I hate waste!!

I'm new to childminding and look after a nearly 16 month old, she throws her food on the floor, especially her lunch If it is bread or wraps, she loves crackers and this is the only thing she doesn't throw on the floor but I can't keep giving her the same thing because she will eventually get fed up of it. I suppose she is throwing away all food and fruit that she doesn't like but surely I need to give her a variety even if she doesn't like it because next week she may like that food. I just hate waste. She enjoys her teas and that doesn't get thrown, any advice welcome but I presume I just have to put up with it :(

my own daughter is 16 months - some meals she will sit and eat others she will be eating one handful and throw another handful! I have found recently that when I give her meals with utensils she actually throws less - she actually ate a bowl of soup at lunch time today!

I end up with about 50% of what I give her on the floor - I don't give her more to compensate though -she gets what she gets and eats what she wants from it.

I'm hoping it's a phase and she will grow out of it - my other 2 children didn't do it and I have only ever had one mindee that did it and she was 2!

Maybe she doesn't throw her teas because she is so hungry because she didn't eat much at lunch time.

My daughter was terrible at throwing her food out of her high chair. I didn't mind too much because I thought she was learning about cause and effect etc. She seemed to enjoy watching it fall and seeing how it landed - some bounced, some splatted etc. I dutifully didn't mind all the cleaning up afterwards. If I had had another child though I don't think I would be so accommodating, lol!

I would start by just giving her very small amounts, and if she eats what you give her then you can always dish up seconds. Does she always get fed in a high chair? Maybe she does enjoy dropping things from that height. Could you introduce her to new foods/fruit when she is sitting on a blanket on the floor? Or introduce them at teatime when she seems to be hungrier.

So, it could be that the timing of lunch doesn't coincide with when she is hungry, or that the food served at lunch time isn't the type of food that she likes. Is her tea very different food? Could you give her 'tea food' at lunch time and see what she does? Does she still drink lots of milk which might be filling her up at lunch time? Does she still sleep after lunch? It could be that she is getting too tired and eating takes too much effort.

At 16 months I think she should be starting to understand the word "no". That's the only way we eventually got my DD to stop when even I couldn't stand it any longer. I would also try and think of some acceptable 'dropping' activities to satisfy her need (not that I thought of doing this with my own DD , mind you), such as playing with different sized balls, bean bags, floaty scarves, floaty scarves with balls tied inside them, messy trays etc.

if my daughter gets told no she grabs bigger handfuls and throws more - ignoring her actually stops her throwing more - like she's doing it for an effect from us?

And as I said now I am giving her a proper set of plastic handled knife, fork and spoon she is so taken with trying to eat with them (quite successfully I am pleased to say) she is now not throwing as much :)

Thanks for your help everyone. Her mom Said that she's not Keen on bread but I'm not going to just give her crackers so I will persevere with bread because children's taste buds change quickly. She eats everything else lovely and feeds herself with a little fork or spoon and has improved a lot in the four weeks that I've had her :)