My LO, 15 months, throws his sippy cup constantly. Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner. He does it after only a few sips, so I know he's still thirsty - but I'm not sure how to handle it, beyond picking it up again time after time, which is getting old. "No" isn't very effective, with or without redirection - he smiles and goes about his merry, cup-chucking way. This has been going on for months! I usually give him diluted fruit juice, and I'm tired of the kitchen floor getting so sticky 
Any ideas?
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@keepcalmcarrie: No idea because my LO throws hers, too, but I do plan on getting one of these soon:
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Eventually he started to understand when I said mommy doesn't like it when you throw the milk. Maybe practice putting it in the circle spot as a kind of game instead of throwing? (Kind of like the incompatible behavior idea.)
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If he throws the cup, then I'd say "ok" and put it away out of sight. Then if he specifically asks for it, then I'd give it back - but if he throws it again, then I'd put it away permanently for that meal. He should catch on pretty quickly!
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If it was clearly on purpose, I will take the cup away and put it out of sight like @mrbee said. I'll try giving it back a little while later (my LO isn't old/verbal enough to ask for it back, although he does always cry at first when I don't give it back.) But if he throws it again then that's it, no more cup for the rest of that meal. Unfortunately this often ends with him drinking little to nothing with his food and having to do it after he's done, but I want to be consistent and not let a bad habit form.
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We've only really started to get this under control now at 21 months! But I think had we not been traveling and using different cups and juice boxes and whatever and being sick all the time I could/would have done it a couple months ago when she started understanding "on the table." Anything she doesn't want to eat/drink we put "ON the table." "No" is ineffective here too. Not sure what can be done at 15 months besides starting early with a place you do want lo to put the cup.
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@Mrs Green Grass: @mrbee: @wonderstruck: these are all great ideas, thank you! I've started trying to intercept the cup by saying "can you hand it to mommy?," and he usually does - bit I think teaching him/practicing putting it into the cup holder would be better! He is pretty enthusiastic about imitation.
And I think I'll just have to accept that he' might be a little thirsty for a few days while we work on this. - I need to help him understand that throwing means you've lost it. We are/we're definitely on a path to a bad habit. Thanks for the great advice!
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@googly-eyes: that phrase is a good idea - he's very into the concepts of up/down/in/out, so maybe putting the cup into the cup holder and making it a "special place" will work. He doesn't like it in there right now, but if I make it look and sound important, it could do the trick.
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Oh we have been there! LO started doing the same exact thing at about 14 months and we are just starting to see a change in behavior at nearly 20 months, with A LOT of intervention from me and DH. It is so so embarrassing, because she would do it everywhere. At home, grandparents houses, restaurants, during temple services. Ugh!! I'm sorry you're going through this super annoying phase, but I do think its a phase and you'll get through it!
Our initial approach was "no", which was a big fat fail. She didn't understand the concept and actually thought it was a game so she would laugh and do it more when we told her no. We moved on to modeling behavior because she's a huge copy cat. We would sit at the dinner table and each take sips of our water then place the cup on the table. After we did it we all cheered for the person. While we modeled, we would clap and say "yay, mommy takes a sip of her water and places it gently on the table, can LO do that too?". Then she would do it and we would cheer extra for her and she would get super excited. Some night we would repeat this entire cycle with each of us taking turns throughout the entire meal. It definitely got old, but it distracted her and really helped to model the behavior. Of course, she still throws every now and then, but no where near as often!
Oh, one more tip, try not to make a big deal until she throws her cup for the first time. We found that if we stared the meal by saying something about not throwing our cup, it would inevitably be thrown during the meal. So now we ignore the cup until she throws it, then start modeling correct behavior.
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@keepcalmcarrie: I've done the same thing @mrbee described and he really quickly caught up to it. Maybe two-three days. Not that he still doesn't do it sometimes but it's probably an improvement of 90%.
To not make him feel thirsty: I always have a sippy cup available when he plays so should he still be thirsty he could drink then. Maybe that is an option for you guys as well?
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@keepcalmcarrie: If you are saying "no" but then handing the cup right back to him, its not really teaching him the meaning of "no".
I think there just needs to be some hard lessons learned which is, you throw the cup down, the cup is lost (maybe until after the meal or something).
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I say no and explain why we don't throw and give a warning. If it happens again, the cup is taken away, the explanation is given again and that's the end of it for that time. I use the same method for a lot of discipline and my son generally catches on quickly.
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I echo everyone else's advice and also suggest a less leaky cup (we LOVE the nuby straw cups and they never leak).
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i wasn't very consistent about taking the cup away and meaning it, so a better strategy for me was to show him how to put the cup back on the table and praising him like crazy when he did it. it took a few weeks but it has been much better since. now when he does throw the cup (still happens a few times a week), i don't show emotion because i know he's looking for me to be upset, and i will leave it on the floor for a while before calmly picking it up and giving him another chance. if he throws it again, i take it away but again i'm not very good about the follow through. probably explains why he still does it from time to time. anyway, the positive reinforcement was what helped us.
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I think the above advice is really good from a discipline perspective, but there may be more too it than that...
Have you tried using a straw cup (and maybe one with a pretty open straw instead of one that takes a lot of work) instead of a sippy? My DD gets really frustrated with sippy cups because she has a hard time getting a good amount from them. When I give her a sippy, she often throws it - out of frustration and annoyance with the cup. She never throws her straw cup (well, okay, not *never* - but only rarely and when she is clearly being defiant).
I am all for discipline and establishing boundaries early, but I also think there are some instances where changing your behavior/what you are offering may fix the problem.
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R was throwing hers for awhile. We just kept saying the cup goes on the table (tray of high chair) when we are done with it. Now she never throws it, unless she is playing on the floor and gets up and drops it.
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@mrbee: this is what I do with throwing of anything, toys, cups, etc. works pretty well!
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Thanks for all of the replies, this is so helpful!
@T.H.O.U.: you're right, this is my first "discipline" issue and it's pretty much a big fail on my part! Like @beachbee: described, LO started to laugh when I said no and think it was a game. So I did start taking the cup away pretty quickly after that, but then worried about him being thirsty... (but he must not be that thirsty if he's throwing!)
@septca: thanks for that tip, I think I'll try straw cups instead. (@Mrs. Confetti: I just ordered those from Amazon!) There is one Tommy Tippee sippy we have in particular that just leaks all over the place, and a valve on the inside falls out and slows down the flow, and he definitely gets frustrated then. I tried introducing a straw cup a few months ago and he didn't like it, but he's very into ones at restaurants so maybe he's ready for it now.
Thanks again everyone - I definitely want to teach LO boundaries and manners, but he is pretty young and not verbal yet, so I wasn't sure how to start. I'll update later if/when we get the cup throwing under control.
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When my little was done eating around 13/14 months, he'd throw the food down. (He wasn't a cup thrower, but I presume it's the same). He wasn't verbal, but did a bit of signing. When he threw it down, we would say and sign "stop." Then we would pick it back up, give it back to him, and force him to hand it to us. We'd do it over and over until he handed it to us. It took about 2-3 weeks of being super consistent, but now he holds out food to us when he's done (we're now working to transition to just putting it in one place on his tray). Good luck
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DS did this ALL the time. We started making him pick it up and hand it back to one of us when he was around 18 months. He threw a huge fit the first time. Now he is so much better. He still sometimes throws it but we ask him to pick it up. And we started telling him when he is done drinking, he should hand his cup back to one of us or put it on the table. We probably could have started doing this sooner. I'm amazed at how much they understand at such a young age.
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@keepcalmcarrie: I worry about my LO getting thirsty too when this happens, and he's only 13 months old so it's all very new and he definitely still needs his milk! But he doesn't necessarily need it with food. If he's throwing it during mealtime, once the meal is over I will sit on the couch with him in my lap and help him finish it. Then we can prevent throwing because I'm helping to hold it.
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