throwing food on the floor

jlsimon56 · September 2012

I feel like my LO barely EATS. She throws a lot of food on the floor. Most parents say that signals that their LO is finished eating. My LO....throws whenever.

Does anyone have any advice for how to get LOs to eat more? Any weird habits your LOs have that you've found affect how they eat? (Like, a girl at daycare can only have 1 thing on her tray at a time.)

Her 15mo appt is in less than a month and I'm wondering where she's going to fall on the scale.

She tasted a choc chip cookie today and threw it on the floor! Who throws a chocolate chip cookie?!?!?

clineak · September 2012

Is she getting a reaction from you or DH? If so, maybe she finds that amusing. If DD throws food on the floor, I tell her, "No, we don't throw our food on the floor." If she continues, I take whatever it is she's throwing off her tray. If I end up having to take everything off, I can only assume she's not hungry. When she is, she'll eat.

IlliniQT · September 2012

It helps for Cam if we only put a few items on his tray at a time -- I hate this phase!

lisamoe · September 2012

We have this problem, too.

Although, with us, it seems to be more with things he does not like to eat. He's always throwing meat on the ground. You will never catch the kid throwing grilled cheese on the floor.

swimiz500 · September 2012

We are going through this too. We do the same stuff clineak suggested, and just figure if she were hungry, she wouldn't throw it. This phase really, really needs to end.

jmo866 · September 2012

DS throws food a lot. He used to be worse though, so hopefully she will grow out of it soon. This is what we have to do - one type of food at a time. Only 2-3 pieces max, sometimes 1 depending on the size (i.e. 3 pieces of melon is fine, but something like a small chunk of pizza, only 1 piece). He throws to clean the tray. If his mouth is too full, and there is something else on the tray, even a crumb, he will throw it. If he thinks he does not like something, he throws it, even if he has not had it. He now has recognizable foods he loves, so luckily, if I stick to the basics, we are OK. I still deal with the throwing at home, because I want him to eat new things and a variety, but at DC, I send snacks I know he will eat. It is frustrating. One of the many joys of young toddlers exerting their independence!

AmandaP678 · September 2012

clineak:
Is she getting a reaction from you or DH?

Somehow I read that as is she getting it from DH...as in does he do it... Yea i read what I want to lol

We're in the throwing anything and everything phase and then laugh about it after

katie4253 · September 2012

Isn't this just a developmental milestone? "Purposeful release" is what I think it is called.

It is also a communication milestone from what I remember reading. We pick up lots of food off the floor here. It is NBD. We got a stick vac, and vacuum 3 times a day on the weekends (when he is home all day). The dogs loved it when Gabe ate. It makes me realize how much they used to get to eat from him.

jlsimon56 · September 2012

So what you're telling me is.....it's normal. :-)

I'm just wondering when she's going to stop! She's been doing it since the dawn of man. From the very beginning when we started giving her food....onto the floor it went. I know she's strong-willed.....but she's got to be hungry too?

I say, if she's not hungry, then that's it. DH says we need to get her to eat SOMETHING so he gives her snacky type foods (goldfish crackers, etc.). She eats some but throws most on the floor. Is she just playing us?

I feel like she's nursing more and more. I would like for her to eat more food!

dairygirl19 · September 2012

I agree with Katie for the most part.

However, I've learned to take into consideration her personality at the time. If she throws, giggles and then repeats, I know she's not really hungry. In that case, down she goes. And I'm probably horrible but I'm not worried she's starving, so I don't feed her much extra after that either. If I have to, it's something healthy like grapes. She usually doesn't do it the next meal time and eats well.

If she's throws and then looks at it to see what happened, I know she's experimenting so I let her be. She'll eventually put a bite in for every one she throws. I just let her be, pick it up and say, "let's not do that. In your mouth." Like she understands at all, but it's good future practice.

katie4253 · September 2012

jlsimon56:
So what you're telling me is.....it's normal. :-)

I'm just wondering when she's going to stop! She's been doing it since the dawn of man. From the very beginning when we started giving her food....onto the floor it went. I know she's strong-willed.....but she's got to be hungry too?

I say, if she's not hungry, then that's it. DH says we need to get her to eat SOMETHING so he gives her snacky type foods (goldfish crackers, etc.). She eats some but throws most on the floor. Is she just playing us?

I feel like she's nursing more and more. I would like for her to eat more food!

I would say if it is still really bad in 3 months see the doctor. It *is* possible that she is having some behavioral issues related to eating or texture aversions. I don't really think that is the case, but it can happen. Usually kids with these issues have other risk factors before it happens (eg preemie).

I can see how you would be more stressed though, increasing nursing at 14 months isn't exactly what you'd expect. Hopefully she is just a boob addict and nothing more (which is my guess).

LnR70707 · September 2012

I asked this same question on Parenting about 3 months ago. Best advice I got was to give only one or 2 pieces at a time. Total PIA, but you do what you have to do. DS was throwing food he loved the second it was placed in front of him. Now it seems to be better, but I really can only accredit that to time, not anything we did. He does sometimes take a little while to get into the swing on eating now....so if he throws immediately, we let him sit (and sometimes fuss) a minute or two before trying again, explaining that we don't throw food and all that.

LyndseyLC · September 2012

yes we are going this this phase as well.

boogerbearoriginal · September 2012

Yep - throwing food non-stop. It used to be only at the end of meals, now it's all.the.time. My personal favorite is the one bite then toss method of eating.

Honestly, I just let him do it most the time. The dogs get the food before it hits the ground half the time, so it's easy clean up lol. It bothers H a lot more than me, so he will encourage LO to eat. But I just let him do his thing. If it's still happening as we get closer to 18m I'll work harder on curbing it, but I'm hoping the ignore factor will make the whole experience less appealing.

One thing I've noticed is he really likes to put his food into things - so if I give him an open cup he spends a lot of time putting food in/out as opposed to throwing it. Maybe try that?

Regarding the actual eating part, as hard as it it I wouldn't worry. She won't starve herself and her growth rate is decelerating so she needs less calories. I've also heard it's very common between 12-15m for LO's to start nursing a lot more and then it tapers back off.

damabo80 · September 2012

I've seriously considered renting a dog for an hour around mealtimes to make clean up easier.

The only thing I've found that works is to put less food on the tray at a time.

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