I gave DD her dinner/lunch/breakfast in one bowl and let her eat what she felt like. If it got chucked, she obviously didn't feel like eating it, so meal time was over! Although in our house, if it got chucked, we had two very convenient floor cleaners sitting right by the high chair, in the shape of small white dogs. DD was probably more concerned with not losing her food to them than playing with it!
Heaven it was because you said she thought it was funny to throw it that I thought it might be worth trying a 'serious' communication intervention - ie really drum in that no throwing means no throwing (prevent behaviour), not "throw and giggle while mummy crawls around on her hands and knees!"
Perhaps it would be easier to train your doggy to eat fruit and veg
haha, same here. chicken, pasta and sweet potato never get thrown. I think that by giving it all to her she will learn that once she throws it it's gone and it will become less of a game
Heaven I think it is a phase they all go through. Jett did the same thing at that age.
But also by that age we gave all his food at once and so once it was gone it was gone. I handled it by completely ignoring the behaviour - the more I reacted the more fun he had doing it. So I just ignored it, and wouldn't pick it up until mealtime was over. The other thing I did, because it was also a sign that he had had enough, I would actually use the Auslan sign for 'finished' (which is thumbs up sign wiggled from side to side) and say 'Finished' and then take everything away from his tray. This one worked so effectively that as soon as I noticed that he had had enough I would make the sign and then he would pick up his bowl or plate and hand it to me, and then proceed to pick everything else up from his tray and put it in the bowl or plate that I was still holding. How perfect is a baby that cleans up after himself????
The thing with this method is you really have to follow through with it, once you say finished if they don't immediately go back to eating, then you take everything away. No asking them over and over again, or seeing if they just want that last bit of chicken etc. When you say it, it goes. Just keep it all matter-of-fact.
Great ideas Mummytummy. My sis has recently started a baby 'signing' course in London, to do simple sign and I guess it would be useful for just the sort of purposes you've mentioned. I wonder if she's using it at meal times yet or perhaps her DD hasn't reached the throwing phase yet!
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