Throwing food on the floor

Fercie - posted on 04/22/2010

My daughter does it bc she likes to watch how we react when she drops it on the floor. She will stare us straight in the eye and then drop the food without flinching. LOL. Its funny but really annoying. When she starts throwing her food on the ground I take her plate away and only give her a couple pieces, if she still throws it on the floor then I assume she is done and take her off her highchair and clean up.

Raychael - posted on 04/22/2010

mine does it to feed the dog. though he's one of those that eats anything that doesn't eat them fist, he's a walking garbage pit. tough we do the method just a lil bit at a time and he eats and eats and eats and when he's done he feeds the dog, ad other then that not much hits the floor with the dog and the kid

Joy - posted on 04/22/2010

It means he's done or there was too much food on their plates to begin with. The way thing I've found that works is moving quickly when they look like they're about to throw food.
And get a dog.

Gaeby - posted on 04/21/2010

my son did the same thing he used to love carrots and from one day to an other he starded spittng it out and throwing it on the floor he did it with everthing that wasn't pasta.
now 2 months later he's back to eathing everything again.

Gaeby - posted on 04/21/2010

my son throws his food on the ground when he's done eating as soon as i see him do it i'll take his food awy and tell him that if he throws his food he isn'y gonna get more. then clean him of and put him on the ground.

Christina - posted on 04/13/2010

Maybe he is coming down with something, a bug or something. I only say this because i have spent the last week with my daughter doing exactly the same, she loves her food also but started to refuse to eat any of her usual favourites and started to throw them and get whingy!! Turned out a few days later she had chickenpox, after a week of nibbling a little bit for each meal and having about 2 hours more sleep than usual she is fine and eating very well again...

it might just be a phase for your little one but just keep an eye out for signs of illness..

Cher - posted on 04/12/2010

We have a muck mat under the high chair, and when she throws something on the floor we pick it up, put it back in her hand and guide her to put it on her plate. When it looked like she was finished...throwing more than she was eating, we ask 'finished?' then we show her to push her plate further into the table. Surprisingly it is actually working.

Jennifer - posted on 04/10/2010

My baby girl throws her food on the ground cause she loves to see our dog eat it up!I think it`s just a phase.She is just playing and experimenting what happens when she throws it on the floor...

Tanya - posted on 04/08/2010

Thanks for all the comments. It's just so strange cause my son love love loves to eat! And he loves banana so to have him throwing it on the floor is very odd for him and a recent development. In fact it's really hard to get him to eat his breakfast anymore. Today I took his breakfast away because he was throwing it on the floor, took him out of his chair and waited about 10 minutes while he screamed before putting him back in his chair. I noticed then that he was rubbing his eyes so I've put him back to bed. I don't know how they can go back to sleep for a nap after only waking up an hour ago.

Sara - posted on 04/06/2010

That is how I know my son is done eating. He eats, and then when he starts to throw food on the floor he is done. We clean him up, and take him out of his chair.

Amber - posted on 04/06/2010

My son throws his food on the floor when he is done eating. If he is about to do it I just take the food. He also enjoys feeding the dogs so if I keep them away he only does it when he is done. Target sells bowls that suction to the tray so my son can no longer dump the whole bowl only what he can fit in his hand before I get to him. The bowls have kept my floors a lot cleaner

Valerie - posted on 04/05/2010

They will grow out of that phase. My daughter usually throws stuff she doesn't like on the floor. I'm not worried about correcting her at this age. When she's feeding herself with spoon and can keep a plate on her tray without throwing it off, then I'll worry about teaching her not to throw her food. Lighten up about it, they will out grow it, I promise!!! And how fun is it to step on a banana with bare feet!! LOL ewww

Jennifer - posted on 04/05/2010

My friend is a behavior specialist and works with kids of all ages through out local regional center. So, when my kid started throwing all his food on the floor, I called for advice. This is what she said:

Give the child food. If he throws it on the floor, use a positive statement about keeping food on the plate (don't use words like no, not and don't- instead say something like "we keep our food on the plate"). If they throw it on the floor again (which they will), say "next time you put your food on the floor, you are done eating." If they throw it on the floor again (which they will!), take them out of the high chair with no food for at least 10 min. and try again. Makes meal time long, but worth it in the end. It will take a couple days, but it should work.

Corey - posted on 04/05/2010

Caleb only drops food that he doesn't like onto the floor. Everything else is shoveled right into his mouth! If your baby throws things on the floor that it still eats i'd assume they are just playing and it's probably a phase.

Clare - posted on 04/05/2010

My 14 month baby does it too, i find it better to give her the food and then leave her to eat alone or with the tv on, she don't throw it that way.

Jane - posted on 04/05/2010

i HATE the self-feeding stage! it irritates me to no end but they have to do it. they master it eventually...Swiffer Wet Jet and don't bother to clean up before they're done eating, it's just more work for you.

Michelle - posted on 04/04/2010

My daughter does it when she doesn't like a particular food or when shes had enough. We put down a mess mat which makes it easier to pick up but weve started putting little bits on her plate and if she eats it and wants a bit more we'll put a little bit more on there. If she starts throwing it then I take it away and clear up. I think its just cos they dont want anymore, my kids are nibblers so they have little bits through the day and a meal at night and it seems to work.