How to Add Cereal to Bottle

Let her cry it out 4 nights in a row-go to her once each night- for no more then 5 minutes to calm her & tell her it is time to sleep-you love her etc. On the 5th night she will give up & it will break the habit-eveyone will be happier. All the Dr.'s say all babies should be expected to sleep thru the night by 6 months-they are old enough to fast thru the night & if they are still waking to eat-they are training you-you need to switch it up on them & begin to train them what you expect from them. I know it it hard-been there- but it is best for all. Good luck!

Cereal shouldn't be added to a bottle. At 14 months the bottle should be gone.

she really doesnt need a bottle anymore. try giving her smaller portions more often throughout the day. You mentioned she "only has" 2 teeth but i dont know exactly what you mean by that, so what i get from that statement is that you are not giving her to many varieties of food. But she can eat anything that you eat & she should be. If you give her more heartier foods 3 times a day and snacks in between & before bed she shouldnt wake up. But it my also be that her internal alarm clock is going off at this time if thats the case then maybe give her a bottle around 10 & see if that helps & then the next day giver her a bottle around 9:30 & so on. best wishes

Hi, Laura,

My firstborn was breastfed and slept through the night by 3 months. My second born was breastfed and didn't sleep through the night until 22 months. We did everything the same, just different kids are different. I think what did help is finally moving my daughter (the baby) to a room by herself. She is a light sleeper and she would wake up if she heard someone else. . . she still wakes up when we go in quietly to check on her. . .

Good luck. I feel your pain.

H.

Hey Laura!
For an 8oz bottle just one scoop of cereal to start...warm the bottle (if that is what you normally do) add the cereal and shake...then feed. Just make sure you have nipples on the bottle that's hole is big enough for the mixture to flow through. I did this with my son and it worked like a charm.
I also always had calming music on whenever I put him down to sleep ~ from day 1! He still loves it.

Hope that helps. xx M.

Check with your dr. first b/c my dr. said that adding cereal to a bottle causes ear infections....this is the last thing to you want to add to a toddler who isn't sleeping well! It sounds like she has figured out that you will rescue her and give her a bottle....can you try watering the bottle down and upping her daily food intake? I went thru this with my twins at 14 months as well. I finally figured out that for mine...it was the habit of waking up and knowing I came in with a bottle and comfort not necessarily that they were hungry. I started to water down the bottles and stopped taking them out of the nursery then gradually stopped taking them out of the crib. It was a month long process but I did wean them from the middle of the night bottle and mommy call.
Best of luck!

Greetings Laura,
I have learned with my children and the foster children to add just enough cereal to thicken the milk but not as to make it to thick.
Water is not a comfort food and all your little one is looking for is comfort in the midnight feeding. Enjoy your adventure of parenthood, it is the greatest thing you will ever do. Nana Glenda

Hi Laura,

I have 14 month old twin boys. Guess what? One sleeps all night long and the other wakes up once a night usually. They are on the same schedule and eat basically the same stuff during the day. I just think they are two different people who have different needs. I'm still nursing my babies, so for the one that wakes up, I change his diaper and nurse him for 5-10 minutes and put him back in his bed. Sometimes he goes right back to sleep. Other times, he may stay awake for a bit. I try not to worry about it too much. I know it won't last forever. Some nights, he does sleep all night long.

Also, I would not recommend soy milk. It acts like estrogen in the body and your daughter may end up with thyroid issues. Also, soy may be genetically modified. The government doesn't require that food producers disclose genetically modified food, so that is also a risk. If she can't tolerate pasturized cow's milk, then you could try goat milk. I have my babies on goat milk. The protein in goat milk is closer to human breastmilk protein than the cow's milk is. I hope this helps!

I have a feeling you're going to receive a lot of responses similar to mine that she should be moved off the bottle. Sorry if that's not the advice you want.

I'd not recommend putting the cereal in her bottle at this point in time. If she's OK with the soymilk, I'd offer her that instead, but it may also end up creating a habit of needing it.

How many naps/day is she taking? Maybe if you could cut those down during the day she'd be able to go a little longer?

Our son (3.5) is a horrible sleeper. We can't put our finger on why he wakes up every night. The only thing we can come-up with is that he LOVES the body heat of sleeping next to someone else....I add that because we're far from perfect in the sleeping department.

We only added cereal very early on before our kids moved to solid foods, and we only did it for about a week. We added 2 tbsp, but our pediatrician advised against it because it causes them to suck harder (to get the same, thicker volume through a smaller opening) which can have an impact on them orthodontically.

Not sure if that helps, but those are my thoughts.

Be sure to cut the nipple a little wider so the food will come out easier. That's what I did.

STOP! Do not add cereal to the bottle, give up the bottle, she should be eating table foods. Cereal is a carbohydrate and carbohydrates are digested more quickly than protein. Why is she drinking soy milk? She should be drinking only about 16 oz of milk and milk products each day. Her teeth do not make or break the kinds of foods you offer her because her jaw does the chewing. Offer 3 meals and 3 snacks each day, she is probably not eating eating enough during the day...

She's most likely hungry. My 13 month old has 8 teeth and they are still useless. Poor little guy. So I have to supplement with the Rice cereal and Oatmeal (he likes the oatmeal better). I pour the oatmeal into a small toddler bowl, then add a scoop of formula (you can eyeball this and work with it) then add water. I make it a little soupy so it's not too pasty. That worked with my child. Since your daughter sounds hungry (and yes I don't think after an hour of crying, standing in her crib that she'll fall asleep) so you're definitely doing the right thing by picking her up and feeding her. She's hungry, eating then going right to sleep. Hopefully the cereal during the day or the last meal in the evening will help. Just up the food intake and that should do it. Someone advised me since my son can't really use his teeth still, to take what we're eating like spaghetti for example and throw it into the blender to puree it. Hope this helps!

I have always been told that you don't add cereal to the bottle. She's plenty old enough to eat cereal from a spoon, so if you think that having more to eat will help her sleep better, I suggest just feeding it to her.

The current issue of Parents Magazine has a story on sleep techniques. I just skimmed it, so I can't vouch for anything in the article, but you might find some help there. Good luck.