19 month old not wanting dinner

[Dottylottiesmum]

Hi, my 19 month old point blank refuses to eat dinner most days. during the day she will eat porridge, toast, blueberries, strawberries, apples, yogurts, cheese, egg sandwiches, peanut butter but come dinner time she won't even try it, unless it is a rare occasion. Whatever I put on her bowl or plate just gets totally dismissed without trying it. How can I encourage her to eat? I have cut out snacks during the afternoon so she should be hungry but it isn't working. She does eat a lot of fruit at each meal time but vegetables just won't even be entertained! Help!

At 19 months your child is still a natural eater. Only eating when hungry, stopping when full. Humans have trained themselves to ignore this and eat 3 meals a day as it suits lifestyle. If your child is eating a good mix ( and it sounds like she is ) I would not worry. If she is hungry she will eat ( only problem is if she is hungry during the night ).
Why are you worried she is not eating a meal?

She is probably tired.
Give her her main meal at lunch.

Hi Rubyslippers, I suppose being a ftm I am worried about her being fussy and not eating her dinner leading to bigger problems. And like you say i am concerned she will wake in the night or even earlier than usual! I offer her an alternative too (beans on toast) which she is more likely to eat and I guess I'm worrying that is all she will ever want to eat!

Endoftheline - yes that's a good idea, I will try today and see if I can get her to eat something at lunch time. Worth a shot! Thank you.