What to do when your toddler throws food off her tray at dinner time?

April - posted on 07/21/2009

My daughter would do the same thing. I just had to watch her. When she was finished she threw the bowl on the floor and anything remaining on her high chair. I would scold her for throwing food on the floor and taught her to say I'm finished. But I knew I had to move fast, really fast. She eventually learned how to take the tray off, so we would leave he belt unfastened and had the highchair in the lowest position. She is 3 now and sometimes insists she isn't hungry, so I make her plate and set it at the table. When she sees i am not making a fuss she'll come join us. Sometimes I let her get away with at least a few bites. When she is hungry she makes up for it.

Lyndsay - posted on 07/21/2009

I disagree -- I think children should be fed at meal times. They should be eating a certain amount of food from every food group each day, and unless you're giving your kids 20 snacks a day then the best time for them to get all of these nutrients is during meal times when there is more than one food being offered.

Anna - posted on 07/21/2009

I AGREE WITH TONIA...MOST LIKELY, IF SHE'S THROWING HER FOOD, SHE ISN'T HUNGRY :) I NOTICED WHEN I GIVE MY SON A SMALLER PORTION OF SNACKS DURING THE DAY, HE'LL EAT MORE @ DINNER. AT FIRST I FELT LIKE I WAS STARVING MY SON. BUT THAT WASN'T THE CASE AT ALL. IT HAS ACTUALLY WORKED OUT. ANOTHER THING, I WAS TOTALLY AGAINST EATING IN FRONT OF THE TV, YET IT SEEMS TO HELP...'CUZ HE ENDS UP NOT MAKING SUCH A MESS AND ACTUALLY EATS MORE :) GOOD LUCK :)

Tonia - posted on 07/20/2009

If she's throwing it then she isn't hungry. Don't make her eat, just let her go. She won't starve, trust in her body to tell her when to eat. :)

Tiffany - posted on 07/20/2009

my son does the same exact thing. now he says "no more" and we know he is done. He will throw food off the tray onto the floor if I dont grab it from him. I use the highchair when we are eating at the table ( dinner mostly) and then othertimes, I let him eat off the coffee table. i just lay the food out and he will come and grab it as he wants, he usually ends up eating it all, and plus more. BUT a big drawback, is it gets into the carpet, on the couch, toys, whatever. So you have to keep and eye on him if you feed him like this. anything messy, is in the highchair too. like mac & cheese, his fav.

i hope he grows out of this soon, it gets old fast!

Erin - posted on 07/20/2009

When my son was eating in the highchair he would do like Jen's daughter, hold up his plate and say done, if we took 1 sec. too long ---BAM--- on the floor. We would just be extra careful watching him making sure he was eating and asking if he was done and taking his plate away before our kitchen got it. Eventually it turned into him physically trying to get out of the chair...we stopped feeding him in the chair. We started feeding him at the table and when he was good with that (which didn't take long as I think his problem was being restrained) we started feeding him n the living room where we eat. Half the time he eats at the computer and plays video games *roll my eyes* Monkey see monkey do! My husband ate there a few times and now my kid is stuck! They'll grow out of it!

Jen - posted on 07/18/2009

My daughter will sometimes do the same thing. She starts picking up her plate and says done and if we don't get there quick enough she will sometimes drop the plate. We just work with her and tell her that she has to say done and wait for mommy or daddy. If she throws the food in a fit we make her clean it up and then she has to sit in time out until she calms down. I'm hoping it's just something that they will catch on to as you keep telling them they have to wait or they will be cleaning up their mess.

Jen - posted on 07/18/2009

My daughter will sometimes do the same thing. She starts picking up her plate and says done and if we don't get there quick enough she will sometimes drop the plate. We just work with her and tell her that she has to say done and wait for mommy or daddy. If she throws the food in a fit we make her clean it up and then she has to sit in time out until she calms down. I'm hoping it's just something that they will catch on to as you keep telling them they have to wait or they will be cleaning up their mess.

Lynlee - posted on 07/18/2009

Our son does this too - we just watch him and as soon as he starts mucking around with his food we know he has had enough and take his plate away before he has a chance to throw food.

Lyndsay - posted on 07/18/2009

My son does this sometimes too, or he will simply spit it out and let it fall on his lap or hand it over to the dog. He sits at the table with me for meal times, so when he does this I tell him that if he cannot sit and eat like a big boy then he's going to have to go into the high chair like a baby. If he continues to do this in the high chair, I will move him over to his time out chair and tell him he is not allowed to move until he eats 5 bites. He'll fuss for awhile then give in and have a bite, then I'll let him go play for a few minutes. If he refuses to take the second bite, I put him back on the chair and start over.

Lesley - posted on 07/18/2009

im daughter is 2 and she used to eat her dinners so well there never used to be one piece of food left, now i have so much trouble with her eating and she also throws her food on the floor ive started to sit her on a naughty spot in my front room or at the bottom of the stairs for 2mins and i make her say sorry after the time is up sometimes it works and other times it dont i usually do this as a way of telling her off if she does something that is naughty it may help you guess its worth a try? my eldest never went through anything like that so this is my first time of trying to deal with this i just hope my youngest dont start following her good luck x