If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ll know that we’re currently weaning Ben onto solid food. It’s going really well and he’s embracing the concept of food, but however you look at it, weaning is a messy process. You end up with food on your baby, on their clothes, on the table, on the floor, even in rooms that they didn’t eat in (is anyone else’s baby a thrower?) Messy Me is a brilliant range of products designed to make cleaning up the mess easier, with a range that includes splash mats, high chair covers, bibs, mini changing bags, and high chair inserts. They’re all oilcloth, so completely wipe clean. Knowing how messy weaning can be, I jumped at the chance to test out a few of their products, so we’ve been trialling the splash mat and the bib for a few weeks now.

 

 

Messy Me is a small, family owned business, set up by Helen Hibberd after weaning her 3rd baby, Florence, and finding herself frustrated by the lack of products available to help make cleaning up the mess easier. Their ethos is to create products that look good in your kitchen, and make life easier.

I had intended to approach weaning Ben in the same way that I had with Max - a mix of purees and finger foods. But although Ben got on great with the purees at first, at 9 months now, he’s made his preference very clear; he wants to feed himself. So we’re going with that and taking more of a baby led weaning approach. Which is fun, but undeniably way more messy! How is it that those tiny bits of broccoli manage to find their way everywhere?

 

 

With Max, we bought a cheap thin plastic splash mat from Amazon for about £2, which was fine given the price, but quickly tore in multiple places where the feet of the high chair ripped it, and so we stopped using it. The Messy Me splash mat in comparison is brilliant. I love the grey star print design - it doesn’t look out of place in our home and looks far more attractive than the cartoon design one we had previously. It’s made from high quality oilcloth and folds out easily when we need to use it, with us just popping it underneath the highchair. It’s big enough that it catches most of the mess (don’t get me wrong, we still get the odd piece of chicken hurled across the room!), and cleaning up afterwards is a breeze as it’s wipe clean. It’s such a simple thing, but when you’re a busy mum chasing after two children, the speed at which you can clean up is really important! We had wooden floors put in our house when we moved in, and seeing them get covered in food is always a bit galling! I love that this splash mat is robust enough to last us through weaning and into things like messy play and painting when Ben gets a bit older. But the best thing about it is that having the splash mat down makes me far more relaxed about how messy Ben is being with his food - he’s exploring new foods and textures all the time, and I want him to have fun with it and be able to be as messy as he wants.

 

 

 

I love the bib too. Bibs are one of those annoying things about weaning - I feel like I’m forever washing them! I love that this one is thick but still soft and flexible, and that it’s so easy to wipe clean. Ben also hates bibs and has a habit of ripping them off, but with this one, the velcro is strong enough that he finds it more difficult. So far, it’s proved resistant to staining, and we’ve tried quite a few tomato-based dishes already!

 

 

You can take a look at the full range of Messy Me products on their website, including high chair inserts and cushions for lots of different kinds of high chairs from the Ikea Antilop, to the Stokke Tripp Trapp.

 

Disclosure: We were sent the Messy Me Splash Mat and Bib for the purposes of this post.