https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 02 May 2026 13:00:09 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2198007 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:52:33 +0000 Rockies11 2198007@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>yeah, it's a developmental phase - they're learning cause and effect, textures, etc. I read a bunch of articles about how it's good to let them explore with food, including dropping it, because it helps them learn about food and be less picky, etc. I just put her food back on her tray when she threw it until I got tired of doing it, and that would be when we would stop. The other thing I did when she was a bit older and more verbal (closer to 18 months) and it was more behavioural (like her tossing stuff she wasn't in the mood to eat) was say "we don't throw our food/dishes, if we don't like it we say no thank you". That way it's not about clearing plates or power struggles, just giving her a polite way to decline. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2198000 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:43:53 +0000 ShootingStar 2198000@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DS totally went through this stage too. His biggest thing is that he loves to see a reaction from us. We had to stop saying no and stop reacting at all. It also tends to be a sign of being all done for him. </p> <p>Another thing we would do, is when he would hold his hand over the side of the tray, like he was going to drop the food, we tried to encourage him to give it to us, or to put it back on the tray. When he did either of those things we gave him a ton of praise. But we don't praise individual bites of food. Occasionally when he's doing a great job of eating his meal I do praise him and tell him something like, "you're doing a great job eating tonight." </p> <p>I would keep up with the signs for eat, it was fantastic when DS could communicate with us that he was hungry. Also, try to incorporate the sign for all done. It took DS forever to actually sign it, but he totally understood what were saying. </p> <p>You're probably at the toughest time right now for communication. In the next few weeks/months she'll get better at signing and better with her receptive language. It was a huge thing when he could sign eat, and we've also been loving the fact that DS now nods or shakes his head for things. I can ask if he wants milk and he can tell me yes or no. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197998 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:42:56 +0000 Mamasig 2197998@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Totally normal and a phase. L is like this. He doesn't throw but will swat it away if I offer too soon. I've also discovered he's a grazer when it comes to eating. He eats a few bites and then moves on, but an hour later will eat some of whatever we're having. We often eat at different times because of my husbands schedule. So he just picks often depending upon whose eating. It's not ideal but I know it's a phase so I roll with it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197975 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:29:23 +0000 Mae 2197975@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Anagram: throwing food to indicate being done makes so much more sense! Man I hope it doesn't last until 20 mo for us. I guess she has actually been doing this for a while but until 2 weeks ago she was still really getting all her calories from formula (34 oz/day!) and I didn't want to push her into solids too soon given our history so I just put food in front of her 3 times/day and when she started throwing it figured we were done, no biggy. But now she definitely wants to eat more and she is down to 20 oz formula/day and I really want to encourage her to do as well with solids as she has been. But that just makes the throwing food so much more frustrating! I'm also not being terribly consistent, which probably isn't helping, because I keep changing my mind about how to handle it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197950 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:15:30 +0000 Anagram 2197950@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's a stage...a long one! My Lo was doing this frequently from 12-20 months and just recently cut way down. She still throws food sometimes, but now it's mainly when she's done when before it was all the time.</p> <p>I think babies are just figuring out cause and effect, trying to get a reaction from mommy, etc. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197946 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:14:04 +0000 HLK208 2197946@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's definitely an age thing! It stopped around 16-17 months for us. I would keep giving her one piece at a time. It's not easy but eventually, she'll stop throwing food. It's SO frustrating when you're dealing with it though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197941 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:10:24 +0000 Mae 2197941@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@tiramisu: lol she does the pulling food out of her mouth thing too. although it is usually only when she gets surprised by something. like if she thought she had a piece of blueberry and accidentally got a black bean haha. babies are just so frustrating. you're hungry. you like what i'm offering. put it in your mouth and swallow! </p> <p>@mrsrugbee: Hm. Maybe we could try something like that. We have a dog but we could lock him up. I feel like she'd just wander out of the dining room and try to climb the stairs (her fav activity when she thinks I'm not looking haha). But maybe not. Its just so hard trying to balance encouraging solids to get her off of bottles while also trying to make her eat solids in a way that isn't super freaking annoying haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197925 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 13:02:38 +0000 mrsrugbee 2197925@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mae: she's currently 16 mo and we've always done it this way. We close her in the kitchen/dining room and keep eating our food. If she finishes the stuff on the floor, we'll feed her more. Otherwise when we finish eating we'll offer her a more tasty top-up if she really hasn't eaten anything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197915 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 12:56:45 +0000 tiramisu 2197915@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm thinking throwing food on the floor might just be an age thing? My daughter is 12 months too and does this all the time. It's quite frustrating. She also pulls food out of her mouth to examine or throw on the floor.<br /> I remember my friends kids used to throw food too, and I thought when I have a kid I won't let mine do that. Hah! I'm eating my words now. I can't stop her! :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197913 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 12:56:05 +0000 Mae 2197913@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsrugbee: How old was your LO when you started this? Also she can't really go back for more. Our dining room is on a different floor than our living room so once meal time is over she has no access to the area her high chair is in. If she was older and could ask for food I would definitely do something similar. I've actually been trying to teach her the sign for "eat" because I feel like if she could tell me she was hungry (clearly, rather than just being a whiny mess which could have 30 causes lol) then I would be much more willing to end meal time, wait for her to ask to eat, put her back in her chair, rinse/repeat. But while she has no ability to ask to eat I don't feel comfortable doing that :( </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197908 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 12:48:42 +0000 mrsrugbee 2197908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When food goes on the ground, DD has always gotten one warning and then I put her on the floor. If she's hungry she'll eventually go back and eat what she left there. It seems to work for us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/throwing-food-in-12-mo-old#post-2197903 Wed, 03 Jun 2015 12:44:26 +0000 Mae 2197903@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The thing is, I do not want to battle my child about food. I don't want to be a "clean your plate" / "take 3 more bites" / "finish your vegetables or you won't get dessert" kind of mom. I want to give her as much autonomy over eating as I can because the philosophy of deciding when/what will be offered and letting the kid decide what/how much they eat makes a lot of sense to me. I want us to eat as a family. I want to put food on her tray and she can eat what she wants until she is full and then not eat more and that's fine. I want to trust that over a week, if not at each individual meal, she'll eat enough and it isn't something I have to micromanage. </p> <p>But I don't know how to do that and it is driving us all crazy. My LO is 12 mo and she is obsessed with throwing her food. And it isn't because she isn't hungry (she wants more food after she throws what she had). And it isn't because she doesn't like what I offer (she does throw it slightly less if it is a favorite, like berries, but she still throws those too). If I put a handful of food on her tray, or god forbid her whole portion of food, she eats like 4 bites then sweeps all the food off her tray onto the floor. Then reaches out to me for more food. If I put it in a bowl for her she takes handfuls and throws them on the floor. </p> <p>The best I can do is give her 1-2 pieces of food at a time. I have to wait until she is done chewing/swallowing the last thing before I offer her the next piece (but if I'm too slow she starts hitting her tray angrily and reaching to me for more). If I offer it too soon she picks it up and throws it over the side of her tray. </p> <p>I have no earthly idea how to handle this. I feel like 12 mo is way too young (and her in particular, I think her receptive language is not that great) for me to enact something like "if you throw your food dinner is done and you don't get anymore." Especially because eating solids is SO new for her and I do want to encourage her to eat/enjoy meal time. She understands the word "no" so my husband and I try to say "no" when it looks like (or she actually) throws food. Sometimes she stops. Sometimes she just starts bawling because she hates when I tell her no. </p> <p>So right now meal and snack times suck. I'm trying to encourage her to eat more food so that she will take less formula and we can get her switched off of bottles. But eating together is almost impossible because either my husband or I (or both) spend the whole time managing her food giving her 1 bite at a time and constantly telling her "no" when she drops food and then saying "yay good job!" when she actually eats because it seems like we should balance the negativity with praise for what we want her to do. But I hate that too because I don't want her to just think eating = good / I should do as much of that as possible. I want eating to be judgment free. Eat til you're full. Eat what you want. Mom isn't going to micromanage it. But I have to be the ultimate micromanager giving her 1 bite at a time and deciding what she gets next and commenting on almost every bite. Bah. </p> <p>Any advice? </p>