My DD I’d 15 months now and is much less messy (though she often decides to rub her disgusting little hands through her hair!)

I’d recommend a bib with long sleeves especially for when out and about. I have the Sainsbury’s ones someone mentioned above.

Easily cleaned highchair, mat underneath, eating in nappy for easy wash after, kitchen for eating for easy wash and wipeable services, acceptance of furniture stains and carpet smudges… we have a dog - it helps aahahhaha

And yeah just get used to mopping the floor ALL THE TIME.

The other thing you can do is make a rule about eating at the table/highchair. Once they're eating fairly well it's easy to let them have snacks and stuff while roaming the house, which is a surefire way to get mice and have every surface smeared with banana etc!

We don't do BLW with messy food.

Messy food like spag bol etc we spoon feed, food like toast/eggs etc that are cleaner we put on tray for baby to feed themselves.

BLW, it’s brilliant and messy and yes you will be cleaning everything all the time. It’s fun though, not a chore! I adored seeing DD tackle and enjoy each new thing.

I usually fed DD in just a nappy and vest, we used cloth nappies which were washed clean anyway and I didn’t care about vest stains.

Good long sleeve washable bibs with a lip to catch the bits m, a stack of washable wipes and a floor mat and it’s all good.

Ikea high chair, very easy to clean! A cheap shower curtain on the floor works well

Oh and yes I prefer BLW because I find spoon-feeding time-consuming and it doesn't lend itself well to family meal times or eating out as you have to juggle feeding them and you and it's a pain in the arse. But you will probably find your baby makes some of that decision for you!

This may seem like such a simple thing but get a dustpan and brush. Before DC a hoover around was enough, I'm sure I had one somewhere at the back of a cupboard but when DC first started weaning I didn't think to use it. They make the clean up very simple. And a couple of waterproof bibs that cover arms. Ikea highchair as it's very simple to clean. But yes, if your DC are anything like mine you get used to the clean up after meals, it goes on for a good couple of years.

Also we mostly did BLW and I think it will get you to them eating independently without too much mess more quickly (but with LOTS of mess at the beginning) but in the morning when we needed to get out the house for a class or appointment or whatever I tended to spoon feed (porridge/ chia pudding / yoghurt) since breakfast time was basically the only point in the day when she was clean (from bath time the night before) and just give her a little bit of fruit to pick up and eat herself.

Bibado coveralls are good for not having to clean the baby every time. The complete destruction at every meal time subsides relatively quickly as well. I had planned to spoon feed with a bit of finger food but DS was having none of it and only wanted to feed himself. It wasn’t actually anywhere near as horrific as I anticipated. I’m due number 2 and if it plays ball I’ll more go the other way and do mostly self feeding with a bit of spoon feeding for convenience. Good luck!

We did BLW as I've had two spoon refusers. Plastic mat for the floor (I used a PVC table cloth) and plenty of flannels/wash cloths for clean up. Dust pan and brush then quick whizz round with a spray mop and you're done in a few minutes. I'd hose off the high chair in the garden if it was really bad! Both kids just ate in a nappy until about 18 months! I found a double bib handy when out - so a regular cloth or wipeable bib with a pelican bib over the top as that caught a fair bit.

I honestly didn't find it that messy. Their faces and often clothes/bibs get covered but you can clean their hands and table/tray along the way so that there's not much available at any one time to spread. We only did dry finger foods so things getting dropped could easily be picked/swept up.

The toddler stage though... My 2.5 yo is very good with a spoon/fork and rarely makes much mess, but good god, the carnage after she had rice!!

We did blw with a plastic sheet on the floor under the chair and we used muslin squares instead of bibs. The muslin would be shaken over the bin after a meal and then into the wash if needed.

The really messy bit is quite short. My DS is 12 months now and the daily mess is already a lot less for most foods. He doesn't drop much on the floor by mistake and generally not on purpose either. The messiest stage was probably 7-9 months, where he wanted to do everything himself but was totally incompetent.

I agree a dustpan and brush is good. Quick sweep then wipe anything sticky. Similarly, a plastic high chair like the IKEA one is much much easier to clean than a big bulky one with loads of fiddly cushions.

A good piece of advice I got was to spoon feed anything where you really hated the clean up. I did mostly BLW but things like soup, yoghurt and rice I sometimes spoon fed because the combination of mess and DS getting frustrated because he couldn't manage a spoon yet was too much. Alternatively you can make everything into parties or spread it on bread etc, but it depends a bit on how your baby wants to eat/be fed tbh.

High chair with no crevices/elaborate straps and padding for food to get caught in. The IKEA Antelop really is the best for easy clean up. I didn't find the floor mess that bad - just get a cheap wipe clean tablecloth to go under the chair if you eat in a room with carpets.

Suck it up and embrace the mess.

Feed them in a room with a hard floor if you have one or put a sheet down.

Buy an apron for yourself if you don't already have one.

Give your DC baths in the kitchen sink.

Buy a massive tub of vanish.

It passes eventually. I have loads of pictures of my kids when they were toddlers feeding themselves and I can't believe how messy they were!

Mine had straps etc but you could just take the cover off and throw it in the washing machine to clean it all.

Mine is still very messy at 1 but I’m hoping it will get better soon as she’s now starting on snacks and that will be 5 major cleanup operations a day.

I find Bibado bibs a lifesaver as they cover the gap between the high chair tray and the clothes so DD’s clothes stay clean even after the messiest meals and the dropped food just ends up in the bib if that makes sense. I also have Sainsburys bibs but they don’t cover the gap so I don’t really like them. I also have a mat on the floor.

You can try spoon feeding and BLW but mine made up her mind pretty quickly that she didn’t like spoon feeding. I’ve actually found spoon feeding messier than BLW as she likes to grab the spoon and wave it around, smear it in her hair or chuck it on the floor. I stick with cleaner food when out and about and on nursery mornings and save yoghurt etc for non nursery days.

I have bibado bibs, amazing for not getting food on baby's clothes. I also bought a large play mat so that food would go on there rather than my carpet (we were renting when DD weaned so I was nervous).
I don't use the mat for DS now that he's weaning as we have a tiled floor so it's easier but we got him some bibado bibs.
DD still wears her bibs when she eats and she's almost 2, she just loves to make mess

Also, we had the ikea antilop high chair with DD and I bought a tray cover so it could be washed easier. Although the ikea chair can actually go in the dishwasher.

I did a mix of purée and BLW with DD.
Mainly just doing purée with DS (6months) at the moment as he was a preemie so isn't as good yet with more solid food. He's had a few bits but I'll give him a couple more weeks before I get him to try more solid food again

Same. I never did BLW. Early spoon fed purees, then spoon fed mashed adult meals, with dry and/or non-messy food allowed to self feed.

I never allowed messy food play, and therefore never had any mess to clean up.

In my personal opinion, babies do not need to mash food up in their hands, nor spread it around their faces and into their hair, to enjoy food. I just can't bear food mess. Both my DD's could still feed themselves, with the appropriate knives, forks and spoons, very early, and ate everything and anything, a complete range of foods, by toddlerhood, including challenging foods like mussels and vongole, squid and octopus.

All over bib or,for the evening meal, eating in just a nappy.

Spoon feed porridge only for breakfast if you need to get out the house for work, etc.

Let the dog clear up the floor (baby quickly learns to feed the dog, though, a whole new problem).

+1 for Dustpan and brush

+1 for IKEA highchair can be washed in the shower

BLW with unmessy foods!

Accept the mess and lower your standards

One thing I learned the hard way is if clothes do get food on them rinse them or wash them quickly. I had a few bits end up with nasty mould stains that I had allowed to fester in the wash basket 🧺