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I'm sure throwing food has something to do with baby's temperament. My LO is not really into throwing his food, but when he starts smearing his face dinner time is up. We will take a little face touch, but typically rubbing the eyes means he's had enough. All that to ask, when does the throwing start?

We use suctioned bowls that work pretty well and prevent LO from turning over his food without a little struggle that we notice. I will dump his bowl contents on his high chair and he will happily resume eating.

For messy stuff like spaghetti I feed him in just a diaper. Some messier foods just mean immediate bath time after dinner. Babies feeding themselves is just messy! Like you, I try to do a little clean up while LO is contained in the high chair. He loves the hand held vacuum we use to get all his chair and floor droppings.

Ikea high chairs, no clothes, and only 2 or 3 pieces of food on the tray at a time?

It gets better.

My girl is 17 months, and a pretty neat eater most of the time. The 16 month old I nanny for is not a neat eater. I put a towel down underneath her high chair, and bundle it up as soon as she's down, before either girl can go back and pick through the thrown and dropped food.

I think the booster seats might also be able to be run through the dishwasher. We also put a towel between the wood chair and the booster when we use ours.

I put newspaper or an old sheet on the floor under LO's seat. And no clothes.

Costco sells these paper tablecloths with a plastic film backing - they're meant to be disposable for food service. It's back where the paper plates are. You can cut them in half and masking tape them to your chairs and then put the boosters on top of them. You can just swap them out every week assuming you pick off big chunks of food and they don't get sopping wet or something. I use the same thing under my son's learning tower and replace it once a week.

You can also tape the tablecloths to the floor under the chairs but I think a polyester tablecloth is probably going to be better since you can shake off the crumbs in the backyard and then run it through the wash. I use a splat mat with my kid but if I had two you'd need a larger cloth.

Oh, my... maybe try putting a plastic sheet under the chairs and tape it down, but I'm sure they can toss things pretty far. I never know where the food will land.

Maaaybe if one of them is less into throwing food, make a big deal of praising them for eating neatly and hope the other one decides to copy that

Oh yeah and I only put a few pieces on her tray at a time. When I put the full serving I run the risk of the whole serving on the floor. We don't use bowls or plates because she's too interested in turning them over.

Definitely diapers only for meals and something on the floor to catch spills. I'll also second the bibs that @peaches1038: linked to. They are the best pouch style bibs I've tried. And DD has learned that if her tray is empty she can take food out of the pouch and eat it.

Get a dog.

@MrsRoo: @peaches1038: yes, the bibs with the "trough" help a lot! We use https://www.amazon.com/BabyBj%C3%B6rn-046270us-BABYBJORN-Soft-Bib/dp/B00N9YKXG0

One other tip: I find when I eat with LO he is much more focused on putting food in his mouth and keeping his arms and hands in front of him. Walking around doing "kitchen stuff" inevitably are messier nights.

Yep, it's messy. I can't imagine doing it for every meal with 2 babies and without a dog!

I'd give yourself a little grace. Do what you can to help with the mess (ideas suggested above: no clothes on, the baby bjorn bib, put them right on the floor, some sort of splat mat underneath). And on the days when you don't feel like cleaning up as much mess, do some purees or give them smaller amounts of drier/less messy foods without guilt!

@lady baltimore: this was my suggestion! We have 2 labs, and I never have to clean food off the floor!

I use the same Fisher Price boosters. They can go in the dishwasher! We have ours strapped onto a chair I don't care about. We only have the back strap on so it's easy to lift up and clean.

Full arm bibs are great. We also just change onsies after every meal. He drools so much anyway it is easier.

I do a mix of spoon feeding and BLW, but it's all table food. If it's really messy I just give him a little to try to pick up and spoon feed him the rest. Or give him the non messy stuff and spoon feed the rest.