Toddlers Throwing Food

A common and quite annoying mealtime issue in toddlerhood is food throwing. Food throwing is exactly what it sounds like, tossing food onto the floor, flipping bowls and plates, and purposefully dropping food and utensils to the floor while eating or instead of eating.

Why do toddlers throw food?

Toddlers love to test limits, and their brains are hardwired to learn this way. They want to see your response and then check to see if it is consistent—will it change this time? How about now?

Throwing food can also be fun for a toddler—perhaps the dog comes running each time they throw, or colors get all mixed up on the floor. It’s naturally rewarding to watch what happens when food goes flying or when water runs out of a cup, which means toddlers are likely to keep experimenting over and over again. While babies tend to drop food accidentally or to see the cause and effect of gravity, toddler throwing tends to be more purposeful.

The first thing to understand is that toddlers also throw food as communication. They may be telling you they are bored, tired, or disinterested in what you serve. They may be “requesting” that you serve them something different, especially if dumping their plate in the past led to you serving something else. Remember that your toddler often lacks the ability to put into words what they want or feel. Try not to react too strongly and instead “chase the why” for why they might be throwing.

Outside of testing boundaries and the fun, there tends to be one big reason toddlers throw food: lack of hunger. If your toddler is full or bored and just had a big cup of milk, breast/chest feed, or bottle, they don’t have much incentive to eat. Instead, they will play, and if food is the only thing to play with, they will likely throw it.

How to stop toddler food throwing?

Toddler food throwing is a phase, and even when you follow each of the recommendations step-by-step, your child is likely to keep throwing at some or most meals until they grow out of this phase. With consistency, these tips will help shorten the phase, but there is no perfect solution to completely prevent a toddler from throwing.

Wondering if your child is hungry for meals? Check out our Toddler Food Refusal guide, which includes in-depth information on developing normal hunger/satiety rhythms.

If you’ve ruled out hunger or something simple, like the family dog, as a cause of food throwing, then it’s time to set limits and start coaching.

By setting limits and coaching, you help your toddler learn appropriate behavior and learn that throwing won’t get them new foods. We want to help our toddlers develop the skill to eat anywhere—at home, at family or friends’ houses, a restaurant, or a party—where the food may be prepared in an unfamiliar way or mixed with unwanted food. Rather than throwing, we can teach a toddler to calmly move the food they do not want to the side and continue eating, or even indicate with words or simple body language that they are done eating.

1. Implement the basic rule: The child gets to decide if they eat or not. They know their own body best, and they get to say if they are all done—with words or gestures.

2. Set a clear limit and stick with it.

For a toddler wanting to see how you react, the key is to feign indifference. Do not make a big deal about it, and simply set the boundary again: “Throwing food tells me you are all done. If you throw the food again, your meal is over.” Stay strong and end the meal.

Remember: Be consistent. Don’t offer an off-schedule snack if your toddler doesn’t eat much before throwing their food and you end the meal; this reinforces the throwing behavior—they learn to throw the food to get a more preferred snack soon after the meal.

When nothing seems to work

Remember, throwing is a phase, and it will end. It’s naturally rewarding for your toddler to throw food, so it will just take time for the phase to run its course. Use a splash mat and a smock bib to catch the mess, plan clean-up time after each meal into your daily schedule, and consider lowering your cleanliness standards for a while. The throwing food phase will pass.

Need more help with food throwing? Check out our guide How to Stop Throwing & Unwanted Behaviors.