Reduce Toddler Food Throwing Messes

While toddlers are precious, feeding them is sometimes a real pain. Younger children will often throw food out of frustration or boredom, but it's not impossible to stop them. If you take the proper steps to change their behavior and minimize the potential for a mess, you can reduce how often your toddler throws food and lessen the cleanup if they do.

Steps

Reducing the Mess

1. Put a bib on your child. A bib can prevent you from having to re-clean clothes because of messes created when eating. Make it a habit of putting a bib on your toddler before every meal. There are a variety of different bib types that are available at department stores or online. Feeding bibs are larger and are specifically made to keep messy toddlers clean. Bibs can come in plastic or machine washable cloth.
   • There are long-sleeved bibs that are great for finicky toddlers who take off their bib often.
   • Consider getting a waterproof bib.
   • Compare different bibs and find one that fits your toddler the best.
2. Lay newspapers around your child's eating area. If your child is prone to throwing food, newspapers or plastic mats can prevent the food from getting all over the floor and will make cleanup easier. Lay these down under their child seat before your put food in front of your toddler.
   • You can also use bed sheets, towels, fabric or disposable tablecloths, large trash bags, or other similar items.
3. Use sippy cups and bowls that attach to the table. Find bowls and plates that have suction cups on the bottom of them. This will prevent your child from lifting up their plate or bowl and creating a mess. Sippy cups will prevent liquids from spilling, even if your toddler throws their drink.
4. Make the food easy to eat. Toddlers will be able to eat things like chicken fingers, fish sticks, or small pancakes with their hands. Sometimes food throwing is derived from frustration because of the difficulty toddlers have using utensils.
   • Think of foods that won't create as much of a mess, such as buttered noodles instead of noodles with sauce.
5. Reduce the amount of food they can throw at one time. The less food your toddler has on their plate, the less of a mess it will create if they decide to throw their food. As they finish eating the portion you give them, give them more until they are full. This will also cut down on food waste if they throw their entire plate or bowl.
6. Have meals outside. If the weather is nice, consider eating outside with your toddler. This will limit the amount of mess that they can create inside of your house, and will limit the amount of food that you'll have to clean.

Changing Toddler Behavior

1. Redirect your child's attention. Make eating a game or activity. This will increase the likelihood that your toddler will eat during mealtime instead of throwing their food. Challenge the child to use child-safe forks and spoons correctly, or ask them to name all the different kinds of food in their plate.
   • You can say something like, "How many broccoli are on your plate?"
2. Understand the behavior of your child at their age. From infancy to 12 months old, your child won't have the cognitive skills to not make a mess. If they throw food, there's a chance they aren't acutely aware of what they are doing yet. Between 15 and 18 months, however, children start to develop more sophisticated reasoning skills and can typically understand simple commands to not to throw food.
   • Do not get too frustrated with a younger toddler, because they may not know what they are doing.
   • If your child is 2 years old or older and is throwing food, there's a good chance they are not hungry.
3. Encourage eating by doing it in front of them. If you eat the food on your toddler's plate, they are more likely to mirror your behavior and eat the food in front of them. Say something like, "Yum, these peas are so good!" while eating a spoonful of peas off their plate. This may encourage them to eat instead of throwing food.
4. Make sure that your child is still hungry. Many children won't start throwing food until they are full and have become bored. If your child has already eaten and is throwing food, there's a good chance they are restless. Instead of getting angry, end the meal and let the child play.

Setting Limits and Rewards

1. Limit the amount of food that you put on their plate. A lot of food in your child's plate may overwhelm them, which could lead to food throwing. Instead of piling food on your child's bowl or plate, regulate the amount of food you are serving out each time, and add more once they clear their plate.
2. End the meal if the food throwing gets out of hand. If the child is not listening to you and continually throws food or drops their plate on the floor, end the meal. Once the toddler understands the consequences of their actions, they may stop throwing food.
   • If you are worried that your toddler didn't get enough to eat, you can give them a healthy snack later.
3. Set rules and limits on your toddler. When your child starts to throw food, it's important to make them aware of the rules even if they don't fully understand what you are saying. Tell your child not to do it and ask them if they are still hungry before ending the meal.
   • Say things like "Are you done?" or "Not hungry anymore?" when your child starts throwing food.
4. Reward positive behavior. Give your toddler positive feedback when there is a successful meal that's free of food-throwing. Don't give too much attention or negative reinforcement when they throw food, or else they could perceive the attention as a reward.
   • You can say "Great job Henry! You had a great meal and you didn't throw any of your food."
   • Affordable rewards like stickers or fruit snacks are also great tangible rewards for your toddler.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Use Leftover Baby Food
• Make Baby Finger Foods
• Mix Baby Cereal
• Get an Infant to Eat More
• Feed a Baby or Infant Solid Food
• Make Healthy Baby Food
• Formula Feed a Premature Baby
• Burp a Newborn
• Store Baby Food
• Wean Your Baby off the Bottle

Read more ...