Is it even possible? It seems like every plate ends up on the floor. If it's not the entire plate, it's at least part of her food. She thinks it's funny. I, however, do not. My son is almost 4, and he grew out of it. Am I just going to have to suffer through again or is there a better way?
I'm thinking that she does it so she can eat it off the floor b/c she seems to like any food she finds on the floor a lot more than what I give her on the table. haha
Anyway, advice anyone? Please?
Thanks for all the advice! I started giving her smaller bites of things. And I also tried to be more aware of her being done. It's really helped a lot! Less food on the floor = one happy momma!
One warning. No throwing food. Next time she throws the food. No reaction just calmly take the food away. Eventually it's not fun, so it stops. I can't remember if I got them down from the high chair as well. I think not, because I want to eat my dinner. So I think they sat in the chair with no food until dinner was over.
I'm smiling... because I just came back from a visit to my children and their nearly-fourteen-month-old daughter. When the girl is buckled into her high chair, two if not three Norwegian Elkhounds immediately appear for the free handouts! It's amazing how many vegetables those dogs will devour.
But when your daughter is actually hungry, she will eat the food herself! If she's throwing food, she must not be hungry any more. You don't have to play that game. Throwing means the meal is over - time to clean up and get out of the chair! Stay friendly as you call a halt to lunch or supper. Pretty soon she'll drop the idea and find another game to play with you (let's not think about that).
We tried a couple of different things, but the combo that worked for us is:
* only give a few bites of food at a time
* if she throws it, don't react. If you need to, just get up and walk away for a minute.
* don't leave her sitting in the high chair for a "few extra minutes" to "just try to tidy up," etc. Once our little guy was not hungry anymore, he needed to be gotten out of the chair, or he'd start playing with the food out of boredom.
Our son still throws food occasionally, but now it's more because he wants something I won't give him (like he wants to play with a toy while eating dinner), and it's usually his sippy cup (which is more dramatic and has a better "thud" factor than food, imo).
Good luck. I know it be super frustrating!
if she is scared of the vacumn as soon as the first piece hits the floor turn on the vacumn. this is how I broke my son but he was petrified of the vacumn
When mine did this, the food was taken away and they were put down from the table.
I had a friend with triplets once - and she bought a dog who cleaned up everything. She let the dog in once they were done eating so it did not turn into a game of throwing food down to the dog.
I think it's probably just amusing to your toddler right now. Checking out that gravity does indeed work every single time. There's an element where it's wasteful, and do you have enough food for her to wast throwing it on the ground? Can you give her other small items, even plastic food, to practice with before she starts eating? Otherwise, it's the old suffer through it with constantly telling her no and removing the food and putting her down. What about just placing her right on the floor on a towel to eat? She'll probably just throw the food vertical.
My best advice is to grin and bear it because I think we've all gone through this phase. Our kids would laugh, too. I know we did try taking all the food away when our oldest would start throwing, but then we ended up with a meltdown, so it didn't really solve much of anything. The good news is that they do grow out of this, so hang in there!
She thinks it's funny because it probably got a big response the first few times she did it. Does your older one laugh at her? If so, that has to stop, too. The best way to stop a bad behavior is to ignore it. Think of it as a tantrum. When she does it, look the other way and don't react. When she's done eating, take everything off her tray so she can't throw anything that's left, wash her tray, face and hands, then clean the floor, all before she gets down. She doesn't get any comment from you (her payoff), and she has to sit until the cleanup is done. Take the "fun" out, and it will stop.
My advice is to get a dog. That way you don't have to worry about cleaning it up :)
When my son did a lot of food throwing around the same age, we took his plate off his high chair and gave him just one bite at a time.
We also realized that he started doing that towards the end of his meal, so he was bored or not too hungry anymore. At that age, I think your daughter is old enough to understand that if she throws the food, it's taken away and she doesn't get anymore. Perhaps her hunger will help her learn not to throw.
If she's throwing food, she's telling you she's done eating. Personally, I don't use plates at this age. I clean the table or tray, then place the food directly in front of them. I found it wasn't as much fun to drop food if there wasn't a plate or bowl to throw. Also, I only do 2 or 3 bites at a time. If they want more, fine. I waste a lot less food that way.
Give smaller amounts but it's a stage of development, the one where they discover they can throw things...I hated it and I hated having to spend much longer time cleaning.
I eventually just had my toddlers eat in the corner of the lunchroom and having the rest of the kids eat in the table areas. It took me so long to clean up after them that the other kids were having to wait too long. So I started having the baby room and toddler room bring their kids in first and get them started eating then brought in the other classrooms to eat. I usually preferred the little ones eating first then cleaning up and then the older kids coming in but that was no longer working.
