can't stand the mess! Cleaning/bib recommendations please...

[cheapandchic]

I have tried all sorts of bibs and none seem to work. Even the ones that cover everything...somehow smushed food/vomit, something gets around the neck and on the sleeves of babies clothes.

Just wondering if anyone has a laundry solution for stained clothes. I tried vanish (sensitive) powder but it didn't work.

I know I am being superficial but besides the disaster that it is feeding baby...I am tired of all cute outfits being ruined. is there a solution?

If im at home, I strip DD down to her nappy. So breakfast is stripped from pjs, strip her again at lunch and dinner time stripped from that days clothes and stays in her nappy til bathtime.

I sit her bumbo chair on a plasticky sheet from Poundland and she just chops and throws all her food until she's had enough. Then, she gets a wipe down (or bathed if after dinner). I wipe the sheet over and once every few days give it a good soapy wash in the sink.

If im out, well, I sort of have to accept mess. Or, I find tying a muslin round her neck covers he better than any bib.

I also have a 'thing' where she isn't properly dressed unless we are leaving the house (a policy I apply to myself too) so we slob around in vest (her) and pjs (me) until we need/want to go out.

Strip down to nappy for mealtimes!

DD2 hates having a bib on. Lots of naked eating in our house

Great minds gnocchi!

haha

Funnily enough I do tend to put a bib over DD on her bare chest as she has patches of eczema on there and water and food just aggravate it.

Strip to nappy when both my DC were little. When we lived in a flat I would pick up the highchair with child inside and put it in the walk in shower cubicle after every meal. Luckily DD didn't mind a quick shower three times a day and it cleaned the high chair quickly too.

When we were out and about sometimes I would do a quick change of t-shirt to a stained one before a meal and whip it off again afterwards and put the clean 'nice' one back on again. Then just the bodysuit got a bit stained which I could live with.

IKEA bibs are the best imo, 2 pack in the craft section - very tight at the cuffs and good and waterproof but very flexible. Make sure sleeves are really rolled up and bib is done up well at neck.

Plastic tablecloth under the highchair (fold it over between meals to stop it getting dusty), wipe hands and face with cloth, peel off bib, place child away from you, wipe down highchair, scrape food off ground, wipe floor while child climbs on your back.

Agree with other posters about stripping down to the nappy! I used to do that 3 times a day with DS if we were at home. Even now he's 2.4 & potty trained he quite often has dinner completely naked!

Poundland sleeved bibs - never got any food on the front or sleeves of DD or my minded children

For any clothes that do get the orange stain of doom (regardless of what they eat!) I have found that doing a quick fabric-on-fabric scrub with some washing up liquid gets rid of the worst of it, then straight into that nights wash with a bit of vanish. Not perfect, but kind of does the job!

thanks everyone. will try to wash clothes same day...maybe that is part of the problem.

will try more naked eating. also will try tying muslin around neck. that is also an issue is we tend to have lunch out.

I know I need to relax, but I really do hate weaning... anyone else?

Me! I feel my whole day is taken up with it - 3 x food prep, 3 x splattered walls and clothes, 3 x mega clean & wash up. All of a sudden I feel like a proper housewife, chained to the kitchen sink all day. And all for nothing as so little goes in

Yep naked eating in our house too (her, not me!) and god knows what my CM does but my DD always looks pristine when I pick her up.

Same policy as above where she doesn't get properly dressed unless we're going out.

I put a Thorpe Park log flume poncho thing down on the floor, and it helps to have a scavenging dog too

Yep ikea bibs ( they are kind of like little painting aprons I suppose)

Trying soaking in a bucket of cold water and napisan

I also found COLD water and the vanish bar of soap fantastic.

Bibetta neoprene bibs are good - rinse under the tap, scrub with nail brush, wring out and it will be dry in time for the next meal. They washing machine wash great too.

Take their top off, fold a muslin in half (triangle) and tie round the neck.

Voila.

Another one for Bibetta neoprene bibs. Completely cover the clothes, fasten well and they collect food in the pouchy bit at the bottom. I just throw them in the washing machine. Expensive but really good.

I love these

Rather than doing them up with the popper at the neck, I tie a knot to keep stray food from creeping down the neck.

Love the mum2mum bibs. They do great bandanas which are brilliant for dribbly teethers

cheapandchic and giraffio, I agree!! Feel awful as everyone keeps telling me how much fun it should be. But it's so sticky, so fiddly... and he doesn't really 'eat' anything yet! Garhh.

well. its still just not fun.

The other thing is tying any sort of bib doesn't help that she drops all the food down the side and then it smushed all over her trousers, bottoms or whatever.

Honestly this mess gets everywhere! And she is really started to be a spoon refuser, so I can't even help her!

After washing clothes hang them to dry in the sun (if there is some!!) and it magically removes those orange stains. I didn't believe it till I tried it!!

Another vote for the Ikea bibs. Found the Sillybillyz ones a pain, as the food is darned persistent at clinging to the polarfleece stuff. Oh, and NAPISAN! We've used vanish, oxyclean, etc, but nothing beats good old-fashioned napisan, in my opinion.

Another vote here for Bibetta bibs unless stripped down to a nappy. If DD has to be dressed then a bibetta and a tea towel placed across her lap and tucked around her sides in vain attempt to catch the mess. The dogs clean the floor.