Rice Cereal in the Bottle

Babies need healthy fat to help them learn and grow. Cereal has no fat and is so heavily processed it has very little nutritional value at all.
The America Academy of Pediatrics used to say it was appropriate to introduce solid foods around four months of age. About eight years ago, they changed their guidelines to state that solid food should NOT be introduced at all until babies are at least six months of age. The guideline change is because of the risk of developing allergies when introducing inappropriate foods to an immature digestive system.
Baby's intestines are porous for the first year or so, but they gradually seal up as they mature. If you introduce developmentally-inappropriate foods, some of the proteins and other components of those foods will seep into the body from the baby's naturally porous intentinal tract and greatly increase the risk of causing an allergic reaction or food sensitivities later on.
The reason many people claim thickening formula or offering cereal to very young babies makes them sleep longer is primarily because it is so hard for their bodies to digest. It's like they ate a brick and didn't feel hungry again for hours, not because they received excellent or developmentally appropriate nutrition. Keep in mind, human milk is the gold standard for infant nutrition and it is typically completely digested within 90 minutes because it is nutritionally perfect with no waste. It's very much outside of the biological norm to offer solid food to a very young baby, and to offer it mixed with liquid to encourage long stretches of sleep.
Solid food is for when babies are at least six months of age, can sit up on their own, can use their fingers to pick up things in a pincer grasp and their tongue-thrust reflex has faded. That reflex is a big clue to the maturity of their digestive system--if they still spit food out, then "tricking" them into accepting solids by mixing them with liquid nutrition is asking for gastrointestinal issues. Families have different experiences, of course, but this is what the AAP's guidelines state. I am unimpressed your PA would pass out anecdotal information as medical advice--take it as mom advice from a cousin, not evidence-based medical advice.
Best wishes!

4 moms found this helpful

Ugh, I have gotten so much bad and straight out WRONG information from PA's that I do not trust any of them anymore...and I totally understand why there is "Assistant" in there title...cause that is all that they really are...they are NOT Physicians!

FYI- I was always taught/told (by my older family members) that putting cereal in a bottle is lazy parenting and not very good for the little tummy's...the laying down and eating and all. I have never done it, I just took the time to feed my baby cereal from a spoon, in a sitting up position...there is no reason you could not do this too before your baby's bedtime? You did not say how old your baby is? Is he even old enough for cereal? If he is why not just feed him it the appropriate way?

2 moms found this helpful

Because it is a solid food, and disrupts infants digestion. You are pretty much blocking up an undeveloped infant stomach and colon with solid foods that are of no benefit nutritionally at that age, and are very taxing on the infant's system physically.

And for your cousin, not every medical professional has specific education in infant nutrition, including most doctors. Books on infant nutrition are usually written with research to back up the data presented. What research has your cousin read that backs up her decision?

1 mom found this helpful

There's no nutrition in cereal. It's intended to help babies learn how to eat with a spoon, not to get more sleep. All the cereal will do is fatten up your baby.

1 mom found this helpful

I think it is better to just nurse or give formula until 6 months to establish good weight and nutrition. At 6 months, it is a good time to introduce cereal with a spoon. I just did this with my son and he is so cute, up in his high chair like a little man;) If you do put cereal in the bottle I have heard you have to open up the nipple and that will create faster flow which not all baby's can handle. I think it is risky, but I have heard of people who have done it and all has gone well. I like to use the introduction of cereal as an opportunity for baby to get up to the table with the family, not so much for calories. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

Children are not meant to have anything solid until around 6 months of age, or even more accurately, until they have teeth, because their body is not designed to digest it. Giving them solids of any type too early stresses their digestion, can cause food allergies, constipation, and long-term digestive dysfunction. DO NOT put rice cereal into your baby's bottle. My midwife said when a child gets teeth their saliva chances so they are better able to digest solids. Also, studies show that children do not start to make amylase, the enzyme that digests starches, until around the age of 1. That is why so many babies get constipated when given cereal. Their bodies are not designed to digest cereal. That is why you should stick to fruits and vegetables the first year. Oh, and they do not even NEED solids until around the age of one. Their nutrition should come from formula or breast milk for the first year. Any solids is just "practice". The reason putting rice cereal into the baby's bottle supposedly helps them sleep is because it takes longer to digest so they don't wake up as often hungry. The risks simply are not worth it.
J.

1 mom found this helpful

it does not really help. the baby is waking up b/c his / her stomach is not big enough to keep him satiated. so whether it's breastmilk or rice cereal, it shouldn't matter. Rice cereal in the amount you put in is so small it is too small an amount of calories to really matter.

They don't want you to do it becuse the cereal takes up room in thier little tummies with starch instead of nutrient rich formula or breast milk. It's not harmful, but unless it is necissary to put on weight or an eating development problem (throwing up (not spit up) every bottle) then I would ask your doctor.

my daughter is 3 months old and she has something called laryngomalacia which makes her have a constint wheeze and causes her to aspirate while feeding and cough alot. The pulmonary doctors at the childrens hospital we have to go to have me thicken her bottles with rice ceral a tablespoon for every ounce to help her with aspiration. i was concerned about giving her that much but they ensured me that she would be ok and they do it with infants younger then her but to just talk to her pediatricain about all the extra calories she is getting. now as far as you wanting to know if it will help them sleep... it does not keep mine sleep longer. as far as hurting the baby, i would go with the doc and say no hope this helps!

K., you're just going to get a bunch of different opinions on this subject. Some moms on this site are so vehement about cereal in a bottle that they'll argue with a signpost over it.

For what YOU are asking, cereal in the bottle helps some babies. It doesn't help others. Some will say a baby can choke on cereal in the bottle. Some will say that part of giving cereal is to help them learn to eat, so should be done separate from the bottle. I just looked at your other posts to see how old your baby is - at 3 months old, your ped probably doesn't want you to give your baby cereal yet because he's too young. Six months is more appropriate. (When my children were young, doctors said 4 months was when we started cereal - they have changed the guidelines to 6 months now.)

I never gave my son cereal in the bottle. I just fed him plenty so that he wouldn't get hungry at night, because I expected him to sleep through the night. I also was very consistent with his bedtime and would not feed him in the middle of the night, so he didn't expect it and slept all night from the time I nightweaned him early on. When your child is old enough to actually eat food, you can give cereal before bedtime to help hold his stomach. (Whether by spoon or by bottle, you decide.)

At 3 months old, your baby is old enough to sleep through the night if he doesn't have reflux or digestive problems. To get him to sleep through the night, you will need to teach him to self-soothe. Making sure he has a full tummy before bedtime helps, but if you've been giving him bottles in the middle of the night, he's used to it and it's a habit. He doesn't NEED the mid-night bottle. He WANTS it. Breaking this habit is more important than whether or not you offer cereal in a bottle to help him sleep through the night.

Consider sleep training to wean him off the night bottle. If you can't figure out how to do it, ask your ped, or study some different sleep methods, like the Ferber method.

Good luck,
D.

you aren't supposed to do it because the babies NEED the calories and nutrients that they get from breast milk/formula... if you give them cereal it fills them up with stuff they can't even digest right yet... some babies might sleep longer, but it's because their system doesn't know how to digest it right (similar to how breastfed babies eat more often than formula babies... the formula is harder to digest so it takes longer) so then they aren't hungry for the milk which has what they need... I wouldn't do it unless your baby's pediatrician oks it (sometimes if baby has reflux, they use it to thicken the milk... or if your baby is a certain weight they might allow it early)

it does not work for most babies.
You aren't supposed to do it b/c it's empty callories , they can't digest it, and it can lead to food allergies later.
Cereal is purely for texture , and has no real nutrition.
when looking for your baby to sleep " through the night" . Through the night for an infant is only 5-6 hrs at a time.
And remember that baby's little tummy is only the size of his fist. And they digest fast b/c the are growing so much in the first year.

From what I understand is that putting it into a bottle can make them choke on it. I started feeding my girls rice cereal with a spoon at 2 months, just a very little at night and they did great with it. Babies are still supposed to get most of their nutrients from milk or breast milk so dont give them to much cereal and make sure they still take just as many bottles or nurse just as much during the day. My oldest slept all night with the cereal but my middle daughter did not and I know my cousins son still woke up at night to eat. Every baby is different so just go with your instincts, but I would ask your dr just to make sure. Some drs say cereal at 6 months, my dr said cereal at 2 because of how much my oldest daughter was eating, and my middle daughter had acid reflux he said it would help her keep down some milk. My baby is only 6 weeks so we will see what the dr says this time! Good luck!

How old is your baby? If your child is under 6 months, I wouldn't do it at all. Even if he/she is old enough, our dr. told us to proceed with caution, because the double dose of iron can be constipating. Other than that, you should be fine. It never really helped my son sleep through the night, only sleep training did that. Sometimes these milestones cannot be forced, although I believe you can train your child to be a good sleeper. Hang in there. This does not last forever.

K.

its a choking hazard! plus it ruins your bottles. there is a formula (by enfamil) that is a nightime formla that contains rice starch without making the formula itself thicker. oh and giving babies cereal early can lead to childhood obesity

I tried the rice cereal in the bottle with my son. He wouldn't take the bottle if I put the cereal in however if I spoon fed it he loved the cereal. For him, it was because the bottle was not filing enought for him and his feedings were up to 8 oz and back down to every 2 hours. The cereal feeding definately helped fill him better than the bottle alone. With my daughter, I went straight to spoon feeding.

They suggest the spoon feeding rather than adding it to the bottles because they want you to wait until your child is ready to eat solids to insure they are ready developmentally. My nephew had reflux so his doctor did suggest adding the cereal to his bottle and it helped him.

Parents often do things outside of the the doctor recommended methods. Sounds like your cousin is no exception.

I would have to say hands down dont do it! You are just setting yourself up for trouble later on. First off, rice cereal is a carbohydrate. We all need as little of this as possible in our lives, even young ones. A better route would be a protein or something like avocado. I know the first tendency is to go for the rice but it really is not very good for them. Next, you do not want them to get used to having a thick formula, they will refuse it the other way. I have seen it happen. Overall, I would feed your baby more during the day and he will sleep better during the night. I hope this helps.

Every child and baby is different, i really dont think there is a right or wrong answer for this. I'm a new mom and put a little cereal in my babys formula at night cus he was waking up all the time, never really slept except during the day. Now with just a little bit of cereal in his bottle, i'm able to get him to sleep about 5 hours at night, so when i wake up to feed him again, i'm not so frustrated due to lack of sleep lol.

My son is almost 2 months old and eats like my brothers...like he cant get enough...so i dont think putting cereal in his bottle is a bad thing, he's able to get it down easier then if i put it in a bowl and spoon feed it to him.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and should trust their instincts. If your gut is telling you that you shouldn't feed your baby cereal, then dont.

I've heard so many different things from so many different people, i dont know what to believe. It never hurts to talk to your pediatriction...its their job to know about babies and whats best for them at what age.

My mother-in-law swore up and down that she was able to get her kids to sleep through the night at 2 weeks old because she put cereal in their bottles before bedtime. I don't think that that was the reason at all (nor do I think that a 2 week baby should be sleeping through the night) The only reason that I was told by my Dr. to put cereal in the bottle was because my daughter spit up so much that she was not getting enough food and she also had reflux. I started giving my daughter solids at four months because she was bottle fed. I know that most Dr.s say that if you breastfeed you should wait until they are 6 months. I agree with the rest of the mothers and do not believe that giving your baby cereal before bed helps them sleep through the night. sleep training is what is going to get your baby to sleep through the night.

yes i did yes it helps and they say the reason your not supposed to is because of it creating food allergies. I did it with my oldest who is 21 and he has no food allergies. both of my kids would have starved if I hadnt done it. the first my oldest was allergic to his formula and back then formula allergies werent known of. my second was on a major growth spurt. I was feeding his 24/7 literally even after I was putting cereal in his bottle he was eating 2 oz of cereal in a 8 oz bottle every 2-3 hours. after about a month or 2 he was up to 4 oz cereal in a 8 oz bottle every 1-2 hours so I started hime on thick fed cereal he was eating 3 bowls of cereal, 4 oz of cereal in a 8oz bottle every 2 hours and by 6 month I had him on baby food. by 8 months I put him on table food.

if your kid needs it do it if he doesnt need it then don't one cereal bottle before bedtime is the most I would do unless he is like my youngest. I never fed my oldest that much cereal. my youngest was a major exception to the rule but by 12 months he was in 2t clothes and by 18 months was in 5t clothes and he is not fat. follow your babies lead. they say not to feed a child food at all till a yr old but to me it is more abusive to make them starve when they cant get enough food. my oldest got 2 oz before bedtime and I started him on bowls at about 4 months and baby food at 6 and table food at 12 months. when they put my oldest on soy formula after months of complaining to the doc I did back down on the cereal because he didn't need it as much. if they don't need it then don't start them but listen to your kids lead and you will be fine. gut insticts are there for a reason.