The Spitting Princess

Maia's mealtimes have become my most dreaded moments of the day. She is a spitting machine and I don't know how to communicate to a five month old not to spit. She does not understand that mommy is running late for work and won't have to time to change her cereal splattered dress or that scraping cereal off the crevices of the highchair and off the floor and off the blinds is not something mommy cares to do. She does not seem to mind that she goes off to grandma's house with cereal crust up her nose, behind her ears, and stuck in her hair. Feeding Maia now results in a colossal mess and it takes five times as long to feed her which makes me crazy. Solutions anyone? Note: I have tried firmly saying no, flicking her mouth, and not feeding her. The first two resulted in more spitting; the latter resulted in hours of crying.