Not sure whether to put this in 'Parenting' or 'Food'.
Dd is 18 months old. She's always been a reasonable eater. Good days and bad days. Have never had to worry about her food intake.
For about a week now though, we've been following this pattern:
Get up. Offer her breakfast. She doesn't eat it.
An hour later she tells me she's hungry. I offer her something else (usually breakfast again, or a variation of). She doesn't eat it.
An hour later she tells me she's hungry. I offer her some fruit or a piece of toast. She doesn't eat it.
An hour later she tells me she's hungry. I do lunch. She doesn't eat it.
Repeat throughout the day. Dd gets grumpier and wingier and more insistent that she's hungry.
She's got a cough and a cold at the moment, and a couple of molars coming through, so she's not herself.
I'm not surprised she's always hungry because she doesn't eat a meal! But I'm also not surprised that she doesn't eat properly, because it's only an hour since she last nibbled on something before rejecting it.
A couple of friends have said I should just give her the option of three meals a day and let her get on with. Ie she'll soon eat if I actually let her get properly hungry and wait for a meal. But my instinct says to just go with it. It's not as if I'm dropping everything and cooking her a four course meal every time she asks. Instinct tells me that she's only a baby and is getting a bit confused herself about what she wants because she's a bit under the weather, and that it's a phase that will pass. She's not wasting away, and she's drinking plenty - I can always tempt her with yoghurt or melon if I really feel she hasn't eaten enough in a day (though I'm not tending to give in every time as I don't want her to think that throwing her dinner on the floor = something nicer to eat).
It's been a long week and shows no sign of getting better just yet - I think I need some reassurance. Can someone please tell me that this is how they'd deal with a similar phase? Am also very open to advice, though leaving her to get hungry or taking a harsh approach is not something that would be likely to appeal to me.