Food throwing

Does anyone else has a problem with this at this age? I mean seriously...I am ready to cry. Last night I spent 40 minutes on my knees to scrub the kitchen floor...today, I could start all over again (I won't do it), but the rice, some ranch dressing, pieces of chicken is all over the floor....they are still throwing everything when they feel like it...then the juice bottle follows...on a good day, it does not open...other days...oh well...
What did you do to end this? How much longer before they stop?

 

If they knowingly threw food, meal/snack time was over. If they threw a sippy, it got taken away. In our house, throwing food was usually a sign that they weren't hungry anymore & wanted to play with their food rather than eat it. I can't remember how long it took them to outgrow it but at least there was less mess to clean up.

 

They get one warning. Second time, the thrower is removed from the table and put in the gated living room (adjacent to the kitchen table). At that point, they sit their screaming their heads off for a minute. When they calm down, they can come back to the table and try again. Since I started being so strict, it has gotten a lot better.

 

My boys like to throw food, too, and like the others, they get a warning, and then they are done. Fortunately, I have two very hungry dogs who are more than happy to clean up most of the mess for me (of course I still have to vacuum and use the Swiffer to get it really clean, but not nearly as often as I would have to if I didn't have the dogs).

 

So my problem is, when I remove them from the table they are laughing. Time out is a joke for them...and they are hungry. If I don't let them finish dinner they are up several times at night with gurgling stomach.....I guess I just have to try it until they get it, dinner time is not play time.
Thank you guys.

 

I agree with PPs, one warning and then the plate, sippy, spoon - whatever was thrown - gets taken away.

I agree that putting them to bed hungry is not a good idea though. I don't know your schedule but could they be either too hungry or too tired at dinner time to eat properly? I would probably try giving them an earlier dinner and a substantial snack (a bit of oatmeal with applesauce and a bottle of milk worked fine for us) before bed?
Another idea is to return to feeding them at dinner as a consequence of food throwing: If I felt they were still really hungry I would try feeding them - if you can't eat properly, mom will have to feed you.

 

Yep, we had this happen. Which is why we went back to giving them a bedtime milk (before brushing teeth). Once they get better with finishing dinner, we will drop the milk.

 

I tried many different things to stop this, but was sort of half-@ssed about all of them. Finally our ped said (the only really great behavioral advice we got from him!): If they throw food, say "No throw" and take the tray away.

We started doing this very consistently -- no explaining, no anger, just "No throw" and take the tray away. We would give it back to them one time in a meal, so they had another chance to eat (and learn from their experiment). Then mealtime was over. It took maybe 3 days for them to stop doing it all the time. They still did it occasionally, just for fun or to see if the rule still held, but only once a week or so.

For us at that age, a verbal warning did not work. We had to physically remove the tray and carry it to the kitchen as the warning.

ETA: I missed your comment about going to bed hungry. We always gave them a full sippy of milk at bedtime, so that wasn't a problem. If that's not part of your routine, I would suggest trying again (a little bit after dinner) with a snack.

 

Food throwing? I have it dripping from the walls sometimes, I have to mop them. I so feel your pain.

 

You're preaching to the choir here. My boys have been throwing food for months and months and still are. We've only recently had some success with getting them to hand us the food if they do not want it (they'll hand it to us and say "nice" which is what we say to them when hand it to us rather than throw it). It's going pretty well, but there has not been a meal in months where the broom has not come out afterwards. My guys are just throwers. It's very, very frustrating and messy, but I believe they just need to outgrow it and with constant repetition ("hand the food to Mommy if you do not want it"), hopefully we're beginning to make progress.

I've heard several people say that toddlers will eat their food when hungry and play with it/throw it when not. I do not believe it's that cut and dry. At least it's not for us. My guys can be starving and still eat some and throw some.

I do not agree with taking the food away as a punishment. I just don't believe they're at an age yet when they can effectively understand consequences and the thought of them going hungry also bothers me too much. We are trying other methods to teach proper behavior.

To make it even more fun, they also like to spit their water from their sippies. We've been working on this for months, too. It stopped for about a month when we bought them sippies that were harder to suck from. Once they mastered them, it began again. Ugh.
It doesn't help that they egg each other on. Not sure if your LOs do this. If we get cooperation from one, but the other is still doing it, it all goes out the window.

Hope you don't have to deal with it for so long !

 

I agree with all the others. Mine got one warning, then I took away whatever they were throwing for a few mins. After a few mins they'd get one more chance, but the first time they threw it then, I took it away for good. It does work, they understand very quickly that if they throw, they lose their food.

As for the grumbly tummy at bedtime, I'd also add back in a sippy of milk or a good solid snack like yogurt, something that you can feed them quickly and with little mess

 

We are struggling because I agree with the poster that mentioned her babes can be starving and still throw food. One of mine in particular doesn't even seem to know he does it... it's hard to explain. He doesn't do it for a reaction or anything - it's like his hand is just compelled to drop food... and then he'll eat the next bite.

We *have* started the one warning and then you're done. No scowling or emotions, that's just not how you act at the table. Our guys eat frequently enough that I don't let food battles bother me. They've *never* eaten dinner well, so we bulk up healthy foods at breakfast, and make sure they have a healthy late afternoon snack before dinner. They're growing and doing all the other things they should be, so I'll keep doing things this way. It *is* getting better slowly.