Mom Talk Contributor, Susan, talks about some of her favorite meal-time solutions …

As many of my fellow Tiny Prints staffers know, my 15 month old daughter is now able to tell us she’s done eating. No, not by signing “all done” as I have taught her. No, that would be too easy. Instead, she uses her chubby little arm and in one sweeping motion transfers all of the food from her highchair tray onto the floor. And as if that weren’t enough, she follows that up with a sippy cup right to the hardwood floor.

I know there’s not much we can do about this since she’s exploring and learning how to feed herself.  In fact, she’s pretty insistent now on “feeding” herself from a bowl and “using” a spoon, which makes mealtimes even messier than before.

Since I can’t do much except be patient and remember to be consistent about teaching her table manners, I thought I’d share some of the great little gadgets I am currently using to try to keep the messes to a minimum:

• Prevent flying sippy cups and protect your hardwood floors with this Booginhead SippiGrip Cup Tether. We use it for bottles and toys and works great on the stroller and in restaurants, too.

• We use this Oversized Spill Mat to catch food and spills. The smooth plastic material makes it really easy to wipe up messes and once a week we shake it out and hose it down in the backyard for a deep cleaning.

• These Stay-Put Suction Bowls are a lifesaver when your baby insists on feeding himself or herself from a bowl. Notice in the photo below how the bowl stays put while the food ends up all over Baby D!

• When traveling, we use these Disposable Stick-on Placemats to 1) make sure baby D has a clean surface to eat from and more importantly 2) make sure she doesn’t leave a sticky mess on the restaurant table!

• Last but not least, for the messes that are bound to happen, my husband swears by the Bona Hardwood Floor Care System. It keeps our hardwood floors clean and shiny, even around the highchair area.

If you have any tips on how to keep mealtime messes to a minimum, please share them with us!