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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

15mo throwing food - tactics?

25 replies

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 12:43

My 15mo regularly throws or sweeps food on to the floor at mealtimes. Generally when he has a mouthful - so doesn't want more at that precise moment. Or is frustrated because we've told him not to stab the table with his fork. Or because he wants a drink. Or because we've just told him not to throw food on the floor...

It's annoying. And my dh, who is a sahd, today mentioned smacking ds. I don't think this will help, and don't like the idea of smacking generally. But we could do with some strategies for dealing with this. He's been doing it ever since he's had food that he could throw on the floor, and it doesn't really seem to be getting better...

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all4girlz · 14/09/2006 12:50

my 16 m dd does this when she has had enough
a stern no makes her cry
we did not help though beause the first couple of times we laughed and they love that getting a reaction she chuckled her head off and did it again!!
not much help sorry
but we now try and anticipate when she is about to throw sometimes she even offers us the whole plate and we grab it before it hits the floor and say thankyou a couple of times

KathyMCMLXXII · 14/09/2006 12:58

My 15mo is the same. What I do at mealtimes is to give her the whole meal where she can reach it, until such time as she starts throwing, and then I take it away and she only gets it back one bit at a time (or not at all if she's really bad - I assume it means she has had enough). I have found that 'Don't throw' focuses her attention on the throwing and makes it worse, so a better strategy is to make a game out of putting it in her mouth, so I open my mouth wide and point to it to get her to imitate me, or point to her mouth and say 'in the mouth!'

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:05

all4girlz
yeah - pretty much the same situation. except that saying no doesn't make him cry - just puts him in a strop. i've been trying to say "no" less - with limited success - because if i say "no, don't chew my phone" he throws the phone on the floor and has a little stomp for a couple of seconds. same thing with food - if you say "no, don't throw that bread on the floor", he strops and sweeps EVERYTHING in front of him on to the floor. not exactly the effect i was looking for

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Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:09

kathy - yeah, we do that too.

i guess it's encouraging that he's not the only one. but he's been doing it for 6 months. and i'm bored of this game now!

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KathyMCMLXXII · 14/09/2006 13:15

Me too Cornflakegirl
What annoys me is that whenever I ask anyone with older children when they grow out of it I always get a smartarse reply like 'About 18!'

Still, she's starting to attempt to eat with a spoon now so we've got a whole new world of possibilities for mess creation....

all4girlz · 14/09/2006 13:24

my lo has a spoon and two little helpers 3 and 5 showing her how to eat with it
it is painful watching her as most of the pasta / sweetcorn/ green drops (peas) end up down her front before an empty spoon goes in her mouth.

she likes scrambled egg but eats it with her hands!!

my 3yr old and 5 yr old are good though so not 18 lol

KathyMCMLXXII · 14/09/2006 13:27

LOL, all4girlz.
My dh and I have been having earnest discussions about what food is going to stick to the spoon best. She's going to get a lot of risotto and mashed potato in the coming months.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:29

okay, so only 21 months of food throwing left for us, kathy

spoons are great! ds is good as long as the food is sticky - porridge he's fab at! but other stuff he tends to give up and eat with his fingers

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Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:30

x-post kathy!

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Pollyanna · 14/09/2006 13:31

My 20mo old dd is still throwing food - nothing stops her, all I can do is take it out of her reach. She doesn't seem at all abashed when I say no (in fact she does it again with a challenging look) - she usually teams it up with a screech too!! I wish she would stop - it is very messy at meal times and embarrassing in restaurants

KathyMCMLXXII · 14/09/2006 13:33

Cornflakegirl - I will go back to giving her porridge and make it extra sticky.

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:43

kathy - normal porridge okay here. and cereal with plain yogurt and banana. breakfast is definitely his best meal!

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Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 13:51

pollyanna - i think we need to start a club. welcome

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Original poster

cornflakegirl · 14/09/2006 15:52

anyone who's made it through this stage got any tips for us?

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panchagarmendia · 14/09/2006 16:37

hi there
no advice just a quick bump as i'm in the same boat as you all and would be thankful for any suggestions too!

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 15/09/2006 09:11

another bump - there must be someone who can help us?

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vwvic · 15/09/2006 09:51

Ah yes- I remember this stage well. We tried:

Saying "into your mouth".
looking bored and taking her plate away.
Completely ignoring it. Out of those, taking the plate away, then saying eat nicely and you can have it back worked the best. Obviously if she did it again, it was back to taking it away again. And again. And again.

It seemed to stop when she found a new and different way to torture us!

Original poster

cornflakegirl · 15/09/2006 10:25

thanks vwvic - can't say that was precisely the encouragement i'm looking for!

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Measle · 20/09/2006 20:22

Hi,my 18 month old son has started having total teatime tantrums. He starts to scream as soon as he is aware the food is being prepared and then has worked himself up so much that he just throws all of his tea on the floor or grabs handfuls from his dish and throws it in the floor all the time screaming and throwing his head back. He screamed tocday for an hour and eventually calmed down by about 5.45. Husband then came home and he ate his tea from him with no problem whatsover! I felt great! Any help appreciated....

aviatrix · 20/09/2006 22:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

cocopop · 21/09/2006 13:56

I started a thread on this last month when I was completely out of ideas as to what to do with my ds who had the same habit! I didn't really get any good advice and so just carried on telling him no everytime he threw some of his food.

He's now 17 months old and, although he still does it sometimes, it's not really a big issue anymore. I started giving him less finger food meals and more meals that require using a spoon (he's had lots of mashed potato!!). He's getting quite good with a spoon now and to my surprise (and delight) has never once tried to throw the bowl on the floor or anything. Good luck with your little one!!

alison222 · 21/09/2006 14:21

I tall them " we don't throw" and remove the plate, then after a minite or two put it back telling them they have to eat nicely. If food gets thrown again it gets removed.
If it happens more than a couple of times I take the child away from the table and put them on the floor and go back to my own meal. if they are hungry they will clamour to come back and hopefully behave.
It may take a while but if you are consistant at removing food when it gets thrown - or removing them, they will soon get the message.

alison222 · 21/09/2006 14:21

minute, even

samnbabes · 21/09/2006 15:11

Haven't read the whole thread, but my ds did this at the same stage and it was his most annoying habit EVER - would eat as much as he fancied then casually chuck the rest at the floor. WHilst looking at me and grinning. . I've found the most effective thing was to fast forwards about 2/3 months ... but if your child, like mine, is one of those inferior models that doesn't have a ff, I made sure I sat with him and removed the plate with a very loud, cross NO just as he was about to do it. Have to say it hacked me off so much that this was also the stage where I introduced the happy world of the naughty step -although, tbh, don't think it helped much, as basically he was telling me he'd had enough, so being got down from his chair was perhaps not the most effective punishment ... but it gave ME some space to calm down and not smack him, which was, I'll admit, very tempting...

mumfor1standfinaltime · 21/09/2006 15:22

I am so glad I am not alone on this one. Ds is 20 months and throws food sometimes. Infact he did it today, his latest thing is holding the food out and looking at me to wait for a reaction eg a 'no'. I have now decided not to say anything and ignore it when he does this!

He stopped throwing food for a while but now seems to have gone back to it again. I think sometimes it is boredom, he seems to get bored whilst eating!! I try to ofer smaller portions and top them up!

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