13 month old throwing food off high chair

[upearlyagain]

13.5 month old been throwing food off the side of the high chair. What can I do about this? Normally she's a good eater so don't know if it's teething?

On a broader point, it feels too young to be talking about "discipline" but when should / does this factor in?

My approach right now is to passively pick the food up without any reaction. Don't know if this is best.

It helps if you wait until the meal is finished and then pick it all up. Otherwise they think oooh look if I throw this mummy picks it up.

Yeah, I wait til the end of the meal then let the child sit in the high chair while I pick it all up.

I only give them one or two things at a time.i don't give them the whole meal on their tray at once.

I used to put the highchair on a tarpaulin then clean up after. You are right about being too young to discipline, just ignore.

Ok thanks. When does the idea of "discipline" enter things? Not just with this but generally? This is my first born and I feel clueless!

Discipline at this age is really just ignoring the annoying stuff. That's not passive: ignoring certain behaviours makes them unrewarding/boring for your DC. Then ensure you give loads of attention towards the behaviour you like.

Think of yourself as a slot machine, and pay out strategically.

Ignore, it's a phase. Don't make it into a game, don't respond, just ignore and clean it up afterwards.

I have never allowed food throwing so I would just give one thing at a time and if they go to throw it, hold their hand and say "no" or "uh-uh". Repeated attempts to throw food and I'd get them down.
Some people don't mind about food being thrown or dropped though so it's up to you.

@crazyguineapiglady

I have never allowed food throwing so I would just give one thing at a time and if they go to throw it, hold their hand and say "no" or "uh-uh". Repeated attempts to throw food and I'd get them down. Some people don't mind about food being thrown or dropped though so it's up to you.

This is basically my approach. I think you absolutely can tell them no at that age. They do understand.

Discipline is pointless at this age - he’s not being naughty, so how could you discipline him? He has no concept of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ behaviour.

You should try a ‘no thank you’ bowl. It’s an empty bowl on your child’s tray for food they don’t want. It will take a LOT of modelling, but you can teach him to put food he doesn’t want in there. Keep showing him, over and over, and he will eventually understand that he should put food he doesn’t want in the bowl instead of dropping it.

I seem to remember it’s partly a perceptual thing - exploring what something looks like near and far. Also they enjoy cause and effect at that age so the less exciting your reaction is the better! I’d do as PP suggests and wait until the end to pick up without comment. They grow out of the phase on their own, but it’s tedious

@BaringasMare that's a great idea. How do you do a no thank you bowl? Like if it looks like they are about to drop it try to get them to drop it in the bowl?

Ignore. I tried all sorts but the only thing that stopped it was pretending it wasn't happening. Reacting made them laugh.

Same for putting water in their mouths and spitting it back out on their tray. Awful habit but I think it was a sensory thing they grew out of.

Throwing things is one of the ways babies start to make sense of the world around them. Chucking stuff off their high chair repeatedly comes under what’s called the trajectory schema. It’s bloody annoying and a waste of food but they get to learn what happens to objects if you lob them across or up or down. As PPs have said just ignore and clear up at the end of the meal with no comment about mess, behaviour etc. Clearly if a baby or toddler chucks something that’s likely to damage something or hurt someone ( a whole watermelon or cabbage) then take it off them before they can launch it.

You just have to wait for them to grow out of, usually when they are 2ish.

They're little scientists!

Expect mess at that age, annoying as it is

The phase will pass.

Yes they do just grow out of it. DD loved throwing food, especially as we have a dog who was more than happy to clean up! But she just stopped gradually and now she's 2.5 never does it. It tended to happen when she was getting full so I would just say 'Looks like you are done! I'll take it away' and get her down. If it was at the start I'd usually just say 'Whoops! Now you have one less piece of carrot!' or whatever. But it is just a messy phase!

Ours too, we just shake our heads and say ‘no darling this is our food’ because he knows that if he throws food the dog comes running and he loves the dog 😬.

You've had some good answers about the food. So I wanted to say something about the discipline as I see you asked when does that begin. I read something a few months ago about how our role is to teach rather than punish. It's completely changed my mindset. So for example today my son emptied his water onto the floor on purpose. This would have usually been a time out (he's 3). But instead I simply told him we do not put water on the floor inside, you can do that outside if you want to. And he went and played outside with water. It's so much less stressful when you realise all you have to do is teach and it is their role to learn in time.