Toddlers: 24 Months+
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How long in highchair? Using utensils? Throwing food on floor?
I was wondering how long your toddler ate in their highchair before transitioning to a booster seat at the table...My little one is almost 15 months.
Also, how old when they really started to use utensils? How did you introduce?
He loves to throw his food on the floor when he is "all done"...Any thoughts on breaking that habit too?
TIA!
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Re: How long in highchair? Using utensils? Throwing food on floor?
We moved DD to a booster seat at the table right after her birthday. She's 16 months old now & able to use utensils pretty well, but not perfectly. If I put the food on the spoon/fork she gets it in her mouth just fine. She's still working on scooping the food herself, but she's making progress. Ever since I started giving her solids I would let her hold a spoon (otherwise she was grabbing for the one I was using) & I just kept showing her how to scoop the food. Eventually she started doing it on her own.
LOL at breaking the food throwing habit. It's not easily done & in my experience (I also have a 3 year old) you might have to wait until they just get older to understand. But, in the meantime when DD throws food on the floor I tell her "no, no we don't throw food" and then take away her plate. That's it. She doesn't do it as much as she used to, so I guess it's working.
My son sat in his highchair until he was 2. Then he sat in a booster for a few weeks, then decided he wanted to sit in a chair like mommy and daddy. We introduced utensils to him when he was around 14 months or so, but he didn't exactly use. He's almost 2.5 now and we always give him a spoon or fork and he will sometimes use it. He almost always holds it in his hand, but then uses the other hand to pick up food.
As for throwing food on the floor, my son didn't do that but once it seemed like he was done with dinner, I would tell him dinner is over, take off his bib and put him down to play - we consistently did this. Now that he's 2, he says to us "I'm done" pull off his velcro bib, wipes his hands and face and climbs down from the chair.?
DS is still in his highchair for most of his meals because we tend to eat in the breakfast nook a lot (tile floors), but if we eat at the dining room table with food that won't stain the carpet, he sits in a booster seat and does just fine.
He just stopped throwing his food down recently. He has done it maybe twice in the past few weeks. At this point, if he throws food down, it's to feed the dog (oh yay.....). We just kept telling him "no, no. we don't throw food" very sternly and would take his plate away. We could also start telling the signs of plate-about-to-be-thrown and would say "all done?" and start pulling his plate away. If he was, he'd let us take it. If not, he'd whine. Now he hands me his plate and says "du du" which I guess is done haha. Good luck with that though, it's definitely a phase I hated.
DD has used a booster and utensils since about 12 months. She is a clean freak and is a very careful eater. She doesn't really make a mess. The entire time she used the highchair I never had to wash the cloth part.
DS is an entirely different story. He is a wildman. The highchair is filthy after each meal and food is everywhere. He is nowhere near using a booster or silverware.