Throwing Food

Eitak82

DS (almost 9 months) started eating only table food at around 6.5 months because he no longer wanted to be spoon fed (started purees at 4 months), so we started basically feeding him what we ate in appropriate sized pieces. He does great with pieces of food, but for the past week and a half he has started tossing food off his high chair tray. This usually starts happening later in the meal when he may be starting to get full/tired, but sometimes happens from very early on. 

When he throws food I say no firmly and take away the food for a minute or two before trying again. If he then picks up the food and puts it to his mouth we clap and "celebrate" to reinforce the positive behavior. It's too soon I think to really assess if this is working, but lunch was just a lot of tossing and very little eating (usually he eats a TON), so I was just wondering if others have gone through this. Any suggestions on things to do to reinforce the positive behavior of handling food appropriately and discourage the tossing? I know that with him being little this may still happen sometimes, but I want to try to reinforce that it is still not ok and don't want him just doing it as a game (he sometimes laughs). Also, I'm guessing it is, but is this "normal" behavior for his age? Any clue when it might end?

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pb_bride

I could have written the exact same post myself!  DS is now almost 1 - we also did purees just after 4 months, then moved to BLW-style food at 6.5 months when he refused the spoon.

We went through MONTHS of food-throwing... some days worse than others.  Usually it happens towards end of the meal when he's getting full, but it can happen at the start of the meal if it's something that DS deems "inedible."  

My experience has been - the throwing is worse when DS is teething, that's when he's pickiest and he doesn't want to eat most foods (hence, on to the floor!).  If he throws the same food several times, I stop offering that to him, and will try something else.  If he doesn't eat anything and keeps throwing, that's the end of the meal even if he barely ate anything.

We do the "good job" comment and clapping if he's done well with his meal.  We were doing "no" when he was your DS's age but that didn't seem to have much effect.

The GOOD news is that since DS turned 11 months or so, he now hands US the foods he doesn't want to eat, instead of throwing on the floor.  Sometimes he lets the food stay on his plate; other times he wants them off his plate so he hands it to us.  IF he shows signs of throwing, I'll point my finger at him and say NO - he'll stop and hand the food to me instead.  As a result, the floor clean-up is much easier these days, and less foods gets wasted.

spinsoffresonance

DD decided that when she's done eating her tray needs to be cleaned off and throws everything left on the floor. She also throws on the floor anything she doesn't want to eat. I tell her no, not to throw food on the floor and put it back on her tray. Sometimes she'll eat it, sometimes it goes back on the floor. I pick it up and give it back to her 2-3 times (5 sec rule, haha) then call it quits and end mealtime.

michellersayer

Yeah it's normal.. I took his food away for a few minutes (long enough for him to realize I wasn't playing and for him to understand) and then gave it back and like you said, praised him and said good job ALOT when he ate like a big boy.

laura1

Totally normal.  DD#2 loves to throw her food...she learned to say "uh-oh" so she throws it with an uh-oh.  Sometimes I will give her something and before she even picks it up, she says "uh-oh" and then whips it off her tray.  I just keep giving her different things.  She doesn't throw the things she really likes!!

this decaf life

So far DD is really good about eating everything and when she's done she just turns away from her food. If/when she starts throwing food I'll end the meal. She's going to love throwing food because our dog sits next to her, ready to get a treat, so I'll have to address it quickly otherwise I know a lot of her food would end up on the floor while she giggled at the dog.

BLPL101

Normal My DD loves to throw peas, beans and I found banana on the wall a few days ago lol