20 months old, still throws food down from high chair...

I've posted this at Baby Bargains but there were no replies...Hoping that I can get some help here...


At the begining, I've heard that I shouldn't discourage this behavior but now my DS is 20 months old! He's obviously not trying to discover anything from throwing the food down from his high chair because he only throws things that doesn't appeal to him.

I am not sure how to handle this. I am constantly telling him that it's not okay, it's bad table manner etc but he's not getting the message.

Some suggested that minute he throws, take his food and consider the meal time is over...Let him starve til next snack or meal time...It seems bit harsh for me so I am here to ask some other suggestions...

[momtoB]

My ds is 24 months and is still doing this although (knock on wood) it seems to be tapering off some. We also used to just grin and bear it but are now telling him no. I do know he understands a lot of what we say and think it's not too much for him to learn at this point that it's not acceptable behavior any more. I also think that a lot of the time it's simply his way of saying he's all done and doesn't want any more. He can say "all done" but he doesn't seem to have a really good grasp of what that really means yet. If he's only had a bite or two and starts playing with/throwing it, I resort to just giving him one bite at a time, then he tends to concentrate more on eating it and less on playing with it. Sorry I don't have any better advice. I figure by the time he's outgrown his high chair hopefully he will have learned better table manners, LOL.

Cheryl
ds-4/21/03

Yes, I agree with one bite at a time. I use to give whole portion in his own dish and I saw most of the food thrown down on the floor less than 1-2 minutes. Sometimes I can tell that he's hungry...and I give him his favorite dish... still too much on the tray, he throws it on the floor.

I've been giving him one bite at the time for couple days and it seems to work much better.

So I guess it's bit too early to take his tray minute he throws it on the floor...I do tell him "no" or "bad manner" and did took his tray once... He just fricked out. He was crying and fussing that I took the tray... I repeated this three time that meal and finally got him off fromthe high chair... end of the meal(he hardly had any...).

I thought about it that night and I didn't feel right about that... So I decided not to do that until he grows little more and meanwhile I came here for help. Thank you.

[houseof3boys]

At almost 23 months, Ryan still does this too. I will say that he does it less often than a few months ago but he is still a handful when we go out to eat! We have tried stopping the meal entirely, bribing him by saying he won't get his vitamin (he loves it and considers it a huge treat) or his nightly milk, turning his chair around and telling him he is in a time out and that mommy and daddy cannot enjoy their meal when he acts like this and we have tried ignoring it entirely which is the worst I think!

I just wanted to say that it does taper off and I am hoping for our day when it ceases completely since it is so annoying. :P