How do you serve food? All at once or bit by bit??

[Fuzzywuzzy]

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

[MummyTummy]

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.

I hope that gives you some ideas to try!

[AliB]

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!

[Heaven]

Thanks MT, I think we'll try that!!

[AliBaby]

DD is doing this at the moment too and thinking its hillarious. I think the only other ones that agree with her are the dogs!

I cant even give her a bowl as she would chuck that as well. I just put all the food on her high chair tray and my goodness its a mess but oh well. Mind you during the day I give non-messy foods.

The problem I am finding with Dd is that she jsut wants to shovle it all in her mouth at once and grabs big handfuls to put in her mouth and then half of it ends up in between her legs and all over the chair Hoping that soon changes.

Its a hard one though as I like the fact that BLS they feed themselves at the pace they want and teh amount they want but yeah I hate it when al this good food gets chucked overboard!

[MummyTummy]

The mess doesn't last forever!! The only time Jett chucks stuff overboard now is if he really doesn't like it, or he thinks the dog looks hungry sitting below his chair!!! We have a black labrador.....which are reknowned for always being hungry, but we seem to have the only one in existence that is fussy!!!

[Miss E]

We had a similar problem here I've recently started giving DS it all at once in a bowl (with a suction thing on the bottom so he can't throw that over the edge) so he can play with what's in there and pull out what he wants. I have found that a lot less gets thrown over the edge now. Like a few others have said I tend to find that when it is getting thrown over the edge it usually signals he's not interested anymore. I also try and ignore it when he does drop something over the edge, I find that if I don't react he doesn't seem to do it as much iykwim?