It may be a while now since my kids have been considered toddlers, but one thing I clearly remember about that stage is the mess and mayhem that was feeding twins solids.
Feeding Twins Baby Food
When my twins first began eating baby cereal and foods, we didn’t have high chairs, so instead we used their baby swings for a while. Eventually we acquired two random high chairs from friends, and then for Christmas of that year, my in-laws bought us those seat saver booster seats. No matter what seats they were in, babies, bibs, seats, trays, chairs, and floor all become one disgusting mess.
I remember traces of food ending up on eye lids, lashes, hair, ears, diapers, everywhere! My husband and I would just have to laugh at the mess that was twin mealtime.
I remember disliking feeding my children for a long time (okay, I still do a little bit). Not only was I already spending a large amount of my day breastfeeding two babies, (or supplementing with a bottle), but on top of that I also had to feed two squiggly, sometimes unfocused and uncooperative, babies sitting in high chairs. And then clean up afterwards. It sometimes felt like the vast majority of my day was spent either feeding babies or cleaning them up. I often had to remind myself that I, too, needed to feed myself!
One of my daughters is an avid two middle fingers sucker, and meal time was no different. In goes the spoon, then in go those fingers. It would create an even bigger mess as her fingers and hands were rubbed on her head, the chair, and more: all was now covered in colorful baby foods.
And bibs were a bit of a joke in my opinion. Maybe if I had been willing to spend money on nicer, bigger bibs (why are they so expensive?) with snaps instead of Velcro (I don’t like the Velcro ones as my kids just ripped them off and the sticky grip of them lessened after frequent washings). But, we were poor and I didn’t want to spend money on bibs, of all things. I more often than not just stripped my kiddos down when it was time to eat. Skin somehow seems easier to clean.
Feeding Twins Finger Food
Once my children got to the finger food stage, I thought maybe they would be making less of a mess (no more soupy baby food), but the mess just moved to the floor. And like other new mothers of multiples, one of the first things to go was a regular cleaning schedule. And some of those foods would get stuck, superglue-style, to the floor, and their chairs.
My solution, especially after we moved to an apartment that had a carpeted dining area (WHY?!), was to lay down a plastic disposable table cloth underneath the two chairs, which I bought for a dollar each at the dollar store. Every few days, (or once a week), I would pick up the table cloth, carefully dump the loose contents into the trash, and then wipe the tablecloth with a wet dish rag. After that I’d give it a good spray with some Lysol and let it dry in my kitchen, then lay it back down. I am so cheap, that I didn’t want to throw it away after only a few days. Eventually it would end up in the trash and a fresh table cloth laid down.
The Lysol was sprayed because, like most toddlers, they would occasionally eat some of the food that accumulated under their seats. Yes, the five-second rule turned into the two-day rule on some food items. It seemed as if one of my daughters preferred hard, crispy day-old whole wheat tortillas to the soft ones.
Twins Feeding Themselves
Slowly but surely, our twins started eating with utensils, making eating foods easier and less messy. In the slowly part, I always tried to make sure my kids had their bibs on, were pushed up as close to the table as possible, and I was always sitting there to supervise. If I wasn’t, they would take the opportunity to play and make an enormous mess.
What have you done to make feeding your twins (or more) baby food, and finger foods less messy at meal and snack time?
ldskatelyn is the mother of twin three-year-old girls and a bouncing baby boy. She is so glad the messy mayhem of infant and toddler feeding is mostly behind her so she can spend less of her day cleaning children, clothes, chairs, and floors. She loves her life as a stay-at-home mom and blogs about her family and all their adventures at whatsupfagans.com.
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