Baby Tossing Food to the Floor?

By 9 months, your baby may be quite adept at picking up small pieces of solid food (strawberries, for instance) and bringing them to her mouth.

Around this time, it’s fairly common for a baby to experiment with that food in ways that do not involve eating. Some babies delight in dropping or swiping food from their high chair tray onto the floor. They may even smile or giggle after doing it. They aren’t doing it to drive you crazy (although that may be the result); they’re exploring their world. They’re interested in where the food goes once it drops, what will happen to it and whether it will come back.

This creates a good opportunity to set limits with your baby. To stop behavior that you find unacceptable, in this case food tossing, try these tips from the Zero to Three child development organization:

Keeping your expression and tone calm and neutral, say “no throwing.” Stronger reactions (smiling, laughing or even anger) are a kind of reward for your baby that may lead to the food toss happening again.
If she continues tossing the food, take it off the tray and say in a neutral tone, “I guess you’re finished.”
Then take her out of the high chair and give her objects (a foam ball, for example), she can toss in an appropriate place (a playroom or outside).
Do this consistently and your baby will eventually figure out that tossing food from the high chair means you will take the food away. She’ll what is not acceptable and how to act to make sure she gets to keep eating.
If you’re worried that she hasn’t eaten enough, offer her a healthy snack in a little while; she’ll eat if she’s still hungry.

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