Food throwing?

My son does the same thing. He is 23 months old now. He started throwing his food when he was about 18 months old and although he still does it some it is not as much as before. I tried everything. Taking him down as soon as he threw something, I tried just ignoring him, I tried just putting one or two pieces of food on his tray, nothing work. I know that this is not helpful advice for you but I wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I too am looking to see what others have done. Like I said, at 23 months he is not doing it all the time like he was, so it is getting better. Good Luck,

go back to feeding him one bite at time. Or give him less food. stressing as you are, that it is a no, no to throw food. Are you sure he is even hungry? Some kids do this when they are not hungry or are full. don't worry about getting angry, we all go though that when they are misbehaving.

As far as being hungry, I believe John is - he will take and eat "snacks" all day long - as long as he is not in his high chair. I've cut the snacks out at home, but daycare still provides them, and I'm thinking of asking them to quit as I'm concerned about his nutricion. He ate no lunch, and about 3 bites of dinner. I did find tonight that he would eat a little (very little) if I gave him something and immediately left the room. The minute I came around, if anything was on his tray, he flung it at me. I know this will be yet another night that he doesn't sleep through, probably because he's hungry. DH & I are at our wit's end with him getting up multiple times each night, but not eating during the day. We've been giving him milk bottles, which I know is not healthy for his teeth. I'm ready to be the real witchy mom, and only give him warm water when he wakes, we can't go on like this much longer.

snacks will ruin anyones appetite. So cutting snacks might be a good idea. If he goes to the table a little hungry then he might eat better. Or feed him small meals a day. With no snacks inbetween. They have baby drinks, i can't think of the name, that make them feel full. That might be what he needs at night. keep up the good work

Just a thought--does he use a spoon or fork yet? Our daughter is 18 months. SHe can use a fork and spoon a little, BUT we find it keeps her entertained trying to use it! Keeps her busy to try and get the food stabbed and when she does, is proud to put it in her mouth. Also, if I give her too much food at once, she tends to play with it, so usually have to offer just a few bites at a time. It can be really frustrating when you know they are doing something because you have told them not to!

You may also try a booster seat instead of a high chair if he's big enough. H did better once he got to sit in a "big boy" chair. He never particularly liked his high chair. And I second the utensil idea. You might also try getting a little pack of those small Gladware snack containers---you can take 2 or three of them and put a couple of bites in each. He may become so entranced w/ using the utensils or removing and replacing the food in the little cups that he'll quit throwing. I think some food throwing is probably "I'm not that hungry" but I think more of it is " What will happen if I drop/throw this pineapple? Will it make a different mess if I fling the cottage cheese? And what fate awaits the Cheerios as they fall from my tray?" They're experimenting. And my final suggestion is to sit down and talk w/ him as he eats. If I tried to do something while H was eating----unload the dishwasher, etc.---he would spend way more time playing w/ food than eating it. If I talked to him while he ate, he did much better.

Thanks for all the good suggestions! John is fairly adept at eating from a fork and spoon when he wants to, if he doesn't, they also get tossed. I'm definately going to look into a booster seat. I think part of the problem is that he doesn't eat with us most of the time. That situation will be rectified once we move, and neither DH or I are spending evenings working at our new home.

Funny, I was just going back to this thread tonight to say oh well about my suggestion, we are now having our own rude food issues! This week is the new trick of opening the mouth to show the food and now tonight when we had a neighbor over for dinner--open the mouth, show the food, then tilt the head to let the food fall out onto the tray. Not very funny. Well, our girl has only been eating a portion of what she has eaten in the past, so I think we are now entering a phase of I'm not hungry after 5 minutes, but I'm bored. And now like you, the utensil goes on the floor or in the hair after 5 minutes. So my suggestion of using the fork or spoon has now stopped working for us! When are you moving?

Hi Redbonec - we are moving in 6-8 weeks, depending on when the kitchen is finished. John ate about 3 bites of food tonight before the veggies started getting tossed, so I just calmly took the tray away and said "all done". Normally he gobbles up his veggies, so I guess he wasn't hungry.

Well, mine will be an unpopular suggestion but I would try getting rid of the bottles at night. That might make him more hungry and less likely to throw his food during meals.