Do you offer something else if your 1 year old..

[Skang]

..won't eat a meal?

DD is good on the whole but sometimes completely refuses to eat something. I know she won't starve but I dislike her going to sleep without eating anything.she normally has fruit after dinner which is morally give her whether she's eaten or not, but I think she's going to start realising that if she refuses her dinner she can just have fruit. I'm never going to start saying
the whole 'if you don't eat your dinner you won't get any puddinh' thing, but maybe I just shouldn't offer fruit if she eats no dinner or just one small bite/spoonful?

Just looking for some opinions really, I know there is more than one school of thought on this.

Thanks in advance :)

Should have said, she's still breastfed and has about 2-3 proper feeds a day.

is fruit pudding then? I would have said at 1 that everything you give her should be just "food". unless she is so fond of fruit that she'll not eat protein just to get fruit more quickly then I'd only give her fruit after something that she eats but otherwise if its just an occasional thing then I'd just let her eat what she wants - it should all be healthy at this stage!

It's pudding at the moment in that she doesn't get any other kind of dessert.

That is why I'm worried about. She will always eat the fruit whether she has eaten the main meal or not. I don't want to 'punish' her by withholding the fruit but I don't want her to think she can just ignore the meal and go straight to the fruit. I think she is definitely of an age now where she realises she can do this. She is starting to turn her nose up at things she would previously eat.

How about not offering the fruit after dinner for a while and then you don't have to worry about with holding. You can always give the fruit with breakfast or a bit more fruit with a snack.

I did offer an alternative and have learnt from experience (and Mn) that it was absolutely the wrong thing to do.

Now we just assume that if she refuses food, she's not hungry.