# When do they eat off a plate?



## mamalex (Mar 2, 2004)

I still put ds's food directly on his highchair tray or on the table for fear of him throwing the plate/bowl in the floor. I know they make those special toddler plates, bowls, but they're plastic, pricey, etc. He uses a fork and spoon, so should he also be using a plate?


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## Boobiemama (Oct 2, 2002)

My Jack is 15 months old. I give him a tupperware plate, and most times he eats till he's full, then throws the plate on the floor! LOL


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## momto l&a (Jul 31, 2002)

My girls always have eaten off a plate. Its the beginning of table manners IMO


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## kamilla626 (Mar 18, 2004)

Dd used a plate once she was feeding herself (with her fingers). We dealt with a few messes early on, but by the time she was about 10 months she would just push the plate forward and hold up her hands as the sign for "done".


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## faythe (Oct 2, 2003)

The only time I don't use a plate for dd is if she's snacking on Cheerios or something like that.

Plate dumping will happen, it's a fact of toddler life. Or they pick up a handful of food, wait for you to look away, and drop it on the floor (or in the case of dd4, wait for you to look *at* her, then drop it). I take away the plate as soon as she looks mischevious - she can bang the spoon, paint in the mess that's already on the tray, whatever, but I don't need or want to mop the dining room after each meal, yk?


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## Vermillion (Mar 12, 2005)

My DS has always used a plate. I've never has any issues with throwing or dropping but then again my DS has always been a little clean freak.


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## mamalex (Mar 2, 2004)

Okay, okay, we'll use a plate. We don't own a non-breakable one, so I'll have to get one. I always just figured the highchair tray was "plate" enough. Thanks, mamas.


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## artgoddess (Jun 29, 2004)

My DS is a thrower. (probably my fault for cheering him on when he learned to throw a ball...in th house) He's only a couple months older than your little one. I used to marvel at other moms who put plate in front of their babes, cause I just knew DS would fling it across the room.

I first tried it at a restaurant about two months ago. We used a small bread plate to put his food on cause I didn't want to put his food directly on the table. He totally surprised me! Of course I kept my hand on the edge of it for practically the whole dinner, just in case. What I'll usually do is not put his plate in front of him empty, mkae sure there is food. He really like being like the 'grown ups". he rather not have the tray on the high chair and just have the chair pushed up to the table and have his own plate and fork like mama and daddy.

The plate has hit the floor a couple times, but so far nothing has broken on my kitchen linolium.


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## famousmockngbrd (Feb 7, 2003)

Hmm, I'm trying to remember when DS stopped using the high chair... I think he was 18 months at most, maybe even 16 mos. He decided he'd rather sit at the regular table with us. (I don't blame him.)

I used to put the food directly on the tray, until he stopped using the high chair. Then I started using a plate. I had tried using one before that but it usually ended up on the floor. For some reason, being at the table seemed to make him think throwing his plate on the floor was no longer acceptable behaviour.


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## AppleOrangePear (Apr 17, 2004)

Since Kai could feed himself with utensils ( a lil after a yr) he eats off of the same kind of glass plates we do ( i know some probably think we are nuts) we are always sitting next to him . One time he did have a plastic one and he insisted the same as us







hes only broke one plate and that was hitting the spoon on it







other then that he personally does very well at the table.. Of course i dont recommend giving All toddlers glass. depends on the child . At 19 months hes pretty good at using a butter knife for cutting : O )

Michele


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## Ravin (Mar 19, 2002)

FWIW I give my DD glass glasses to drink out of and porcelain/ceramic/glass plates to eat off of on a regular basis. We do have a few plastic items that were hand me downs, but not enough to get through a whole washing (I'm a believer in never running the dishwasher til it's full).

And I break glasses and dishes more often than she does. (After DH got upset at her breaking something, I started keeping track).


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## Bronxie (May 11, 2004)

We just started letting ds eat on his own. We sit him in his booster seat and give him his food in a plate. He holds his spoon in one hand and tries his hardest to scoop up food with it. He grabs and eats with his free hand. He eventually ends up pouring the food on the tray. That's when I take the plate away. It's messy but what other way wil he learn?


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## Goldenlover (May 19, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *momto l&a*
My girls always have eaten off a plate. Its the beginning of table manners IMO

jayden was the same way and I agree with this


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## Judegirl (Nov 11, 2004)

We're pushing 13 months and I don't let her near a plate. She gets to pick her food off of the plate and dump it on her tray, and then she eats off of a tray. She's a hurler, and she turns pretty much everything she touches upside-down instantly. I don't know when we're "supposed" to give her a plate, but if she's 15 and eating off of her lap, I'll worry about it then...LOL!!!

Jude


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## Marsupialmom (Sep 28, 2003)

Cheap plates, FRISBEES. We always get these at various functions. Using them as plates make them useful.


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## Kleine Hexe (Dec 2, 2001)

Some of my cutest pics are of DS with his plate on top of his head.







:


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## MaryCeleste (Jun 11, 2004)

DD (17 months old) has always eaten from a plate. We use the blue enamelware kind, which are indestructible, reasonably attractive, and dishwasher-safe. The matching cups (originally intended as espresso mugs) are also great.







We're not so crazy about the bowls (too big, and we can't see how much of her food is left), so we serve her cereal, etc., in 10 ounce Pyrex custard cups, which seem very durable.

It's nice not to be cluttering up our kitchen with more plasticky "kid stuff." The custard cups are useful for all kinds of things, and the enamelware is good for camping, picnics, patio meals, etc.


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## simply me (Dec 26, 2004)

Hi... Well i think all kids are different. I know my 3 are/were TOTALLY not eating alike at any given time.

My now 8 yr old was a messy eater who i always gave paltes, bowlc etc to. I have cleaned up alot of messes. By around 15 months she was finally wanting to eat with manners & no longer tossed things.

My 4 yr old, he still & never would like to use paltes ,bowls etc. He dumps out everything & no matter i do he will not use plates. I cut him some slack because he is a special needs child but i still try daily to work with him.

Now my youngest, 2 yrs old last week..... She likes to be neat , clean, well kept in her manners etc. She has since she was able to used plates, utensils etc. She NEVER throws things, dumps things etc. She is such a neat freak she won't eat messy foods unless you feed them to her. She can not stand her mouth, hands dishes etc to be messy. She will scream for you to clean her hands if she gets food on them. She has ALWAYS been that way. Her birthdays she wouldn't even eat her cake unless you fed her. It was interesteing when my BIL put the cake plate on her head. WOWO i thought it was excorcist time!!

Heather.... hmmm i had a siggy line... looks like i lost it somehwere!!!


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## mamalex (Mar 2, 2004)

We moved ds to the table with us 2 days ago and have given him a plate (and fork and spoon, as he insists.) Sometimes he manages to get food into his mouth. The plate is always inevitable turned over. Last night, he wanted to transfer the soup (I know, what was I thinking?) onto the tablecloth spoon by spoon. When he finally wanted to get down, I set him in the floor, and he ate most of what he had thrown down there- including broccoli and carrots!!


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## CountryMom2e (Apr 1, 2005)

I started Ethan around 13 mo with a set of Sassy bowls that have a suction cup for the base. Once he handled that ok, I started giving him regular dishes. You could also try paper plates to start. Now as soon as he starts to play with the dish, flip it over, etc. I take it away, sign "all-done" and he gets down.

It makes it soo much easier when we eat out now that he handles a plate well. I also give him a fork or spoon to work on eating with, which he loves.


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## hottmama (Dec 27, 2004)

My son is 28 mos. and has been using a plate all along, but my friend has a son who's a few weeks older and she still puts food directly on the tray. One less thing to wash, I guess. When J was a baby we had a wooden high chair that was hard to clean, so I would never have put food directly on the tray (that didn't come off of the chair).


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## bela05 (Sep 8, 2013)

i have a friend who's three year old still does not eat off of a plate, she eats off of her parents plates and they give her bits of food when she's running around in between meals. i asked the mother about this and she said it was so she wouldn't have food issues later in life, WTF? i'm thinking she's already got them? she's not learning table manners, and she does seem to be hungry late at night, am i old fashioned? the child can't sit at a table through a meal...


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## boater (Oct 19, 2008)

My dd is 25 m. for reference. We took the tray off the high chair ( we have the svan) as soon as we could and had her eat with us at the table. Before that we were able to fit the tray over the table so it felt the same. As soon as she had been eating for a little while (maybe 8 or 9 months) she had dishes and utensils. She never had sippy cups either, just drank from a shot glass at first and now just a smaller glass we happened to have. At first we used more unbreakable stuff like stainless steel, wood or enamel, but I got tired of hand washing so she usually uses ceramic unless I know I will be distracted away from the table and she seems riled up or something. Often she will eat her soft boiled egg out of a family heirloom porcelain egg cup or drink tea out of antique china. I like for her to feel trusted to be careful with beautiful and precious things. She went through a brief throwing phase at one point (17 months maybe??) but I think she has only ever broken one dish. Every mom and toddler are different and this may not work for everyone but I do think it's nice to give toddlers opportunities to learn they are capable as early as possible unless it is a big stressor for the parent.


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## sageowl (Nov 16, 2010)

I'm not a fan of plastic either, so I purchased a bunch of cheap dishware at Goodwill for the kids to use. That way if one gets broken, who cares.


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## Katy2555 (Jan 8, 2014)

My 15 months old JH has always eaten from the plates. We started training in the beginning so the problem of her not eating from a plate or smashing it didnt really get far


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## Mulvah (Aug 12, 2008)

I'm pretty lenient about this compared to most in this thread. My oldest was pretty well-behaved as a little one at the table and I think we moved to a plate around 18 months. My youngest was given a trial at around 18 months and failed miserably so we tried again at 2. For me, using a tray or a plate has little to do with table manners and everything to do with readiness.


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