Throwing food - aagh!!!

[tory79]

Ds is just coming up to a year, and some mealtimes he is just deliberately chucking everything off his highchair with force. I have been trying to 'train' him to 'give it to mummy', which works sometimes with his yoghurt spoon, but he throws his food so quickly and without warning that I usually don't have time to do anything!

I tell him no firmly, but he just smiles and laughs. Sometimes I give it back to him, sometimes I don't - depends on how much he has eaten and if I think he has started throwing food because he has finished (which doesn't bother me quite so much as the deliberate throwing mid meal)

Is there a way to get him to stop, or do I just have to live with it until he's a bit older?

Similar issue here with DS. Sometimes he seems to concentrate on one thing and throws everything else off, e.g. we give weetabix & fruit for breakfast, he will throw the fruit off, eat the weetabix then if I put the fruit back on he'll have it. So maybe try offering fewer foods at a time

Also, I usually don't put it straight back on the tray, will pick it up from the floor, and put on a separate plate, then give it back to him a few minutes later, otherwise it can become a game. Doesn't always work though.

Other than that, I'm also hoping it gets better as he gets older.

Big problem in our house, too! Some things that have helped...

• letting DS choose from a plate that I'm holding, rather than putting lots infront of him
• not reacting too much (just saying 'no' in a firm voice)
• refusing to look at DS for a few seconds after he's thrown something
• using a messy mat, which we keep super clean, so we can recycle food! Though not when he's looking, or he thinks it's a game...

Urgh he's just getting worse. This lunchtime was horrible - EVERYTHING ended up on the floor. It doesn't help that he's really into balls and trying to make them bouce at the moment as well!

The other problem is I just find myself getting so cross at him, which I know isn''t fair, but its just so bloody deliberate!