How do you keep your toddler from tossing their food on the floor??

Kathy - posted on 12/16/2010

I can't say our son NEVER throws food on the floor, but more often than not these days he doesn't. That has been the case for about the last six months.

We did a couple of different things, I don't know if any one worked more than the other, or it was the combo, or just luck, but here they are....

1. He has always sat at the table with his dad and I. Even when he was an infant, we'd put the carseat on the middle of the table (note, that is not recommended for safety reasons, but we never had any problems). His high chair is at the table and he eats his meals with us so he sees what mama and daddy do.

2. When he would throw food on the floor, we would react very mildly, not yelling (because that to him is funny), but just calmly say that food is for eating, not throwing on the floor.

When he would go throw, I mean through, meals without throwing anything on the floor, we would give him positive reinforcement. Praise was good, but even more desired was a check-mark on his hand (see the Happiest Toddler on the Block). We have mostly phased those out for meal time now, but bring them back on occasion.

These days, food usually ends up on the floor if he is bored (i.e. "all done.") Now, dumping his water cup onto his tray and/or plate is another issue, but that's why milk still goes in a sippy, water is easy to clean.

Of course, it may not have anything to do with what we've done, he is in a Montessori daycare where the kids learn to clean up after themselves and set the table and all sorts of other things I never would have thought possible at this age.

Nikki - posted on 12/03/2010

you mean there are 20 mo old kids who dont throw food on the floor? amazing!! if someone gives you a trick that works could you message it to me? i am in desperate need of a solution!!!

Sheree - posted on 11/30/2010

If he was doing it on purpose we would sternly say no and take his food away, he would grizzle for it back and we would say "no throwing food on the floor. If he did it again we would smack his hand. After a few weeks of the same consistent response from both his dad and myself, he learnt to give us the food that he doesn't want. Many of my friends comment on his table manners and I've told them the same thing.
I love the towel idea for underneath his highchair :-)

Cindy - posted on 11/25/2010

hi
don,t know if am suppose to respond to this but i find that just letting them get on with making a mess, couse that si how they learn really.
they do nto have the coordination yet to be able to put the food into there mouth yet.
but as time goes by this will improve.
also dont, worry about getting them fed couse learming how to eat is the first step to the actual eating.

i woudl say don,t worry and let them amke a mess for learning sake.

kisses from cindy smit, mom of two 5 and 2 years of age.

Katherine - posted on 11/14/2010

Yep, one thing at a time. Too much food, too much fun :)

Sarah-Anne - posted on 11/05/2010

My daughter does the same thing. i finally figured to just walk away and wait for the huge mess to dry so i can just sweep it up later. it usually takes about an hour. she's learning to feed herself with a fork and spoon. she'll get about 75% of the food in her mouth. i let fruits, veggies, pasta, rice etc... dry on the floor to sweep later. if it's yogurt or egg or something really messy, i will wipe it up immediately. if she's throwing food on the floor on purpose, she gets all food taken away and her chair is turned around to face the corner for 1 to 2 minutes at a time.

Celeste - posted on 11/03/2010

We did what Jodi did with our daughter. We gave her less portions and put her in a booster seat at the table with us so she could see and get a feel for how it was done. When she threw something we told her "no, thats for eating not throwing." if she did it again we would take her plate away and say "are you all done?" if she shook her head or said no we gave her back the plate, otherwise we cleaned her up and got her down, no matter how much she had actually eaten. If she got hungry later we would re-heat and do it again. Now she eats with her fork and spoon, doesn't throw food, and asks to be done when shes had enough. Now, im painting a rosy picture.. shes still a baby so of course she still makes a mess every now-and-again, but it is not the norm.

On another note, if she started to throw a tantrum when we took the plate away she got a minute of timeout in her room, then she could rejoin us at the table... we no longer have meltdowns =o)

Goodluck, its not easy and it takes time.

Vanessa - posted on 11/01/2010

Put a large towel underneath...you can take it outside and shake off the debris afterwards :-)

Daniela - posted on 10/31/2010

I suggest putting some newspaper underneath the high chair. It will save on a lot of floor washing!

Jennifer - posted on 09/27/2010

My son likes to feed the dog. So if the dog isn't in the room, I'll call him in to clean up after my son. It's just a stage they all go through.

Maybe just put a wipeable mat under her high chair to make clean up easier. Or feed smaller portions.

Stephanie - posted on 09/26/2010

i honestly enjoy watching my daughter have fun playing with her food why rush things let them be little while they can. ya its a big mess but its fun for them and they are slowly learning from it too
:)

Jodi - posted on 09/26/2010

With my daughter, we figured out that we were putting too much on her tray at a time and she was getting overwhelmed. She needed less to on her tray, so she was throwing off. We started putting one piece of food on her tray at a time, then eventually two pieces. She now sits at the table in a booster and eats her plate with a fork perfectly! She often asks for seconds, and pushes her plate away when she's done, but that works much better than picking up food off the floor!!! Best of luck, not sure this will work with your child, but it worked wonders for our little girl!

Kate - posted on 09/25/2010

If you figure out the answer I would love to know!!
We currently try to encourage our daughter to just put the bits she doesn't want back on the tray. If she throws it off we give her a few warnings and tell her if she does it again she is 'finished' (as we have used this word for a long time to indicate that she doesn't want any more) then if she does it again we actually take the food away. This seems to have worked to a degree, it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be but still happens regularly enough. I have tried ignoring it but this definately did not work my daughter is so stubborn she would just put more effort in if we ignored her LOL.