Toddler Throwing Food - Omaha,NE

Hi J.!! My daughter has this same problem when she was this age. My best friend is a preschool teacher, so I went to her for help. She said, let her finish, or take it away if you think she is done. And then have her help you pick it and throw it in the trash can. It took maybe a week of this for my daughter to stop this behavior. Good Luck, I hope this helps!!

If he's throwing it down, he must be full. Take it away from him right away, the first time he throws it.

He'll learn soon that he doesn't get anymore to eat if he throws it on the floor. I did that with my youngest. It worked too and I saved on the mess by getting a plastic sheet that I put under the highchair.

Good Luck!!!!

All three of my sons have done this! We take the plate/bowl away and they only get one piece at a time. They get unhappy about the fact that they can't eat as fast. We also make them clean up the mess themselves. Sometimes this happens because they don't want anymore or want attention. Just don't over react to it because negative attention is still attention.

Hi J.,

My little man is also 15 months. When he starts throwing food or dumping his plate I simply take it all away and set it out of his reach. I let him thorw his little fit and when he is done I give it back. He is doing it much less often now. Now if I could only get him to eat at dinner time...LOL

When a child starts throwing food, that means he is done eating, so when the first thing is thrown, he should be taken out of his high chair. Even if he hasn't eaten anything yet, he can be removed from the chair for a few minutes, so that he realizes this is not what the food is there for. Also, at fifteen months, he can start learning how to pick up the food he has thrown with some help and guidance from you.

Awww toddlers. The food throwing stuff is such fun. The best way to take care of this is by being consistant and getting everyone in on the game plan. You much have your other darlings not laugh at your baby, and you much take his plate of food away. Generally speakin, food throwing is their way of basically saying All Done, but also it is a game to them. The way you react, whether you laughed once or not or if you get all bent out of shape with them, the way others react and so on. Do you have pets in the house too? When I have my dog in the house, then my 2 yr old would have to feed her, so I quickly discovered removing the dog cut that off. Another trick I used was I got her a booster seat so she can be apart of all of us at the table, plus allow her the freedom of saying Im done by leaving her chair. Trust me, with that too, I take the plate away so its not up and down all meal. Also dont be afraid to tell him that it is wrong and that we eat our food instead of throwing it. He may not talk that well yet, but he can understand things amazingly well and sometimes telling him not to do that because its hard on you to clean up can help. Good Luck!

most of the time kids continue doing things like that because they get a reaction from you. when our kids do something like that. We don't say a word about it, but when the meal is done they have to clean up the pieces. They were carrying their bowl or plate to the counter by about 18 months. We sometimes have to stand with them and point out the pieces. But then when they got them all, we praised them. We did try just removing the bowl, but there wasn't a good way of giving it back w/o them thinking it's okay to start throwing again.

sometimes when they were doing that, it was because they needed something else, like a new diaper. or a nap. or they weren't hungry. It's their way of communicating that they "can't eat because of..." It only took a couple of times of picking up their food to not do it again. but we didn't have many issues with that because we just made sure that they weren't too tired, etc.

The first thought that comes to minds is that when he/she starts throwing food, he's done eating and you take it away. I find that when they are hungry they will eat, but once their appetite is satisfied they begin playing. They will learn that if they throw food, the food disappears. HOpe that helps some.

Hi J.! I can empathise with you! Both my children went through that phase. What a headache it can cause! My husband and I would take my son's food away from him and tell him we do not throw our food and sometimes he would get a little swat on the hand. It took time but he finally stopped. Not sure if he finally figured out that he was going to be hungry if he didn't stop or if he finally just grew out of it. Another thing we did to protect our floors was to buy a childrens art mat and put it under his highchair and even now we had one under his chair at the table in case of spills.

Good luck J.!

My suggestion would be to take away the whole tray when he does this. Say if you throw food then mommy will take all the food. Then take the whole tray wait, about a minute and give it back. I know he is still little but at that age thay still know they want to eat and he will maybe think twice when he's hungry and his tray keeps getting taken away from him. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

J.-
Both my kids did this a lot, I think it is a temperment thing. I found 2 things worked pretty well. The first thing is to just let them do it and completely ignore it, I have dogs so they clean up the mess effectively otherwise I may have not tried it lol. But with no reaction they stop doing it pretty quickly. Or you can remove them from the high chair as soon as it starts and say we don't throw our food we eat it. Offer food again in a couple of hours. That worked quickly for me and also maybe the baby is just full. Maybe his appetite is slowing down and that is how he is saying he's had enough.
Brekka

My doctor always said take the food away. Throwing is playing and playing means he's done.

Hi J.,
My son who is now 3 did that and because he was so darned cute we didn't stop it, normally he would throw it at his siblings but then he got older and once we had guest over for dinner and he threw his food at them. Needless to say thats when I put a stop to it. Like others have said take the food away, get him out of his high chair and banish him from the kitchen. It only takes a couple of times. I believe its harder on us as parents than the kids. Good Luck

Aaaah toddlers..lol
both my kids did this.
i took the food away after warning if they threw it again i would take it away.
most the time it means they are bored or done.
they are 3 and 2 now and only my 2 1/2 year old still will try to push her plate on the floor or drop her cup on the floor..
it's getting better..
my son doesn't do that any more at all.
good luck.
i wish i didn't have to use the term 'it's a phase'..lol cuz i hate being told that..lol

I would simply take his food away when he starts throwing it. He willl whine and fuss a bit, but he will also get the idea that food is not meant to be thrown. When he throws it and you pick it up and scold him, he thinks it's a game. If you take away the pieces, his game is over.

My son did this for a long time, too. It drove me CRAZY! Especially when he would launch his sippy cup off his high chair and it would splatter everywhere. (Take n' Toss cups are cheap and wonderful, but not so great when your child is in his throwing food stage!) My son turned 2 about a month and a half ago, and he doesn't hardly throw food anymore. Occasionally, he throws his sippy cup (we went and bought some screw on cover ones), but not too often.

So while I have no suggestions for you on how to get your child to quit doing that, I can tell you that there's hope they will grow out of it. *LOL*

simply take the food away and tell him no throw. eat when no throw. Then reinforce him when he does not trow the food. act excited and happy that he is eating the food but do not mention the throwing at all!

I would take the plate away and say "oh your done...Okay" and put the plate in the sink. It took a few times cause I believe he thought I was going to give it back. Of cousre I created the problem cause the first few times he did it he was throwing it at his older siblings but it did get old and thats the best way I found to break it. Good luck.