To take breakfast off my toddler

[cs98127634]

My 2 year old is a really fussy eater. He will literally only eat toast or pasta. And behaviour at meal times is awful. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Whatever is put in front of him he just throws on the floor. I have tried giving him a "safe" food with meals but he will just throw it on the floor. I have explained to him that he does have to eat if he's not hungry, but he doesn't seem to understand. If he doesn't want to eat he will just throw food on the floor. It's like if he doesn't want to eat it he won't even have it on the table. I've tried ignoring it. I've tried telling him off. I've tried praising his brother for eating nicely. Nothing seems to work. This morning he started throwing a toast crust on the floor and I just took all of his breakfast away.

I can't cope. I dread meal times. Please give me some advice.

Its the parents job to move the baby away if they are throwing toys at other children and to calmly tell them ‘we don’t throw toys as you will hurt someone’. But there is no need to put an 18 month old on a naughty step.

2.5 year olds are not infants by anyone's definition. If he throws it take him down and take it away. A simple 'we don't throw food' will suffice. Then direct toward soft balls or beanbags or anything he can throw. For my thrower providing an empty bowl she could transfer into helped reduce the throwing. I'd also give only a tiny bit of food at a time and see if he's really hungry.

Yes of course I'd have been better spending my life hovering over my toddler rather than quickly teach him not to throw stuff. But I never had much patience - esp for parents who let their kids repeatedly hurt others whilst they stood behind them bleating about gentle hands.

Have you tried a no Thankyou plate ? Both my kids do this and I started putting a plate in the table for food they no longer wanted. I pick up the food and show them that if they don't want it then it goes on the plate. Sometimes I think they throw it because there's no where else to put it. He finds the plate very fun now. They occasionally still throw it on the floor but I don't make a big deal, I just say it goes on the no Thankyou plate if you don't want it. It has worked with both my kids so far. If they start messing about with yogurt and smearing on their arms or the table, they get a warning and then if they do it again they don't get it back. They soon stop when they realise your not going to give in

Pp who use a separate plate for rejected food are on to a winner, I think! Throwing is fun but "sorting" is also a welcome game to a toddler.

When mine were tiny I used really exaggerated please and thank you for reject food, so they would hand it to me rather than chuck it. It put a more positive spin on it, at least! BTW oldest is over 40 now and hasn't thrown food for years

Two things helped us through this stage:

1. as PPs have said, moving it out of reach and then only giving a bit as requested.

2. I’m sure in some children this would be a disaster, but DS absolutely LOVED us stealing his food. Born out of the fact that he would find our toast much more appealing than his identical toast 🙄 I got to a stage where it felt so much like I was making two bits of toast and then he would eat mine and his would get thrown, I decided fuck it, I’ll eat yours then 🤣 it made it all much more lighthearted. Although I did get fed some gross stuff as a result, just to warn you...

I put mine outside on a blanket to eat he howled his food had dirt on it (because he threw it) so I told him not to throw it he eventually got it

Isn't throwing a developmental stage? Think there's some good advice on this thread (not the naughty step though ), and just do what you need to do to get through it