Food Thrower

[EnglishNerdMom]

Hi, I'm new to the site (although I've stalked it for awhile), and I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for me:

My 15-month-old son loves to throw food from his high-chair.  I know that I don't want to punish him by taking his food away, and my husband and I stop him each time he does it and say: "We eat our food, not throw it."  (We use the sign for "eat," too.)

We also don't want to turn into "NO" machines, so we're trying to find a way around that.  We have a dog, and I know that some of my son's enjoyment comes from seeing the dog eat his food.  He does it when he's still hungry, too, so it's not a sign of him being full.

Then I thought that perhaps he was becoming picky, and he's decided that he doesn't like the food that he's throwing but, after he throws a piece of banana, he'll eat a piece as well.

Psycho-analyzing my toddler must sound pretty crazy, but, again, I'm just wondering if anyone has good suggestions on how to respond to this behavior. 

[ThreeTwoFive]

I could have written your post 7 months ago (minus the dog), so here are my 2 cents.

I think a lot of it is just experimenting with gravity.  We did some ignoring or said "Yup, gravity still works."  

Natural consequences. He doesn't get the food back if it hits the floor.  He has to wait while I clean it up or he has to help clean it up.  (Half the time he'll eat it, though, so it's hard to make him help.)  If he's eaten enough and really starts throwing things, meal time is over.

Teaching what to do: "If you don't want it, say 'No thank you,' and give it to mama or put it on the table."  

Repeat ad nauseum for the next year or so.  

[katelove]

We have a bit of this with our 14 m.o. too. Mostly I just give one piece of food at a time. I give her something and pick it up once if it gets thrown. After that I offer something different (I keep her food on my plate, I'm not getting up making new food each time). I offer everything I have prepared for her, if she throws it all away then she's not hungry enough and we leave it until later.

I don't offer much commentary, maybe just an "Oops, it fell down", but I try to keep it pretty low key. 

If he's doing it because he likes to watch the dog eating, would it be possible to keep the dog away from your eating area during meals?

[somegirl99]

Subbing, our 12-month-old gets a big kick out of throwing food to the dogs too! 

[Xavismom]

I try my best to just ignore it. Our dog hovers about hoping for a treat too, but DS gets really upset when the dog eats his food, so thats actually working as a deterrent.

I've had a lot of patience with it so far, but just in the past week or so its starting to really get to me! I really hope this phase ends SOON.

[octobermom]

WhenI see that we are about toc ross into the throwing game I do take her plate..ANs then we practice again the signs and words for all done and more.. Once she lets me know which she is wanting we eaither countinue or end the meal. At that point I also give her just one peice of food or small bites at a time untill it becomes eaither obvious YES she i done or that she really is still hungry... At 16 months now its rare she throws though it does happen stil.. At aroiund 10-14 months we constantly delt with it.

Deanna