Getting dressed for dinner

The one problem...

Giving baby normal foods to eat on her own, rather than spoon-feeding her purees, has made meals more fun for all of us--she gets to play with food, while we get to enjoy our dinner uninterrupted.  She loves white bean dip, pita bread, tangerines, steamed apples, sweet potatoes, and broccoli, among other things.  But one major disadvantage to this method of baby feeding is my daughter's truly spectacular ability to get food everywhere.  I find broccoli florets in the darnedest places when I'm putting her in her pajamas, hours after dinner.  And if it weren't for our dogs, the floors would be in a sorry state indeed.

Much better.

At first, I just resigned myself to changing her clothes after every single meal.  Since baby is reaching for food herself, sleeves get coated in whatever is being served.  Bibs just don't cut it with this method of feeding (see above for an example of the inadequacy of bibs).

Enter...the smock.  I would highly suggest getting one of these if and when your baby starts feeding herself.  The Ikea ones have worked out really well for us.  They come in a two-pack, so we literally rinse the used one out in the sink after a meal and hang it up to dry, then use the other for the next meal.