https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:15:54 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548970 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 14:38:36 +0000 sandy 548970@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@BabyBoecksMom: @lemondrop: dogs add an entirely new dynamic to parenting that I never really thought of...it would be so tough...on both the dogs and the baby! How do they know what toys are theirs, etc.</p> <p>Parenting is kind of similar to raising dogs...people who don't discipline their dogs are doing them a disservice bc their dogs will be aggressive, irritating (barking at everything and jumping on everyone), etc...it's not the dog's fault! Similarly, parents are doing their children a disservice by not disciplining...no one wants to play with and babysit the aggressive baby that hits everyone or won't listen to instruction...not the kid's fault! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548719 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:04:18 +0000 Lozza 548719@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We noticed that LO would usually be good about eating his food at the beginning of the meal when he was actually hungry, and would start throwing food when he was no longer hungry. One thing that helped us was teaching him to tell us that he was "all done" (we used the hands-in-the-air sign for this), and us responding promptly to it. He seemed to do a lot less food-throwing when he knew he had a way to get out of his chair and back to his toys instead.<br /> This doesn't really work if you're trying to enforce everyone sitting at the table for a real family dinner, but it did really help to curb the throwing! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548684 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:47:50 +0000 lemondrop 548684@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sandy: well said, we are trying to avoid him throwing No back at us- I like your approach! We are trying to talk and explain, rather than just saying no.</p> <p>@BabyBoecksMom: Yes! Dogs are what we know, so we go we with that ;) in fact I just rolled his container of puffies out of the kitchen and told him to go get it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548606 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:19:59 +0000 DigAPony 548606@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sandy: No apologies necessary! Thanks for explaining! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548579 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 12:13:05 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 548579@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lemondrop: HAHAHA - we use "leave it" too, but since that's more of a dog command, I'm trying to avoid using it with DD because I want to have a separation of commands for dogs and kids. </p> <p>@sandy: As always, you have great advice :-) I try to make sure that I'm not always saying "no" to W for the same reasons you listed above. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-548522 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:54:28 +0000 sandy 548522@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DigAPony: we have friends that are great parents and have well behaved kids (a 4yo and 3yo twins)...and we just liked how they don't tell their kids "no" or "don't do that" but rather always spoke respectfully to their kids...of course now that they're older they explain things to their kids and talk things through...but always very respectfully. When they are babies you can't reason with them but you can still speak to them kindly when disciplining (my pediatrician explained that discipline for babies isn't negative and all about punishment but rather teaching your baby how to be a kind, well behaved person and to correct misbehavior). </p> <p>Anyway, I didn't want to be a parent that shouts at their kids or speaks in a mean tone of voice but I also don't want to be a pushover and to have a child that doesn't listen to me when I'm being serious. So, I find that saying "no thank you" and "please do not do x" helps to to always be respectful of my LO even though she can't fully reason with me yet (we are definitely getting close though at 14.5 months). I hate it when "no" is all a baby says bc that's all they hear from their parents. We usually say her name and then no thank you...and there is a definite change in our tone (low serious voice but never shouting) versus when we are playing and saying her name...so when she hears us say her name in our serious voice she will stop what she's about to do. </p> <p>Whew...sorry for the rambling response! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-547931 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 01:45:18 +0000 DigAPony 547931@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sandy: Just out of curiosity, why do you say "no thank you" rather than just "no"? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-547917 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:49:51 +0000 banana 547917@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son used to do that all the time and it droves us nuts! We did a very stern "no throwing food" and it didnt' really work. Until we added a very exaggerated mad face. I think the facial expression really worked for us because at that age, he used to stare at our faces a lot to see how we would react to all kinds of situations. Now that he's 3, he still looks at our faces for our approval/disapproval. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-547904 Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:32:11 +0000 sarac 547904@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Mine is the same way, and I think that she just loved to watch it fall. I decided not to make it a power struggle, so I just ignored it, and she has recently (16 months) mostly grown out of it. I'm happy with the way I dealt with it, in general. But it was really, really annoying. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-547869 Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:16:32 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 547869@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Like some of the others, we said no and would have him help us clean up the mess. I also emphasized that if he didn't want something he could give it back to me and I would always thank him for giving me back his dish. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-547864 Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:09:03 +0000 lemondrop 547864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My quote of the day, "Cameron, please don't feed the dog your milk." </p> <p>We use "Leave It" "All Done" and "More". Most of the time all it takes is a "Leave It" and he goes back to feeding himself. If he continues to throw things on the floor, I take away the pile of food and hand him one piece at a time. </p> <p>He is very motivated by clapping and cheering, so if he stops throwing food over the side of the highchair, I'll clap and tell him good job. He did it like crazy for a little bit, but it has slowed down and he feeds himself more of the food lately. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-546028 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:58:06 +0000 Mrs. Pen 546028@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sandy: I like this approach!!!</p> <p>I sternly say no, and if he continues doing it I flic his hand. He will usually stop and if he doesn't I tell him he's done eating and take him out of his high chair. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-546008 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 13:41:07 +0000 Boogs 546008@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I do exactly what Honeybee does. My LO really likes cleaning, so I swear that's why sometimes he makes messes lol. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545788 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 09:27:03 +0000 Honeybee 545788@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Superhero: lol so true!</p> <p>I tell DS not to throw his food, and then after a few chances he gets it taken away and I feed him myself for the rest of the meal. Afterward he gets to "help" me clean it up; never too early to start good habits!</p> <p>ETA: Most kids grow out of this on their own within a month or two. As long as you don't encourage the behavior, you don't really have to teach them anything, since they'll stop on their own once they pass that developmental stage. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545656 Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:33:21 +0000 Mrs. Superhero 545656@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Don't laugh, whatever you do! Soooo hard when they make faces at you :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545607 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 23:21:47 +0000 sandy 545607@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: I may get criticized for my comment but this is what worked for me...in fact this is the way I "discipline" my LO for everything and people are amazed at how well she listens to us.</p> <p>According to the handouts from our pediatrician we started telling LO "no thank you" around 9-10 months (we started later than recommended). I could tell around 10-11 months that she knew what she was doing...she wasn't being bad, just testing boundaries and what she could and could not get away with. </p> <p>Anyway, she had been throwing food off her highchair for a while and verbal correction was not working. So I would basically give her 3 chances...I would watch her closely and if her hand went to throw the food, I would look at her sternly and say "no thank you" very firmly...I always made sure I had her full attention and never yelled but was very firm. If after I told her "no thank you" three times and she still threw her food, I would pinch her on her cheek. This would upset her of course and I would tell her not to throw her food and that she needs to listen to mama when she says "no thank you". She learned so fast. When she thinks about throwing her food, i say "no thank you"<br /> and she shakes her head (I guess imitating me) and brings her hand back to her high chair. She is 14.5 months and never throws food of her high chair...she hasn't thrown food in months...i can't remember the last time. If something accidentally falls off her tray (sometimes when I go to put her food out on her tray I will knock a piece off) she says "uh-oh" an shakes her head at me. She is so cute :)</p> <p>This method may not be ok with some people but it is very effective for us and she really listens when we tell her "no thank you"....which is super important when it comes to safety and not just behavioral stuff. She is such a good girl so she rarely gets a pinch on the cheek...I dare anyone who thinks I am abusing my baby to meet us in real life...she is very loving and very attached to me and laughs and is silly all the time. She just knows when I say "no thank you" that I mean it. Now she can wander freely around the first floor of our house and I know she won't pull all the books off the shelf and hurt herself or touch the oven (obviously it is babyproofed in our house but not every house we go to is babyproofed). </p> <p>Just sharing what works for us. Please no judgment :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545477 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:26:27 +0000 Maysprout 545477@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have dogs so LO loves to feed the dogs as well as drop food on the floor,. She's gotten a lot better about not dropping food though not 100% on feeding the dogs from the table. We've done a mix of both and especially as she gets older I feel like we had to tell her NO to know what's expected and not acceptable at the dinner table. Now I don't expect her to be 100% compliant but I did want her to know the rules. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545474 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:25:47 +0000 Rubies 545474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I sternly say no and give her a "look" and then that's it. I'll sit with her to make sure the next handful goes in her mouth. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545471 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:23:57 +0000 rachiecakes 545471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS does the same thing. He thinks it's hilarious. I just try not to react. He's almost stopped doing it completely but he still throw food when he's done.<br /> I feel like when he sees me react he thinks it's a game. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/1-year-old-throwing-food-on-the-floor#post-545464 Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:21:14 +0000 irene 545464@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What do you do if/when your baby throws food on the floor?</p> <p>I know it is a developmental stage but this is getting crazy. LO throws almost 70% of food on the ground as he seems to be very amazed by how the food drops to the ground. The thing is he is actually still hungry because when I finally pull out a jar and start feeding him, he'd eat the whole jar!</p> <p>Our pediatrician and nutritionist both says ignore him and do not show any response to this behavior because he's just seeking attention and he thinks its funny because it causes a chain effect (But I really think he's more obsessed with seeing the food falling onto the ground). Our ex-nanny say I need to slap his hands lightly and firmly say no because he needs to learn to not do that.</p> <p>What would / do you do? Did you succeed in correcting the behavior?</p> <p>And what I want to know is, does this eventually stop?? :( </p>