The moderating effects of child appetitive traits on the association between parental controlling feeding practices and child weight status at 18 and 24 months.

While maternal pressure and prompts to eat have been associated with child weight status, findings are inconsistent, potentially due to unexamined moderating factors. This study examined whether the association of observed maternal encouraging prompts to eat and reported pressure to eat with child BMI z-scores at 18 and 24 months varied based on appetitive traits reflecting food avoidance and approach. Participants were 72 mother-child dyads who participated in a prenatal lifestyle intervention trial aimed at preventing excess gestational weight gain and had complete data on maternal feeding practices, and child appetitive traits and BMI z-scores at 18 months; child BMI z-scores at 24 months were also available for a subset of 64 dyads. At 18 months, greater observed maternal encouraging prompts to eat (b = -.15, p < .05), but not maternal-reported pressure to eat (b = .11, p > .05) were associated with lower child BMI z-scores. Child appetitive traits did not moderate this association (ps > .05). Assessed prospectively, greater observed maternal encouraging prompts to eat at 18 months were negatively associated with child BMI z-scores at 24 months, but only for children with low food responsiveness (b = - .16, p < .05). Greater maternal-reported pressure to eat at 18 months was associated with higher child BMI z-scores at 24 months but only among children with high food enjoyment (b = .23, p < .05). Satiety responsiveness and food fussiness were not significant moderators in any models. The findings provide evidence that the association between parental feeding practices and weight may vary depending on children's predisposition towards food approach and avoidance.