5 Simple Mom-Hacks That Make Toddler Mealtime Insanely Easier
My son is the light of life. Literally, I can’t get enough of the kid. But, mealtime can be a bit trying on my nerves. He is so active and is constantly moving so there ends up being food everywhere from up his nose to all over the floor. Thank god for dogs am I right? Over the past year, I have developed some mom hacks that help me with toddler meal time.
There are a few things I do that have made our meal times so much easier and enjoyable.
1. Silicon placemats!
I loooove these! My son loves to push all of his bowls/plates off of his high-chair tray. He thinks it is hilarious. He does this with everything. I am pretty sure he just loves watching me pick stuff up off of the floor so he can push it off again. I know I know it is part of development. It really is pretty cute because he busts out laughing every single time.
I ordered these placemats off of Amazon thinking “meh it can’t hurt right?” They are awesome! They have a built-in plate/bowl and stay in place really well so my son can’t push it off of his try. Bonus, they are adorable! I would definitely recommend getting the oval ones because my son can be a stinker and peel up the corners of the square ones. He is so smart! I have one of these in the diaper bag at all times. That way when we go out to eat I can use it on the restaurant table to have a clean surface for my son to eat off of.
2. Long sleeved bibs.
These are genius. My son is all about “playing the drums” on his high-chair tray so as you can image food gets all over his sleeves. So now I just put his long sleeved bib over his clothes. It catches all of the food he flings everywhere during his drum solo and I just shake it out and throw it in the wash afterward. So simple and makes meal time so much easier! Bumpkins makes some really adorable ones. You can check them out here.
3. Command hooks!
I put a command hook on the back of his highchair to hold all of his bibs. It keeps all of his bibs in reach when I need them. Sometimes, I put him in his high chair with some puffs while I do the dishes so I don’t need a full long sleeved bib for that. I just reach around and grab a bib with a pouch (I love these ones) and it is right there when I need it. No more digging through drawers or rummaging around for bibs.
4 Meal prep!
This isn’t really a toddler mom hack but ever since I started meal prepping my son’s food, mealtime is a breeze. I cut up a bunch of different vegetables and steam them at the beginning of the week. Anything he won’t eat in the first two days I freeze and thaw it later in the refrigerator overnight when he needs the frozen ones. I cook all of the meat at the beginning of the week as well. Chicken is by far the most common meat we give my son. So, I boil two chicken breasts and put one in the fridge and one in the freezer. For his fruits, I usually just cut up fresh fruit at each meal time. When everything besides the fruit is already cooked and ready to go adding a banana to cut up is super easy!
5. Squeeze pouches with spoon attachment!
I always keep an emergency food stash in my diaper bag. This consists of non-perishable food like fruit squeeze packs. For example once when my husband and I took my son to the museum he forgot to grab my son’s mini cooler with his formula and food. This is when the emergency stash comes in. These squeeze packs are the best! It is a healthy organic snack on the go. But, add these spoon attachments and holy mom hack for life. This makes feeding your child soooo easy! These spoons came in handy before my son was a toddler when he couldn’t feed himself yet and now he is learning to use a spoon he loves them! (I can’t for the life of me remember the exact brand of spoons I have because they were a gift but the ones below are essentially the same thing. I have never tried the Infantino ones before!)
