1 yr old throwing food

[tekins]

This is soo fustrating. DD feeds herself and then drops some on the floor and then feeds herself some more. We have tried telling her no and holding/squeezing her hand when she throws food on the floor. It's not a sign that she's done eating cause she will go back to feeding herself. I wonder if she just like to throw things in general because that what she does with her toys now too.

She doesnt do well when we spoon feed her because she tries to grab the spoon herself=a bigger mess.

Any ideas?!?

[LarsMal]

Welcome to the food-throwing stage!!! Both of my kids started throwing food around 1 as well. Of course, at almost 2 DD is STILL doing it!

One thing you could try is giving her one bite at a time on her tray. If she doesn't have handfuls of food available to chuck, she might be more likely to actually eat the bite.

Besides that, just keep telling her no...although it will be a long time before she stops! When DS and DD were at the height of it, we had a dog, so I didn't notice the mess as much. Now, I have one of those little Shark vacuums- looks like a restaurant sweeper. I just take a deep breath and know that I'll be sweeping it up after they are done eating.

GL!

[brittone2]

Splat mat underneath?

You can also just try giving her only a small, small amount at a time. That way the amount of mess she can make is limited, kwim?

It is annoying, but part of normal exploration...gravity checks, and also feeling the textures.

You can try offering a lot of appropriate texture play at other times to see if that helps.

[HIU8]

DD is heavy into this stage. Here are a couple of things I do:
1) I put smaller amounts of food on her tray to begin with.
2) I take the tray away from her and say "if you are throwing the food you must be done". If she is not done, she says no and wants the tray back (I take a good amount of food off the tray and give it back to her. She doesn't throw it again that meal for the most part). If she was truly done, she will say "all done".

The food throwing has gotten more under control. (DD doesn't just drop it, she pitches it across the room).

[Tondi G]

That is the stage that I was SO thankful we had two dogs who hoovered up anything the kids tossed on the floor.

You can tell her NO but chances are it won't change much... especially at 1 year. I would limit it to one bite at a time.... less food, less waste. If she keeps throwing the food ask her if she is done. If she wants more then tell her "eat the food, don't throw it or you are all done". Just keep repeating and do your best to not get frustrated with the food throwing!

If you want to go with spoon feeding... give her one spoon to hold on to and then feed her. Sometimes having something occupying their hands helps!


Good Luck and hang in there... it doesn't last forever!

[maestramommy]

Yup. Totally normal. I start out with giving them only one piece of food at a time. Too many and they either get overwhelmed, or starting playing with it. I kept that up with Dora for a few months. With Arwyn I tend to give her one larger piece of food (like a quarter of a pancake) now instead of many pieces. However she does well with a small bowl of Cheerios.

And I do "end the meal" when they start throwing food, taking off the bib, making raspberries, etc. Anything that constitutes undesirable table manners.

[elektra]

Same thing here. I have heard of people stopping the meal when the throwing commences, so the child supposedly gets the message that if they throw food then they won't have anything to eat. I might be tempted to try this if DD wasn't barely skirting the 0-5% percentile in weight. But since she is so small I pretty much do what every else has said so far and give her only a few bites at a time, since my DD will also continue to eat after she throws food. For her, it doesn't mean she's done or full. And I am thankful for my dogs when it comes to meal times, that's for sure.

[hillview]

Age appropriate behavior. Less food on tray. Remove tray once some is eaten and it all goes on floor. Get good mop/broom.
HTH
/hillary