13 month throwing food off high chair - DAILY! hELP!

Angela - posted on 06/04/2010

LOL! I am too grateful to see i am not the only one. I have too dogs. My daughter is almost 14 months now and she does the "one for me two for you!" My dogs definately know where to sit at dinner time. My daughter throws her drinks and everything else she can get her hands on too. Once we snap her hands a couple of times and some crocadile tears come out she quits doing it for a little bit. Still LOL!!!!

Erica - posted on 06/04/2010

Awesome to read this post, it's helped me out too! Yeah, try the cubes for sure...

Danielle Setzer - posted on 06/04/2010

So glad to hear I am not the only one. I notice now that I hand her a spoon also when I am trying to feed her, she pushes my hand away and wants to "do it herself". But it's hard for her and all the food falls off the spoon b/c she is turning it over before it gets to her mouth. She does sign "all done" but I can't ever seem to get her to sign "more", Sometimes she does tap with her on if she likes something and wants more, but that's about the only recognition of more I can see. She tosses her milk a lot too, so yesterday and today I broke out the real cup - it's not that big and I am only putting a very small amount in the cup for her to practice with, so maybe that will help. I too get discouraged and think that she knows she is making me upset, so I just walk out of the room after I look at her and say, NO! I don't want to take away her food/drink as punishment, so now I've been walking away for a min.
Also, when I give her something to play with, for ex. the likd from the yogurt, she is so intrigued by it, she lets me feed her bite after bite. Otherwise, I might get some shaking head No's, but then cry when I put it away. I am trying everything I can think of to feed her b/c I don't want her to be picky. So far she sticks with tomatoes, green beans, and those Gerber crunchies. Good idea about the cubed foods, I will start trying that for sure. I know with ham & turkey she will eat it like that, but not shredded or sliced always.

Catherine - posted on 06/04/2010

My daughter does the same and i think its because they had all that time being fed by the parents there trying to get used to doing it themselves and if the dont like the feeling of something the throw it. I'm having to clean my floor twice a daily, its very tiring but its just till they get out off the habit.

Jennifer - posted on 06/04/2010

Babies throw food, and that is just what they do. :)

I bought an inexpensive vinyl tablecloth, split it into thirds, and I put one under the chair for each meal. They clean up easily, and can be washed with my kitchen towels.

Also, I don't put all the food on there at once. She gets a few pieces of everything from the dinner table, and then I refresh as she asks for more (she signs more). She will also sign "all done", and then she gets down right away.

Michelle - posted on 06/03/2010

when my daughter starts playing with her food I always ask are you done...if she puts it in her mouth then we know she is still eating and we encourage her to finish if she drops it on tray and puts her hands up we know she is ready to get down....If she throws her food we take her out of her seat right away she does not get to play in the high chair it is for eating

Angie - posted on 06/03/2010

My daughter only throws the food AFTER she is done with her portion. She started by pushing it from side to side, now I find her leftovers on the floor. We are trying to teach her the word "done" so she can verbalize that she is done BEFORE she begins to throw things. I try not to get too stern with her because she is just trying to communicate that she is done.

Erica - posted on 06/03/2010

Hello, when I read your subject I couldn't help but laugh! I'm going through this and it drives me INSANE! I buy expensive organic food (and live in a resort community so it's twice as expensive as it should be) and am NOT a food waster. So I have such a hard time accepting that food is just going to go to waste! For awhile, I kept eating it up off the floor..because I couldn't stand the thought of throwing it away...ha ha, gross, I know. But then I quickly caught on, not only was that disturbingly desperate and gross, but also that's how Mommy's put on extra unneeded weight! So now I have to just accept it. My Mom says I used to do the same thing...she said I threw everything. I too though maybes she was just bored or perhaps I put too much on her tray...so now I'm trying to give her smaller amounts at once, and also paying closer attention to her mood. If I sense she's getting bored, whether I feel she's eaten enough yet or not, I remove her from the tray and let her play...with the intention that we'll try eating again in about 1/2 hour or so. Also something I noticed, she just didn't like the shape of some of the food I was giving her. I used to cut her cheese up in "sticks" so she could handle it, but she would throw it. So I started cutting it into cubes, and she loves it and eats it all now. Same with her bread...cube shapes have worked better than sticks.

I hope it helps to know you're not the only one. I just had to accept that it was going to happen regardless, as well had to learn to accept all of her clothes are going to get ruined (as she always takes her bibs off). So, if you can be accepting that it's just a phase they go through, it will be less stressful for you! ;-)

Rachel - posted on 06/03/2010

You have to establish the "no throwing food or drink on the floor" rule. My 13 month old son will do the same thing but as soon as he does he hears a firm "NO". If he does it again he gets a little snap on the hand. Just asking them to please not do that is not going to work at this age. They need to know that you mean business and you have to mean it every time and not let some times slip. The key is just being consistent and she will get it and learn to leave food on her tray. For my son it also helps if I'm there with him the whole time and don't put too much on his tray at once. If he throws his drink on the floor he gets reprimanded and the drink is taken away for a little bit. Hope that helps. Good luck!!

Emily-Ann - posted on 06/03/2010

I also have that problem too i tells him No and thats bad and tells him that food is to be eattin but my son just does it to get me mad and he knows it gets to me but once i just look away er wont take notice to him he dont do it as often

Mary Lynn - posted on 06/03/2010

I also have a "thrower" and I don't know if this is good or bad, but we have a dog that sits by the high chair and waits for the food to drop. He will also toss his cup sometimes.

When he does it, I will tell him "No" once and then try and distract him with something else.

With the cup, we teach him to put his cup on the tray, and when he does, we say "yay!"... he gets a kick out of that.