How can I keep my toddler from throwing food on the floor?

I am a foster parent who recently brought an 18-month old boy into the home. He has only been in foster care for a month, and we are his second foster family. While he shows signs of developmental delay in several areas, what most concerns us right now is how he intentionally throws food on the floor. He seems to do this for two reasons:

1) He doesn't like the food
2) He actually likes the food, but shoves too much in his mouth at one time, and then spits it back into his hand to throw it on the floor.

He only has three vocabulary words (ball, bird, and that), we are fairly certain that he understands more than he lets on.

Any tips from the experts on Y!A on how to solve his food-throwing issue?

frameliner:

Thank you for point about not allowing a child to just eat what they want. With the foster children that come through our home, nutrition issues seem to be among our top concern. They just don't eat well like they should, and I can only imagine that this happens because mom/dad/other let them get away with not eating anything they didn't want to.

Our dinnertime rule is: no dessert unless you finish your dinner. Usually, they leave our home eating a heck of a lot more than what did when they first arrive.

One thing I always do when I'm first learning the eating habits of a child, I have a day care in my home, is to only give them about 2 bites of food at a time. You never know when a child will throw a whole plate of food on the floor, or try to shove as much food as they can in their mouths and choke. To me it's just easier to sit there with them and put each individual bite of food on their booster seat tray, or plate, than to clean mop my kitchen floor every snack and meal time. Another thing is I just keep telling them no when they throw food or spit food, they need to know that you don't like it, and then praise them big time when they keep the food on the tray or plate. That's all I can suggest, if it were my child throwing food, I would probably smack their hand to get their attention, but that would be unwise in your situation. Take care and good luck, and bless you for being a foster family.

UGH! I hated when the little girl a babysat did that. The only thing I could think to do is tell he "NO" with a mean face every time she did it. She eventually caught on that it was not a good thing. I'm sorry if thats not much help...

I have a 21 month old and he still throws stuff on the floor. If he puts food in his mouth and realizes that he doesn't like it, he will spit it out and it lands on the floor. He also just picks food out of his plate and throw it on the floor to see if my dog will eat it or not. If my dog eats the food, then my son just gets a kick out of it. It just a phase that they will outgrow eventually. I just have to learn to have patience and pray...a lot.

I have a 1 year old that does the same thing. It's a part of their development. Testing gravity.

Signup on some of the parenting wesites like Pampers.com, Baby.com, ivillage.com etc. I have found great information on the developmental stages and they are usually on point. I have been getting emails since my pregnancy about the different stages of my pregnancy and now about the baby.

Seems like everytime he does something new I get an email in a few days and they are right on cue.

My 17 month old does the SAME thing! He loves throwing food on the floor. I think it started because the dog would lay under his chair and he wanted to feed the dog. I really don't know how to solve it though. When he'd start doing it, I'd take his plate away and just give him one or two peices of food at a time and if he ate them, I'd give him his plate back until he did it again. It might just be because he wants attention. You could try ignoring it for a while and seeing if it gets any better. You'll just have to clean up the floor after every meal. Good luck!

If his comprehension is right on target for his age, then he may respond to this: Our son went through a throwing all food stage at around that age too. I would tell him "no throwing food, we throw balls" and remove his plate. If he was done, he didn't protest but if he was still hungry, he would get upset and then I would tell him as I returned his plate to him, "no throwing food". This went on several for several weeks, but I am happy to say that now (he's 2 now) when he is finished, he very nicely tells me "all done Mommy" and hands me his plate! It seems that if you are very consistent and let him know that food-throwing is not acceptable, he will stop. Good luck!

Hey, don't worry. You're doing the best you can. I applaud you. But little ones do that sort of thing. Mostly attention getting.

I have a child the same age and we use the "naughty mat" for discipline (it's pretty much like a time-out). When she throws food intentionally, we give her a warning and if she does it again, she goes straight on the naughty mat for 1 minute. Now she doesn't throw food intentionally anymore, but still does it occasionally when she gets too excited when playing with her food. Then usually a warning is enough to get her to settle down.

I think it's important to send the message that throwing food on purpose is not acceptable and the consequences are the same as any other bad behavior like hitting or spitting.

it took a while before my son stopped throwing food.. once he was old enough to understand he wasnt supposed to do it, and did it anyway,(like 2 1/2 i think) i would have him pick it up so he wouldnt want to do it anymore.. you just need to be persistant and tell them no. in the meantime, they sell floor covers designed to go under highchairs, helps with cleanup

Every kids throw food in the floor it's NORMAL

If this little boy was neglected in his previous home, he might be "regressing," and wants to be treated like a baby. You might want to consider feeding him yourself for a little while, which is a good bonding experience for him. Once he trusts you, you can gradually start letting him feed himself again. I'm sure you are correct that he understands more than he lets on! But if he's had some traumatic experiences in his "previous" life, he just might need to be babied a little for awhile as a comfort thing.

I applaud you for doing what your doing!!! I would try to just give him a few bites at a time. He may just be testing you and your patience. Consistancy, and courage. Either way, at 18 months, its gonna end up on the floor! I have a 4 year old and we still don't always hit the spot!

Whether he likes it or not, thats dinner. If you start making special food all the time, you are setting yourself up for trouble. My grandma said her kitchen wasn't Dennys. You got what you got, and that was it. Good rule!

have patience, it just takes time...use an old shower curtain on the floor for a drop cloth, it really does the job!

If you think he's doing it for attention (which was the case with my friend's daughter), don't make a big deal about it. Attention is attention, whether it's negative or positive.

Give him a warning and a second chance to eat his food. If he does it again, tell him he's all done. Wait a few minutes and aks him if he'd like to try again.

And yes, keep offering those foods that he may not like.

He's only a baby.. My daughter is 18 months and she is very smart and she throws her food on the floor too. It's just something that babies do. Sometimes they do it when they're full, when they're bored, when they don't like it, just to get attention.. but either way, they're all going to do it no matter. He'll learn to stop.