What to Do When a Baby Throws Food, According to an Expert

Speech-language pathologist and mom of two Cassidy Anderson has shared her advice for getting young kids to stop throwing food and start eating it.

Being a parent might be one of the best things you can do with your life, but it may also be the most stressful. That's certainly the summation gleaned from a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, which found that while the vast majority found it enjoyable and rewarding (80 percent), around four in ten (41 percent) said it was tiring, and 29 percent considered it to be stressful all or most of the time.

There are plenty of aspects to parenting that can prove triggering in this respect, and mealtimes are one of them—especially when parenting young kids who are still getting to grips with eating food and etiquette at the dinner table.

According to Anderson, Some parents might be engaging their kids with food in the wrong way.

In a video posted to TikTok under the handle @cassidyandkids, she outlined what parents need to do to address toddlers' time-honored bad habit of throwing their food on the floor during meals. Anderson is more than qualified to offer advice as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) with two young kids of her own.

"There is nothing that can quite prepare you for parenting, but as the years have gone, I feel that I have so many speech and language tips that work so well with being a parent," Anderson told Newsweek. "My experience ranges from children's hospitals to elementary schools to in-home feeding therapy to therapeutic day schools."

Anderson has switched to part-time SLP work since having her second child and has posted advice videos on TikTok ever since.

"My goal is to create relatable content for parents who are looking for speech-language/feeding tips without judgment in hopes that it may help someone who is struggling with these things themselves."

Mealtimes may be one area where parents are struggling, and according to Anderson, that's partly down to their choice of language. As she explains in the video, parents often react to the sight of a young child throwing food by saying the obvious: "Don't throw your food."

However, to get them to stop, Anderson suggests a different approach by telling them: "Uh oh, that fell, it's all done. Uh oh, that's done. Food stays up. Our food stays on."

She explained that this is because "it's very hard for babies to understand what 'stop,' 'don't,' and 'no' means, especially when it is embedded in the middle of a sentence."

Instead, she said it is better to tell babies "where we want the food and what the food is for." Anderson acknowledged that this method may not always work when it comes to kids throwing food, but she did have some backup solutions.

From the beginning of starting solids with her kids, she introduced them to the phrase: "Throwing shows me all done." Essentially, if one of her kids began to throw their food, she took it as a sign they were all done and removed the remainder and their plate.

If they were still hungry, she found they would either reach out or let her know verbally that they wanted more, at which point she offered to "try again" and returned the plate, reminding them "food is for eating, throwing shows me all done. Keep the food on."

If the child throws again, she determines that they really "are all done."

Anderson explained in the video that she believes that food should never be treated like "a reward or a discipline," and that it's better to stay as "neutral as possible" with emotions in such situations.

"If you give a lot of attention to throwing and have big reactions...they are just probably going to do that more," she said. "Keep it cool and keep our language the same throughout."

Anderson said she put the video together because her one-year-old daughter "would not stop throwing her food to the dog." She said: "I knew that food throwing wasn't just something my own kids did, so I wanted to share some speech and language and feeding therapy ideas for others."

The Biggest Mistakes Parents Make at Mealtimes

Reflecting on the biggest mistakes parents make when feeding young children, Anderson reckons that for many, it's "how the mealtime is set up and not the food itself."

"Are you sitting at the table with your child eating the same meal as them? If not, try it! Are you begging your child to eat their food because 'you know they're hungry'? Try not doing that," she said.

"Are you talking around your toddler to your spouse about work or the news? Try engaging your toddler in light conversation instead. Are you serving all of the food options on your child's plate in predetermined serving sizes? Try offering a part of the meal 'family style' in the middle of the table. There are so many of these simple switches that can make a huge difference."

Best Advice for Kids Trying Food for First Time

Anderson also had a simple piece of advice for anyone looking to get their kids comfortable with food.

"Model eating a variety of foods with your child," she said. "Sit at the table with them and take bites with them, model chewing the food, and narrate what you do when you're all done eating. And you can always remind them with language that 'food is for eating; you are showing me you're all done.'"