Why we bought it
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We bought this magic mat when you son was about 8 months old and we were doing baby led weaning. The puree route for feeding wasn't working and he totally preferred to try to feed himself and eat proper food. This as you can imagine was a rather messy process and to try to keep the bowl or plate still so he could get items out was difficult. So we decided to try the magic mat to see if this would stop the bowl, plate and food flying around the highchair tray and the dining room

What is it?
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Product description
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"The brilliant Magic Mat® sticks to most flat surfaces including tables and highchairs, holding Tommee Tippee® plates and bowls securely in place and preventing any major spills. Suitable for all stages this non-slip mat is easy to clean." Taken from the Tommee Tippee website
It is basically a bean shaped piece of plastic in a choice of three colors with a suction cup on it.

How it works
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1 You lay the plastic mat slightly damp on to the surface with the suction cup upwards.
2 You then attach the bowl or plate to the suction cup pressing down to hold it into place
3 To release the bowl you pull on the sucker tab to undo the suction.

Our experiences and opinion
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I had high hopes of this and hope it would save my floor from baked beans, peas and various other items been thrown on it. Initially I tried it with a non Tommy Tippee plate and bowl and had no success. The bowl and plate would quickly lose their suction, slide off the suction cup and be there available for my son to turn over and throw about with all its contents. So back to the shop I went to get the Tommee Tippee bowls and plates to see if these faired any better. So we now were co-coordinating very well with blue bowls, blue plates and magic mat but really these were no more successful than the other bowls and plates.
The suction would continue to quickly lose its holding ability. I tried damp, not damp completely soaking wet. I tried pressing down hard without the food in the bowl or plate and adding the food after wards as well as pressing down with the food in the bowl or plate but it made no difference to the suction ability of the product at all.
At times my son seemed to take huge delight in trying to un-suction the bowls and plates and would focus this rather than on the food in the bowl or plate, which only served the purpose of more flying at him the surfaces and floor than just a bowl or plate on the highchair would do.
We tried the various combinations over the course of about 6 weeks and in the end went back to just a plain simple bowl or plate on the highchair tray. Though this meant it moved around a bit as my son tried to get the food out of it. It did mean that he didn't spend a chunk of the time trying to disengage the bowl from the mat.

Where from
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The magic mat is available from Amazon Boots Mothercare and various other stores and cost approximately £4.99 the bowls and plates that go with this item tend to cost between £3.99 and £4.99

Would I recommend?
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I wouldn't recommend this product as I don't think it lives up to its promise of holding bowls and plates in place.