1 Y/o Old Throwing Food

My kids enjoyed throwing food too. They would throw it when they were hungry and when they weren't hungry. My youngest also loved to throw her dish on the floor when she was done almost every time.

This is what I did:

My son... has been through a lot... cancer treatment and chemo. He was on a G-tube for a while. As he was learning to eat by mouth again, I couldn't risk him missing meals or calories because he wanted to play in his food, throw it, or even be a little bit naughty in his behavior with it (purposeful messing). I had to tolerate his messing with the food and even being naughty because he would still continue to take a bite every now and then while messing around. It was at this time of crossing over to solid food from G-tube feeds that I introduced play dough. He needed to mess, throw, and mash food (dough) for developmental purposes. I had him play with play-dough at times when he was already fed, had sipped a bottle of milk, or had a full belly, so that his developmental need alone would be met just with the play dough time. Then, when I placed the food infront of him, at a later time, I would tell him that the playdough is for mashing but the food is for eating only. I encouraged him to only take bites of the food, I tolerated a lot of teasing and taunting on his part. And I was a little flexible with my boundaries because I didn't want to spiral him into a tantrum when it was so important for him to just become engaged in the eating process.

The two activities (between the play dough time and food time) didn't connect or come together for a long time, but eventually he knew what I was going to say, how I was going to strongly direct and guide him to only eat his food, and how I would set aside time for mashing, rolling, and throwing the playdough. Somewhere along the line, his brain got the connection and his needs were met. His desire to mess with food lessened more and more. Eventually he began eating automatically with no prompting at all to become engaged with picking the food up and placing it in his mouth one bite after the next with no messing around.

My daughter though... she didn't have an eating problem at all. She's always be a thick little healthy chunk. I had no problem at all with swift consequences when it came to her. I did the two chance rule with no worries most of the time.

During the meal time, she would receive forgiveness of messing with the food two times, and then I'd take the food away. There was only a short period of time where she messed with the food even when she was hungry and she threw her plates on the floor even if she was starving. She struggled a little and would beg for milk bottles or sippy cups when she missed a meal because of her behavior. At first, I gave her the bottles, but eventually lost sympathy for that as well. She would be hungry, fussy, sleepy.... just miserable. But, when food was placed in front of her, she'd throw it down and smash it and mess it again. I was not concerned for her health though so I just let her go through a little misery. I believe that by letting her be a little hungry, she actually learned quicker.

With my son, I just couldn't take the risk. It was more important to get him engaged in eating than it was for me to be "teaching lessons". But, with both children, even though it may not make sense at all... the whole food throwing and mashing thing had very much to do with a developmental phase that they needed to meet. So, I would introduce activities like play dough (preferrably home made), longer baths with more water play, more snuggly pillow time (just to roll and snuggle in the pillows with only a diaper on). Snuggly pillow time will meet a lot of sensory needs. You'll find that as you introduce those other sensory/developmental experiences into the day, the outpouring of attention on the food will lesson because the need is being met elsewhere. Eventually the brain makes the connection. However, it does take a while.

Each child is different and should be given a different kind of tolerance when it comes to this issue of food and fingers.

oh the joys of motherhood. My son is also one year, and does the same thing. I give him only a small portion of food at a time like a few bites. if your giving her half a waffle try 1/4 instead or break it up into little pieces. I also when my son was about 6 months taught him simple signs, like "thank you", "please", "all done" "more" soon i will do more it is so much easier than trying to figure out when there done or finished. I found a easy to use book from the library. hope this helps. S. D.

Well maybe don't let her have the food in front of her feed her each peice or just give her 2-3 peices at a time. Hard to expect alot from a 1yo. I don't agree w/ letting them throw food and it is a good skill for her to learn but it is gonna take a while before she really gets the act of eating down, probably just fun to her right now. I have 4 kids and each one is different at eating. My son has been the best at eating nicely at the table so far and he is 2.5 yo.
Good luck to ya and don't let it get to ya too much they change so quickly at that age.
L.

You'll know she is still hungry. We also say no throwing your food, and honestly if either girls keep doing it, we know they are done. We usually have a snack at like 10 am so if the gobble that up, I know that they are just trying to get a rise out of the throwing of food.

Don't worry, there is no way that she will starve!

My son does the same thing. My rule of thumb is...If I pick it up and he throws it again, he's done. He has gotten better about it and most of the time he'll just hand me his plate. I tried teaching him all done in sign language too he just never picked up on it.

Both of my kids threw food all over the place, thank god we have dogs. I decided that throwing food meant that they were done, and the consequence of throwing food was that the dog would eat it and it was gone, they figured that out pretty quickly. Once the food throwing began, I would then offer a couple of small pieces of fruit for dessert, if they threw that they were done, if they ate it, well perhaps they didn't like the main course and I would offer something else. Both of my kids eat almost anything, so this didn't encourage them to be picky eaters......and I agree with the other moms that said a 1 yr. old is pretty young, just starting solid food, so as long as she is getting plenty of milk, don't sweat it too much.