Things to keep in mind and how we do it, comments welcome if anybody has any better ideas:
You can get place mats and plastic baby plates to place the food on, but we have opted to offer her the food straight on the table. We figured the plate/place mat would only go flying across the room anyway, and we have discovered that if there are any non-food related items within her reach, at the dinner table, they seem to distract her from her food... so straight from the table works great, and it wipes clean easily too.
When picking a high chair, it's definitely worth keeping in mind how easy it will be to clean. We have the Stokke Tripp Trapp highchair, and I would recommend it to everyone. Indigo sits very comfortably in it and it wipes clean very easy too. You can buy cushions to go with the highchair, and although they look very nice I am glad we decided not to buy them as they would need washing after every meal! Besides, Indigo's bum is plenty cushioned in her cloth nappies anyway!
Keeping the floor clean is another thing to think about, as that is where a lot of the food ends up in the early days with baby led weaning. In the book it suggests that you can put down old news papers or a sheet, that way you can easily gather it up with all the food on it and dispose of/wash out. We have laminate flooring and have found it just as easy to gather up any mess with a dustpan and brush or a wet cloth. On the plus side, our floor has never been this clean!
When at home, we have chosen to undress Indigo down to her nappy and then put a bib on her to keep the harness from the highchair clean. Even with long sleeved bibs she was managing to get her cloths filthy, she particularly likes to reach down and rub her leg a bit with whatever is mushed up on her hands... don't ask me why. So getting rid of the clothes completely makes washing sooo much easier! Of course we don't do this when we are out. If I sit next to Indigo I tend to drape a muslin or tea towel over my lap as well, as food sometimes fly my way too!
Most of all, I think it is important to relax and remember that the mess is all part of the learning process. If you can't play with your food and make a mess when you are a 7 month old baby, when can you? And seeing how much she enjoys herself at the dinner table makes the clean up afterwards worth it all the more!
Here is Indigo after a particularly messy dinner of spaghetti bolognaise last week (left), and the mess she made around her (right). That is probably the worst clean up we have had so far.
