SO Frustrated!

nate has developed the lovely habit of throwing all of his food on the floor. I know he is hungry...it's breakfast. I gave him a waffle and w/out taking one bite just threw all of it on the floor!!!! I am very poor. I don't have enough money to be just wasting food. I can't keep feeding him other stuff while he keeps tossing it. How do you break this? I don't remember Anthony doing it. Or if he did, he chucked some (totally expected) but still got enough to eat.

I just want to take him away from the table and let him be hungry...but that's not like me. But I am so upset, I just started crying this morning! Pregnancy hormones I guess.

Anyhow, what do you do? Anything? It will pass right?

thanks

 

:hug99: :hug99: At one point I started dreading mealtime because of this.

What we started doing is just giving small bits at a time. If it got thrown we stopped giving food to the thrower, who would sit there and see his brother eat instead. If he would ask for more, then we'd reiterate that if throwing began, then no more food.

I hope this phase passes quickly for you.

 

My girls, (14 mos.) both did this deliberately too. What I found is that if I push their booster seats close enough that they can reach the table over their trays, and then teaching them to put food they don't want on the table instead, they've pretty much stopped throwing their food. It took a couple weeks of redirecting, showing them how to put the food on the table, saying "good girl" each time they handed me the food or placed it on the table, etc. Now they either pass it off to each other or put it on the table. The floor, of course, still gets messy ( <_< ) but they aren't just tossing it for the fun of it anymore. HTH! Hang in there.

Side note: How awesome you are being a surrogate and for carrying triplets for their parents. Simply reading your ticker brought tears to my eyes. You must be a special person!! Do you personally know the parents you're carrying for? Anyway, I think that's wonderful!

 

Okay, here's what I do. I'm just as angry about it as you are. It's so wasteful! :angry:

I mop my floor at least once a day and then do the dry Swiffer. If DD does the tray sweep (as I call it), I pick the food up, check it for loose chunks of dirt and give it right back to her. By keeping the floor extra clean, I don't feel the least bit bad about her food utilizing the 3 second rule.

 

QUOTE(first_second_and_last @ Jul 26 2007, 08:53 AM) [snapback]344822[/snapback]
Okay, here's what I do. I'm just as angry about it as you are. It's so wasteful! :angry:

I mop my floor at least once a day and then do the dry Swiffer. If DD does the tray sweep (as I call it), I pick the food up, check it for loose chunks of dirt and give it right back to her. By keeping the floor extra clean, I don't feel the least bit bad about her food utilizing the 3 second rule.


ya know, I have NO problem picking the food up and giving it back to them. Even w/out mopping everyday! BUT - I have a dog and he is faster than I am!!



I forgot to mention...that he will eat his weight in grapes. I think he has figured out that if he chucks his food, I will give him grapes (or some other fruit). Because I know he will eat that and I don't want him to be hungry. I think this might be partially my fault.

 

We're in this phase too!!! Ugh!! Will it EVER end?

 

I pick it up and put it back on their trays - though at every mealtime I wish that I had a dog! I am so sick of sweeping and cleaning after every meal!!
If you have no problem feeding them food they have thrown - maybe you could put your dog in the other room until mealtime is over...

At mealtimes I give them their food in stages - first anything that I have to spoon feed them, then a veggie then fruit, then cheese and finally the"good stuff". I can usually avoid food going on the floor by either adding a new food or distracting them by having them feed mommy. If they continue to throw the food I take their tray and wait a minute. They usually get the point. If they throw food again I take the tray again.

You might also try not giving him the grapes for a meal or two (in our house its Goldfish)

 

Sarah did this for several weeks and it drove me absolutely bonkers. I had tried a variety of ways to discourage her but couldn't seem to hit on one that worked. Finally I did exactly what our ped suggested, which was this:

The minute he throws food, say "no throwing" (calmly but sternly) and take his tray away -- not for the rest of the meal, just for a minute or two. (If they eat straight from the table, push his chair away from the table.) Let him fuss, then give it back and say "no throwing" again. Repeat as necessary, for as long as you can stand it.

If he keeps throwing and never starts eating, at some point you do have to end the meal, but we never reached that point -- Sarah would always start eating after about the second time her tray got taken away.

This seemed way too simple to work -- but whether it was coincidence or the genius of our ped, it totally worked in about 3 days. I think the key is to be on your toes so that you can take the tray away the instant the food is thrown.

I also put the food back on her tray after she threw it, unless it was something that splattered (i.e., applesauce).

 

We had this problem bigtime with the boys, and we occasionally will have it every now and then, but not often. Because the boys were bad eaters to begin with, I didn't want to make sitting at the table a negative experience so I would just kind of ignore it. But the problem just got worse. I finally started reacting to it and made them understand it was NOT okay. I would say "NO THROWING" very sternly and sometimes smack their hands. If they kept doing it, they were put down without any more food. It was pretty much cleared up in less than a week. Some people do not give warnings and food-throwing is an automatic no-more-food, meal over, done. I have heard this works well, too, but I can understand wanting him to eat.

Also wanted to add how amazing I think it is that you are carrying triplets as a surrogate! What a blessing you are to those parents.

 

I do as a pp mentioned. Their highchairs are pulled up to the table, more to join the family than anything. But we have taught DD to push food forward when done. Or she "shares" with DS by passing it to his tray right next to hers. She used to constantly throw her sippy cup and the valve would come out, making a mess. We would pick it up and show her to put it on the tray or pass it to us. So now she grunts when she wants her milk (we are working on using words) and we give it to her and then she holds it up when done and we take it back. We make sure to tell her thank you and this seems to please her and I suppose encourage her to do it next time.

But I find DD only tries to throw food when she is done, it is a matter of catching her before disaster.

DS, the vacuum, doesn't waste food thank goodness.

 

Ours used to have a major food throwing problem. What I did is tell them if they continue to throw their food that I would take it away from them and after a few warnings I did just that. The only other thing you can try is to just give them one thing at a time.

 

I was always really strict with this because I'm also poor AND it's not good to waste food!

First offense - I'd warn the kiddo that if s/he threw more food on the floor then breakfast/lunch/dinner was over.
Second offense - food disappeared only to mysteriously reappear at the next meal.

The real key was that I planned the day so that he was eating either a meal or a snack every 2.25 hours. So lets say that s/he tossed food during breakfast and got his/her tray taken away, well I wouldn't give her/him anything until the next meal time. This worked out well because I knew s/he wouldn't starve to death in an hour and it nipped the behavior in the bud real fast.

 

I have the answer for you. It is his name. I can say this because MY Nate does the same thing. Actually I find he does it less now, but will still do it if I introduce new foods and there is too much of it on his tray/plate. I tend to start with a small portion and as he starts eating, give him more.

I also find that reducing the amount of snacks leaves his more hungry for his next meal and he is less likely to do it.

On the other side, Josh will eat pretty much anything we put in front of him - without hesitation or question.

Holly

 

QUOTE(rheamay @ Jul 26 2007, 04:59 PM) [snapback]344910[/snapback]
ya know, I have NO problem picking the food up and giving it back to them. Even w/out mopping everyday! BUT - I have a dog and he is faster than I am!!
I forgot to mention...that he will eat his weight in grapes. I think he has figured out that if he chucks his food, I will give him grapes (or some other fruit). Because I know he will eat that and I don't want him to be hungry. I think this might be partially my fault.


I have a dog, too and he is the best vacuum cleaner ever! We either lock him in the playroom or put him outside during meals.

 

:hug99: Patrick does this but only when he has had his fill. How's the pregnancy going btw?