# Toddler throwing food on floor and mommy getting grumpy about it...help



## canadiangranola (Oct 1, 2004)

Ok, so I need ideas....for the past 6 months or so, if my ds (16 months) doesn't want the food we place in front of him on the high chair tray he simply picks it up and throws it on the ground. If he's done eating, he methodically picks it up, one piece at a time and throws it on the ground. I cna deal with the cheerios...yesterday it was pizza, the day before it was a creamy quesadilla thing...yuck! I don't dare put a bowl of anything in fron of him that is liquidy anymore....sigh.

Here's what we've tried...
1. no emotional reaction, simply saying (after a warning) when you throw food on the floor you'rs done and taking him down
2. saying "DS, please put your food on the table if you are done"
3. picking it up and offering it again.

i don't know what else to do. He doesn't eat alot anyway (although he is still bf, so I don't want to end every meal 3 minutes in by taking him out) I don't want to coddle him by offering him the same things all the time (not to mention it's not nutritionally balanced...he eats oranges this week, and pizza, but that's about it...oh, and fish crackers. He won't eat veggies, and he'll sometime eat chicken. He doesn't like most grains. He used to love cheese and tofu, so i wasn't worried about dairy/protein/calcium, but he won't touch either of those either.

I'm at my wit's end, and when he throws something i have taken time to prepare on the floor it makes me Very Grouchy. I don't want to take it out on him. Suggestions please...

TIA


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## maya44 (Aug 3, 2004)

But what has happened with number 1. When you take him out and saying "I guess you are done?" How long did you do this for? What happened??


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## Clarity (Nov 19, 2001)

At that age, I only gave DD a piece or two at a time which helped a lot. I considered food throwing "playing", so if too much throwing happened, (I would pick things up once or twice) I declared mealtime over, and we'd go play. I also never used the table as a place to play unless it was only for a few minutes while were were all at the table, and when we used food for play we did it at her play table or on the floor. It does mean takeing the time to sit down with them and distribute the food (though dd never liked to be "fed", like with baby food very much.), and I tried to eat with her. It's so much easier to try to feed them while we clean up or whatever, but I found less comflict if I sat down too.


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## MidnightCafe (Oct 27, 2003)

Here something I posted on this issue in another thread:

Quote:

Well, I think it sounds like you're doing the right thing. It just takes a long time for them to learn. My DD has this down pretty much now, but we started by saying something like, "When you are all done with your food, can you say 'All Done' ?" Then she would say it, and we would say, "Ok, let's clean up." If she obviously can't participate in the clean-up I usually clean things myself, but she has to wait for me to finish if she wants me for something else.

The other thing we did when she was at the apex of throwing food on the floor was to stay very near her while she was eating. When she started to throw something, I would catch her hand (gently) and say, "Oh, you are All Done! Can you say, 'All Done' ?"

We tried really hard to NOT say "no throwing food" or "we don't throw things." It seemed like using the word "throw" was just an invitation for her to do it again. I read somewhere that babies & toddler only really hear about half of what we say. When we say, "No throwing." They hear, "Throwing." Seems like a good idea so they do it. We also did this with screaming. DD used to make these high pitched scream because she really liked to hear herself scream. It made her happy. We had to stop saying, "Oh, that screaming hurts my ears," because that statement includes the word, "screaming." We started saying, "Oh, that hurts my ears." That made the word "hurt" stand out rather than "screaming." It made a huge difference. I was surprised really. As soon as we started avoiding the words scream or screaming it cut the screaming by at least half.

Sorry this got so long. I hope there was something helpful here!
Does any of this help?

Sorry I can't type more. I'm nak


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## nym (Sep 6, 2003)

nak

we are having this prob too. We do say all done? and take him out. But, midnightcafe, we never thought about not saying throwing.. We usually say " we don't throw food when we are done. We say all done" I think we will change that. good advice.

Also, DS knows that before he gets out of the high chair he has to get a hand wash, so he sticks out his hands when he is finished. Much better than throwing food!

Still, our house is disgusting because of this.


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## Clarity (Nov 19, 2001)

forgot to mention - having dogs for cleanup is reaaallly nice.


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## oohlalabags (Jul 2, 2004)

dogs are a life saver around our house ... but i have learned they have to go into another room or outside while we're eatting because the kids will just feed them and not eat


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## User101 (Mar 3, 2002)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *oohlalabags*
dogs are a life saver around our house ... but i have learned they have to go into another room or outside while we're eatting because the kids will just feed them and not eat

Ha! Unfortunately some of us don't have dogs.









Have you used baby signs at all? We do the "eat" sign and also encourage the "all done" sign. Other than that, your number 1 choice, used consistantly, looks to me like your best bet!

Annette


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