Parental influences on children's eating behavior and relative weight.

Gillberg et al. (1983) watched parents and toddlers at home during meals. They counted how often parents said "take a bite" or offered food. They also weighed the toddlers and gave each child a "relative weight" score.

The team then ran numbers to see if more parent prompts matched heavier kids.

The more parents prompted, offered, or encouraged eating, the heavier the toddler tended to be. The link was strong and positive.

In plain words: frequent "eat your peas" talk went hand-in-hand with bigger body size.

Curtin et al. (2026) asked the same question in children with and without intellectual disability. The 1983 link showed up only for typically-developing kids; in the ID group, feeding style did not predict weight. The toddler finding still holds for neurotypical children, but it does not extend to ID.

Dolezal et al. (2010) looked at 25 kids with feeding disorders in a hospital. When parents gave brief attention after bites, acceptance went up. This extends the 1983 result into clinical cases and shows parent attention can also improve eating, not just correlate with weight.

Köse et al. (2021) found that using food as a reinforcer quadrupled obesity risk in kids with ASD. That study names a specific parent action (edible rewards) rather than general prompts, giving you a clearer target to avoid.

Watch your mealtime language. Every extra "take another bite" may nudge typical toddlers toward higher weight. If you serve kids with developmental disabilities, shift focus away from feeding style alone—Curtin et al. (2026) shows it does not predict their weight. Instead, swap edible reinforcers for non-food rewards, as Köse et al. (2021) advises, and keep meals neutral and brief.