Do you give pudding when main course is rejected? (2yo)

[Schulte]

My nearly 2yo is a fussy eater, won't touch pasta, for example, just pushes the plate away and demands pudding. So far I have usually given in and given her fruit or yoghurt even if she didn't touch her main course, and I think that's what they do at nursery. Things have got worse recently though and this week she hasn't eaten a single proper lunch, just puddings. So I am thinking I need to put a stop to this... however suspect she is too young to really understand the old 'if you don't try this, you can't have pudding' (and I am not a great believer in it, anyway). WWYD?

Watching with interest...

I don't have a fussy eater so it's probably hard for me to comment.

But for us, pudding has never been a 'reward'. I think that's a strange dichotomy to set up ie if you eat this terrible thing, you can have this lovely thing.

If dd doesn't like her lunch (sometimes she genuinely doesn't like what's on offer) the offer of bread and butter is always there as an alternative. Then pudding if she wants. But pudding is fruit/yoghurt type stuff so not something she'd avoid lunch to gorge on I suppose.

I think that pudding shouldnt be a reward, but equally if someone isnt really hungry then I wouldnt try to tempt them to eat with pudding.

I took the approach that they wouldnt allow themselves to starve, and that they dont really need that much food to keep them going, so I would offer the food, but then not agonise about whether enough had been eaten.

Could you try for a week with no pudding, and see if that helps her to eat when she is hungry, rather than being motivated by sweet food?

I do what you're doing. I don't offer loads and loads of it (fruit/yoghurt) so that he doesn't get into the habit of thinking he can fill up on just pudding. Maybe she is a bit ill/teething?
Arent her nappies disgusting if she's just eating fruit/yoghurt? (I ask as my ds's are and he does eat some other stuff apart from fruit)

Yes her nappies can be quite disgusting - but so can DD1's poos and she's nearly 4 and a very good eater

I like the idea of not doing puddings at all for a week but can't really, because she goes to nursery 3 days a week and they always have puddings there (mostly fruit, sometimes rice pudding).

I guess the key is to stay relaxed