Getting tired of the mess at mealtime

My sweet girl is 9mos. And already very independent. She doesn’t like to be fed by spoon or hand anymore than the first maybe two-three bites. She wants to feed herself! And it’s always a messy disaster. It’s cute, don’t get me wrong. But the clean up is such a project every time. Has anyone figured out how to make mealtime a little less of a chore? Or is this just one of the many joys of parenthood and I should embrace the chaos? (I usually do! But sometimes we’re in more of a rush or I’m just tired and changing her and cleaning her and the high chair and the floor and myself and the utensils and the blender can be ALOT).

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I feel your pain. I have 9 month twin girls and they are very independent as well but your right cleaning up after an eating session is such a task!

We call our dog the cleanup crew 🤣 its just messy no matter what. I got a dry/wet vacuum and its been a game changer

It’s so messy. He lets me feed him still but by the time he’s one, he’s on his own at that point.

Same now that we've started introducing solids to our almost 9m old, depending on if my almost 2yo wants his food or not the floor gets messy quick usually a quick sweep takes care of it, trying to limit sticky foods like bananas *we eat bananas outside now lol* and 9 times out of 10 they're eating basically naked so they can wear the same outfit leading to an easier clean up and less laundry

Yeah I honestly dread it!! There’s always slop to clean and it’s gross lol. Probably the worst part of my day 😅

So I try to remember this is show she is learning and needs to in order to develop the proper skills and development and especially to be independent. My little girl has been trying to feed herself since the first time we fed her. So I’ve had three months of spoons all over the floor food everywhere washing 5 to 6 spoons per feeding 🙄. Now I make sure she isn’t dressed just in a diaper when feeding to avoid making messes all over her clothes cause no matter what I did she always did and I just let the mess happen and clean it up either as is or later on at night and started to view it as my, therapeutic releaseand me time. Have a bad day? take it out on scrubbing a mess lol I have thought about getting a under the highchair mat so all the food and mess can fall there and then cleaning it. They also have disposable ones as well. I just haven’t done it, but I know there is videos on YouTube how to get your baby stop throwing food I guess saw one the other night. I just didn’t watch it.

Currently going through this but I know it’s how they learn 🥲 I started undressing her into only a diaper and go from there. I also got some bibs to try to catch some of the mess. It’s a lot of work sometimes to clean up but soon they’ll get the hang of it! I hope lol

Dogs cleanup most, then baby usually gets rinsed in the bath and then I dreadfully clean the highchair IT’S SO ANNOYING. It’ll be about of year of this if she’s like my son 🫠

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Post partum dad

I have a 2 month old. A few weeks ago my husband crashed out because he didn't feel like he was getting to bond with her. I started exclusively breastfeeding around that time and honestly didnt see the big deal. Baby and I left for a few days and when we got back home, everything was fine. He was extremely hands-on. He helped with my meals, her bedtime, bath, stories.....for a few weeks it was great. Then he randomly sounds depressed af. He says our lo is better off without him, he wants to sleep all day , he asks me not to watch tv then tried playing a video game. He refused to reply to me when i asked any follow-up questions. Then he woke up our baby trying to race me to the bathroom first thing in the morning . He's doing a weird mix of crying, trying, and giving up. Im starting to feel like I cant handle him not being able to handle life with baby and just want to be alone. Are there resources for men?

Is it bad of me to think this or no?

My husband has been abroad for work (1 day and exploring for 1 day) for 2 and a half days which means I’ve had both kids (1 year and 4 year old) for 2 and a half days plus cooking, cleaning, taking them to clubs, bedtimes!
He came home late afternoon and said I’m so tired, I just need to chill. I said can you wash up whilst I sort kids dinner out, he said he’ll do it later which means he won’t do it and I’ll end up doing it so I said no do it now please otherwise I’ll end up doing it and he said well you have been home and I’ve been away so you’ve just been relaxing.
Don’t know what planet he is on but having the kids alone for 2.5 days is not relaxing. I was stressed!

When he was away, I did miss him and wanted him to come back but now he’s back, I want him to go away again😂
Is that bad?

My 2 year old won’t eat nothing but snacks

Is this normal ? He won’t even try anything I eat .. he really only like pizza fries and spaghetti… nuggets and snacks bananas some other fruit but like anything else he won’t eat if try but I don’t want to force him I’m just I feel like bad I mean he isn’t losing weight I breastfeed mostly still

Shift worker daddies - advice please?

My husband works shifts (6am-6pm days or 6pm-6am nights) so when he’s on shift we either get about an hour or 2 before he goes to work or an hour or 2 when we gets home with him.

I don’t think people who aren’t married/have babies with shift workers fully understand the impact of feeling like a solo parent sometimes.

Does anyone have any advice? I do have parents who can help but I struggle to leave my baby with others as I always feel like they don’t understand the need for tracking wake windows or feeds and our baby will not sleep unless we black out a room or go for a car drive . Everyone seems to think ‘if he’s tired he’ll drop off’ - no he’ll just get overtired and have to then pay for it during his night sleep. So I feel like it’s just easier for me to do it all myself.

When my husbands off work he is great but I do take the mental load of telling him what to do or even reminding him of wake windows etc because he’s not here and forgets routines. He’s also being tested for ADHD currently so there’s that on top of shift work.

Just looking for advice on how to stay sane/keep routines or share loads with shifts workers?

Thank you ❤️

Really bothered by this

A friend posted this and it really bothers me because that is exactly how she parents her kid, and it's rather unfortunate because when our kids hang out together, her kid has a meltdown at least 5x within an hour. We have know them for years and it's only gotten worse. My kids will concede to hers, because they don't want to see their friend crying, but it sucks because they give up so much of their toys and enjoyment to keep the peace. We aren't hanging out as much anymore but it's rather sad to think she doesn't intervene more in her child tantrums and just let's it slide

Feeling like I’m failing

Hey guys, I need some advice or some positivity here!
My daughter is 5 months next week and she has her first tooth coming through! Yay! But for the past month or so she has become so wary of family whenever I go to visit! She screams, won’t settle, cries the whole time. I went for my birthday to celebrate and I had to leave because she just would cry looking at anyone :( it’s so hard because she used to be so good with anyone!

Will this change or is this just the way she is? I try to see them as often as I can, and my MIL is looking after her in two weeks overnight and part of a day and I’m petrified of what’s going to happen, that she’s going to scream. My poor MiL 😭. I’m a very calm and collected person and I don’t get worked up when she does react this way… I just feel so sad and down that I can’t be with family and that my poor girl is scared. I give her so many cuddles, milk, toys, going to a quiet room, but she just doesn’t settle 😭

Please someone say this is a phase and there is light at the end of the tunnel ?!!

With the weather getting nicer I just feel we are going to miss out on so many lovely family memories