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

We have been putting one of each type of food on her highchair tray and then when it gets eaten or thrown down we replace it.

But she's throwing heaps of lately thinking it's funny. I was thinking it might help to just give her everything all at once so she knows when that's gone, that's it!

Think it would help?

Hi Heaven

I keep my eye on this section of BB as I'm planning on BLS when the time comes!

Here's a slightly different suggestion than the options you put forward - if it is getting to be a problem that you want to fix and other methods don't work (or she doesn't grow out of it in the next week!) I wonder if you could try the communication approach?

Let DD know that you don't want her to throw the food and then define that statement. That is, sit right next to her, give her the food, and encourage her to eat - "Eat up honey, no throwing please". BEFORE she can throw the food gently grab her hand and say "no throwing sweety". Keep repeating and repeating as required with an aim of preventing the behaviour from occuring rather than repairing it after it happens. If she does manage to throw it leave it there. You might repeat the message 30 times ?! ANd if she gets cranky still perservere or postpone dinner for half an hour then try again. I know that with BLS you wouldn't normally be sitting right on top of her but it might be worth a try for a couple of meals until you let her fully understand your expectations.

Would love to know if think this might work for you and DD. Of course I have no actual experience with these matters yet!

I usually give everything at once and usually when DD starts throwing it's because she isn't hungry anymore.

Do you think she is throwing because she is full? or is it only particular foods that get thrown?

I think you've answered your own question, hun. ;)

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!

Thanks girls!! Well I think I'll try just giving it all to her then.

Jennifer- we have a dog too, but I wish he ate fruit and vegies! lol.

AliB- I have tried telling her but she thinks it's funny, lol. Also tried ignoring but that doesn't work either, hmm...

ff- sometimes it's coz she's full, others times I think it's just coz she likes to throw things. Pasta never gets thrown, vegies often do, lol.

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 :lol:

Good luck!

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.

I hope that gives you some ideas to try!

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!

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

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! :wall:

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 :doh: 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!

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!!! :wall:

We had a similar problem here :wall: 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?

I agree that it is a phase that will pass :lol: eventually

DS use to throw his food all the time but I couldn't give it to him all at once as he would eat his meat first and not eat anything else but if I gave vege's etc... he would eat some vege's and then meat.

I tend to take the ignore route but do agree that when they start throwing it it tends to mean DS doesn't want anymore even if he has only eaten 1 bite... sometimes he just isn't hungry :rolleyes:

Goodluck and hope this phase passes quickly for you.