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As much as we watch and correct and redirect LO when he eats at least a few pieces of food are purposely spilled on the floor. In general meal time got neater around 11 months when we stopped putting a bib on him. We mostly feed him sauce-less foods, but he definitely makes a mess out of berries staining his clothes. When he starts playing we take his plate away and that straightens him out.

I can't give you a light at the end of the tunnel, just commiseration. I've largely given up on hoping my 13 month old will not drop food on the floor, or drop a fair amount down her lap where it will eventually end up on the floor when she gets out of the high chair. My dog in baby scrap heaven 3-4 times a day!

@meadow: Yeah that makes sense. I think it's just giving it time until they are taking eating solids more seriously, and unfortunately I don't think there is a magic age for that.

Are they only eating solids at this point or are you still breast/formula feeding? If you are still breast/formula feeding my guess would be that they're really not THAT hungry for solids and once you wean, they will be more interested in getting the food to their mouths because they are hungry.

In the mean time, could you put down a trash bag or something under their chair to catch the mess so you don't have to mop every night? That must be exhausting!

Twins are 23 months and they are so so messy. Plus, they hate bibs so I've given up on using them. I just have to pre-treat all of their clothes before I wash them.

I have those splash mats that I put under their high chairs. Protects the floors, somewhat.

I do feel like if I spoon fed them that more will get in their mouths and less on the floor. Well, nevermind, DD will start chewing something and it will look like she likes it and will swallow but then she'll spit it out. We joke that she is chipmunk and holds her food in her cheeks until she is over it. Oh, but spoon feeding doesn't help them develop skills in picking up food and feeding it themselves. I think the mess it just something I have to deal with. I did stop giving them a bowl with yogurt and a spoon because that was just too messy for me. Now I give them drinkable yogurt and poke a straw through the foil. My kids might not know how to eat soups but I think it's okay for now.

Babies are at the 3rd percentile and have always been under or off the curve. But they eat well, they are gaining weight (slowly), we are supplementing their milk with a scoop of pedisure. I think we are doing everything we can to get them to grow. I think they will always be small because they were preemies and I'm petite. Dr isn't worried.

ETA: I asked my sister who has a son 6 months ahead of my twins. She said she asks her son to pick up food when he throws it or drops it. So I'm thinking asking them to be helpful in the cleaning will help them really think about dropping food. She said some food are messier than others and will be messy. It makes sense to me.

Around his second birthday DS started becoming really interested in eating the food on our plates as well as in using utensils to put food in his mouth. There was a lot less food on the floor. Flinging now only happens after he is no longer hungry and getting bored.

However, that's also when he got really interested in pouring his liquids out.

I think around age 2 they started using real plates at school so they kinda learned to not mess around so much. You also could try an EZPZ mat or something if you think part of the problem is food sliding around too much.

I feel like around 2.25-2.5 it got cleaner? He definitely picks things up if he drops them off his plate, and a lot less falls on the floor. Still uses his shirt as a napkin which we are working on.