# 18 Month Old Throwing Food



## Bec2854 (May 23, 2015)

Hello. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I wanted feedback from other "gentle disciplinarians." 

My 18 month old son has been throwing food for the past 6 months. He is a picky eater so I usually try to introduce vegetables and his not so favorite foods at the very beginning of the meal when he is very hungry. I only give him a couple of pieces but he almost always throws it on the floor. I keep reading if he throws food to assume he's finished eating and get him down from his high chair. However, he hasn't eaten anything! Up until a week or two ago, I would get him down, ask him to help me clean it up (he happily helped), wait a minute or two, then get back in the highchair and give him something he likes. Well, now he is refusing to help clean it up and I understand that I may be asking too much of an 18 month old, but I want him to know when you make a mess you clean it up. To try and get him to help clean, I offer choices (do you want to put it in the bowl or Mommy's hand?, etc.) and keep a calm voice, but it has been going into a tantrum lately. I have been sitting on the floor with him saying the normal "I see you're sad, Mommy's here" but I am still insistent he helps clean after he has calmed down. It just seems like it has turned into this huge power struggle. Anyone have any advice? Am I expecting too much to insist he helps clean? Thanks!


----------



## lilacvioletiris (Apr 3, 2011)

I am following but have no advice as this is my current struggle with one of my twins.


----------



## luckiest (Apr 29, 2009)

I've never found the "throwing means you're done" tactic to be helpful at all either. Most kids aren't throwing food to be rude, they're usually playing, and come on, throwing food is fun! But if I'm interpreting correctly, he's throwing down what he doesn't want to eat? That's a bit different. 

What I would do is continue what you're doing - offer a few bites at a time of a single food. Then if it goes on the floor, I'd move onto the next food. I would say, "food stays on our plates! If you don't want to eat this right now, you can put it here" and have an empty cup or bowl that he can deposit his rejects into. Then *after* the meal, I would clean up the floor together. Because no matter how it got there, food will get on the floor and it's a great ritual to help clean it up. It isn't punishment for throwing, it's just simply what you do after a meal - you clean up together. Eventually he'll figure out there's less to clean up if he doesn't drop things on purpose, and the habit of cleaning up after a meal will eventually morph into washing his dish or putting it in the dishwasher. But I do think that offering him an alternative placement for the food he doesn't want is key. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## newmamalizzy (Jul 23, 2010)

Totally agree with luckiest! I was racking my brain trying to remember how we dealt with this problem, and now I recall guiding my DD to put her food in a dish. I would actually catch and redirect her hand. She was a slow dropper, so it was easy to catch her


----------



## JustJenny (Nov 4, 2006)

I have a food thrower too. Like Lizzy I've been catching her hand and putting it back over the plate. I say food goes on plate or mouth. I keep it short and matter of fact. Its been working pretty well for the last 2 weeks. I've seen some improvement. I still can't leave a plate in front of her. It just ends up a food frisbee lol. 

Hi Lilac! Miss you


----------



## littlebear3 (Jul 1, 2014)

Id do similar things to get my li to eat the not so fun veggies. If part of your concern is getting your lo to eat the food, I've found two things that work. Veggies in butter are just better tasting and typically ger eaten. Also, a simple distraction like a book or toy seems to get the lo to focus on that instead of food defiance. Eventually said food becomes part of the normal routine of eating and you can begin weaning off the distractions and butter.

Thats what worked for us☺


----------



## gipaoshao (Jul 7, 2015)

Eventually said food becomes part of the normal routine of eating and you can begin weaning off the distractions and butter.


----------



## WallaWallaMamma (Dec 14, 2013)

Not sure if this is still an issue, but for one of my kids, the destructive feeding time habits stemmed from the fact that she hated sitting through long meals in a confining high chair. I let her eat in a big kid chair or at the kids table, so she can come and go. But I make it clear that the rest of the family is going to eat, not play, during meal time, and that her food has to stay in the dining area. She liked being in control and mealtime became much calmer after that.


----------

