# Does your toddler eat off a plate or high chair tray?



## scoobydrlp

I'm not sure at what point I should try the whole plate thing again. I tried it a time or two when LO was younger and she immediately chucked the plate with all the food right onto the floor. I'm not a big fan of wasting food so I'm not inclined to let that happen too often. When did your LO start eating off a plate rather than the high chair tray?


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## AnneD

Tray mostly. I sometimes give her a plate, but she immediately lifts it up and the food ends on her lap. Or she puts the plate on her head, which is annoying.


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## scoobydrlp

I can relate to annoying...currently my LO puts food in her hair, rubs it on her face, sticks it in her ears, all while looking directly at me and shaking her head no because she knows she's not supposed to. Kids!!


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## AnneD

I see you've met my daughter! :)


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## jodilee6

We've used a plate since ~12 months but this was mostly due to nursery influence!

I was very strict with it, as soon as he picked it up/went to throw it I just took it away. All in all I think it was just over a week before he got it, he's now excellent and can actually be trusted with a china plate occasionally!


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## Lady_Bee

We use a plate. I think we started doing this around 20 months and before then just used the tray. He does sometimes throw food but not the whole plate, he will just pick up the bits of food he doesn't want and chuck them so for us it wouldn't make it any easier having the food straight on the tray.


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## sequeena

I have almost always put Thomas's food on a plate. Now he sits at a toddler sized table and eats from a plate.


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## AngelUK

We have suction plates as the boys would definitely throw the whole plates if they could lol


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## KayBea

i got rid of her highchair at 12 months so she had no choice but to use a plate as we eat at the dinning room table.
as soon as she picked the plate up ide tell her no!

i dont think shes ever thrown it on the floor or tipped her food off it. xx


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## cat_reversing

lo has a bumbo chair, as we don't have a dining table, which we put on a folded tablecloth to catch anything disgarded overboard. she eats some from the table then some from a bowl, she wants to use the bowl and spoon which is good, sometimes to eat, sometimes to make noise ( I give her a normal soup bowl and teaspoon)
sometimes she makes a mess especially trying to eat rice but I think it's important to let them experiment with food and sometimes she lifts the bowl and puts it on her face to eat what's inside.. haha.


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## kiwii

Tray. Maybe try one or two pieces of food on the plate at a time to get her used to it? Lol I haven't even tried the plate yet. I imagine to will be a similar experience.


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## bananaz

My LO refused to sit in her high chair starting at around 16 months so she uses plates. I can't remember her ever dropping or throwing one, at least not intentionally.


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## FAB mama

I'm trying to get LO used to a plate. It's working ok. I only use one sometimes though like once or twice a day maybe if that. He only tipped it onto his lap once. I'm surprised, but he's been ok with it if I watch him and tell him no when he starts to look like he'll toss it. He watches me like he KNOWS it's wrong, haha. He still throws food on the floor often whenever he's bored or finished eating which is most of the time. He's not a big eater. 

We tried the suction bowl once, but it's like it bothered him that it was stuck to the tray so the only thing he could focus on was pulling it off which he did. He also turns his cup upside down during every single meal and tries to dump/shake all the water out of it so no open cups at the moment. He can drink out of one very well (and prefers it), but I won't let him hold it yet. We tried that:nope:


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## SarahBear

I tend to use a plate with her, but I don't think my husband does. He's the stay-at-home parent though, so I think she eats off the tray more than a plate. She's pretty good with it at this point.


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## Zephram

My LO uses both. His high chair tray and/or a plate. He has only ever chucked the whole plate a couple of times. When he was younger we used a suction cup bowl and it seemed to give him the idea that the plate should stay on the tray.


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## mwah_xx

We use both. It tends to start onthe plate and finish on the tray! But he's getting better all the time with the plate - he tends to throw when he's finished and I'm not paying complete attention to him handing me the plate! Then over the side and "uh oh"


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## hiladun

He sits on a booster in a normal chair and uses a plate (well usually a bowl) - always a proper china one. This is since about 12/13 months. He's fine with it (though does Ike to bang it lol) and it actually really bugs me that mil will always give him a plastic baby plate. The only plastic baby plate I own went straight in his treasure box lol!


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## susan_1981

My son has always eaten from a plate. I generally have to hold it, although recently he has been less likely to throw it on the floor. I have some bowls that have suctions on the bottom which he can get off but it's more difficult so he rarely does it. I really need to get a plate one x


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## Snow Owl

We've just introduced it, he tends to pick it off his plate and place it on his tray. Lol.

We have to watch him like a hawk now tho to make sure it doesn't end up on the floor! Lol


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## bananabump

Leo has eaten from a plate since he was 9 months old but only stopped throwing it when he was 11/12 months old. Persistence is the key lol When he was 18 months we bought him a little table and chairs set and he's eaten his meals there since. Maybe try that with your LO in a couple of months and see if it encourages some independence? She'll feel like a big girl sitting there with her plate xx


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## jd83

We switched to a booster seat at the table around 12 months, so he's been using a plate since then (toddler plates/bowls, not our good dishes). He does have a habit of throwing them on the floor when he is done eating, and I can't always stop him quick enough, so I don't trust him with our good dishes yet.


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## morri

She eats of a plate. she has a clip on high chair that clips on the table, and she used to eat her stuff off the table of a plastic lid or something like that but now she uses plates too.


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## LoveMyBaby786

I always used a plate. Only used to but the omelette slices on the tray but now thats on a plate aswell. Luckily he hasnt dropped the plate when he ia finished he just scrunches everything in his hands lol


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## Tweak0605

LO is almost 17 months and we just put food on her tray. She'd more then likely pick up the plate and just toss everything off anyways!


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## FAB mama

I didn't mention that we do use plastic plates, the kind with sections. I think LO likes the fact that there are sections, haha. You might try that. The ones Target has for like $1 are great.


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## TryinFor1

Definitely tray. I even bring Clorox wipes to restaurants with us to wipe the table off so he can eat off the table. Lol maybe I will try a plate again in a couple months. But I know he will just chuck it on the floor so no point in doing it yet! I do let him have his fork and spoon I bought just for him so he can learn to use those. But he usually does up throwing them down and using his hands. Lol


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## _jellybean_

My little man is two, so a bit older than yours. We use paper plates.


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## Rachel_C

We've always used plates (plastic kids' ones). If LO threw the food on the floor, I used to scoop up the food and put it on the table without the plate, I just had to make sure the floor was relatively fluff-free before meal time! I would pick up food a couple of times, then just leave it/put it in the bin. After they were able to walk, I would pick up food once. After that, if they wanted it I would get them down and they could tidy up themselves! I'm all for having fun with food but I'm not a servant so I think that's reasonable.


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## twobecome3

she eats in her exersaucer . no plates :)


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## AngelUK

I forgot to say that our suction plates are also divided into sections. Love them! :D


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## Natsku

I used to use those suction plates but they just became a challenge to her to get them off the tray and on the floor :haha: but around 18 months or so I just stopped using the high chair and made her eat from a plastic plate and she was fine with it.


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## SarahBear

We definitely had a combo today. She ate her breakfast (an egg) out of a bowl. Then we had lunch at a restaurant where she sat in a booster seat and ate off a plate. Then at dinner time she dumped her plate of food onto the tray so I removed the plate and she ate of the tray.


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## Bevziibubble

Mine eats off a plate as it's hard to get her to stay in the high chair for very long as she loses interest. We give her a plate and she eats in the living room, but when she's a bit bigger we will sit at the table.


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## RaspberryK

We got rid of the highchair completely when he was about 20 months and he'd been using plastic plates since well before then, I can't really remember though. 
We used to do finger food straight on the trays but I think we have always offered anything else in bowls or plated with cutlery. 
Xx


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## x__amour

I've always put food on a plate. Easier clean up. :flow:


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## vaniilla

we used suction plates from about twelve months till about 18/19 months and then switched to the melamine plates. He went through a phase of throwing food but thankfully it didn't last long.


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## liz1985

Weve pretty much always used a plate/bowl. We did have a high chair and a booster seat so he had to have a plate. He never threw it, he loves his food to much lol. He doesnt have a hairchair anymore so no choice any more.


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