Rice Cereal for 3 Month Old- EDITED

Its now recommended not to start any foods until at least 6 months and cereal is not necessary it is just empty calories w/ no nutritional value when you do start foods start w/ a veggie.
The only my bottle my youngest would take was the breastflow bottle and he would not take it right away either.

I started my boys on rice cereal mixed with formula at 4 months. You will know if she is ready when she can move the food from the spoon to the back of her mouth and swallow without gagging. Cereal should never be put in a bottle. If when you first try she gags, wait a few days and try again. My oldest started right at 4 months, my youngest needed an additional week or so before he was ready. Neither of my boys have any food allergies.

IMO--it's too early for cereal. She WILL take a bottle if /when she is hungry enough. Just make sure all caregivers are on board with what's going on. Good luck!

The women who work at my son's daycare are EXPERTS at getting kids to drink... I wouldn't worry. They can spoon-feed her milk, use a dropper, try different bottles-- they WILL get it into her. That is their job-- don't worry about it.

She's too young for any kind of food, and no other food is going to give her anywhere near the nutrition and calories that she needs. Formula is 110 calories in 5 ounces-- rice cereal (2 T in 1 ounce of water, which is about all she'd take) is 20 calories, and no protein or fat, which she needs.

I'm not surprised she won't take the formula/milk from you, but she will take it from them. Don't spend all weekend worrying about it-- the more stressed you are, the more stressed she'll be...

I agree with your Dr. There is no nutrition in rice cereal. My Dr discourages using the box rice cereal all together, even when they are ready to start eating solids.
Have you tried different kinds of bottles? Maybe she just doesn't like the type of bottle that you are using. I breastfed my kids and when I switched to bottle feeding, they did really good with the Playtex Latex nipples, they did not like silicone nipples.

neither of my breastfed boys would take a silicon nipple, only latex, and only the playtex bottles with the drop in liner.

She won't starve to death. once she realizes she's hungry and she can be fed by something other that moms boob, she will take a bottle and be happy with it, but be prepared for her to be in full force nurseathon when you get her home from daycare every evening.

She WILL take a bottle, don't intro solids yet its completely unnecessary. She wont' starve to death, she will evnetually give in and you have to just be patient.

Think of it this way - you'd be happy if your 3-4 month old slept through the night - which would mean 6-8 hours without eating. So she's not going to starve if she goes 6-8 hours without eating during the day. As a poster below said, just be prepared that she's going to eat like crazy all evening, and probably a few times in the night.

I don't want to sound unsympathetic. It would stress me out too, even knowing that, logically, she's going to be ok.

I agree with the PPs, your baby will not starve at daycare, even if she refuses a bottle for a large portion of the day. I know babies who held out for hours until they could get back to their moms and then nursed like crazy while they were together. Be prepared for this, and know that your baby will be just fine. Alternatively, your baby may just need you out of the building (not just out of the room!) before she will take a bottle. My daughter needed me to be miles away (literally -- like across the country) before she'd take a bottle from anyone.

As my pediatrician said, no baby ever starved when there was food in front of him/her. They may resist at first, but they will come around. And the caregivers at daycare are totally familiar with this problem, and have their own tricks for dealing with it. Don't worry about them, don't worry about your little one. Easy for us to say, but I've been there and while it was heartbreaking at the time, it all worked out and my little girl did fine. Everything will be okay, mama!

The sooner you introduce solids, the higher the incidence of allergies to foods. 3 months is way too early for solids. Six months should be the absolute earliest, but closer to a year is better. Do you HAVE to work? Is there any way you can stay home with your baby? She needs you.

I, too, agree with your pediatrician. 3 months is really early. Sometimes, for GI issues such as GERD (heart burn), they may recommend a small amount in a bottle, but generally speaking, he's right - they will eat when they are hungry.

Have you tried different bottles, different nipples? My kids had a few they refused. My niece would only take latex Platex nipples. My sister literally went through every other bottle on the market until finding it was the nipple, and she hated silicon.

Good luck! If it's any consolation, my son wouldn't take a bottle either until forced with me going back to work, and he did brilliantly.

I had a similar situation with my youngest when he was 11 weeks old. I had to have surgery and spend the night in the hospital. I tried several different kinds of bottles/nipples with him several weeks prior to the surgery and enlisted others to help out, but to no avail. He had a peds appointment a few days before my surgery and I voiced my concerns with his pediatrician. As others have already mentioned, the ped assured me that no baby would willingly starve themselves to death to avoid taking a bottle. He did say that it would probably be hardest on those watching the baby (my parents) while I was in the hospital because he said that the baby could hold out as long as 24 hours without taking the bottle and be pretty cranky as a result. To make a long story short, the little guy held out for about 8 hours the day of my surgery but finally gave in and devoured every bottle offered thereafter with no problem whatsoever. About a month after that I had a near repeat of the situation when he started daycare and hadn't had a bottle in about 3 weeks. The daycare staff called me on his first day when he hadn't taken a bottle after 5 hours to let me know in case I wanted to pick him up early, but then within an hour he gave in and took the bottle they offered. I wouldn't give cereal for all the reasons people have already posted. It's hard not to worry, but the staff will have lots of experience in dealing with this and will help her adjust.

I'm a SAHM who exclusively breast fed my boys until about 9 months (which is when they finally were willing to take a bottle). They were both very hungry boys and I started rice cereal with both of them at 3 months old. I mixed the rice with some water & spoon fed it to them once a day. At 4 months old I added veggies once a day. My boys are extremely healthy & excellent eaters. They eat what ever I serve for dinner. (Italian, Greek, Chinese, Mexican, etc). I haven't met any other toddlers who eat as well as they do. As for weight, my boys are both in the 50th percentile for height & weight. So, they have no nutritional issues from the early start.
This was not doctor recommended, I just felt it was what my boys needed, so I did it. What helped me in my decision...my MIL took out my husband's baby book & she had prescription sheets from when my husband was a baby. The doctor had the baby eating rice at 1 month. By 3 months old he was eating veggies, fruits & meat baby food. My husband is a happy, healthy adult. He has suffered no ill effects from the early introduction to real food.
No two kids are the same & the recommendations pediatricians give are based on what is average. All doctors are people too & they can make mistakes just like everyone else. (I'm not saying waiting to feed is a mistake. There are some kids who will not be ready to eat yet, so they recommend that everyone wait.)
You are your baby's mama & you know what is best for her & you. Do what makes you comfortable. She will be fine either way.

You should ask your self "would you be giving her cereal if she WAS taking the bottle?" if your answer is no, then you should NOT be giving her cereal just because she is not taking from the bottle.
The only thing I can think of is what kind of nipple is on your bottle or what is in the bottle? Since she is Breastfed, she obviously prefers the b**b over the bottle. Try to get the nipple of the bottle to look as close to yours. I used the Advent bottles while I breastfed and had no problems, but my baby didnt seem to care what I put infront of her. Does she take a pacifier? that would be a good indication that she CAN use a bottle and she is just protesting the nipple OR the milk. What is in the bottle? your Breastmilk? formula? that makes a big difference too? is she protesting when she eats off of you?
I didnt start my baby on cereal until she was about 5 months old. I am sure its not the end of the world if you do feed her cereal but I would not do it JUST because she refuses to drink milk. Cereal has NO nutrional value like milk does. She needs her nutrients from the breastmilk or formula.
As my mom said, they will eat eventually. As long as she is having wet diapers, she is fine.

Could a different style nipple help? Are you using pumped milk for her?

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HarrisburgPAChat
events and chat within 2 hour radius

Babies really shouldn't start solid or rice cereal until they are 6 months old. Also rice cereal might cause constipation. That is what i have read. I think it is true rice cereal don't have much nutritional value , it is just something for babies to practice eating before they start real solid. I only fed my son one box of rice cereal and this is before I did any research on it. I am feeding him oatmeal now and he is almost one year old. Oatmeal seems to have more nutritional value.

Maybe the daycare people can trying spooning the milk into your daughter's mouth and see if she will take it that way and keep trying with the bottle in the meantime. Maybe try distracting her while giving her the bottle and see if that works?

Good luck. I think it might take a while for her to take the bottle and I think she will eventually when she gets hungry enough.

It's too soon for cereal or solids IMO...they really can't digest it yet and it's really only used to help them with swallowing to prepare for solids. like PP said...cereal is empty calories and they need all the calories they can get right now! Stick to the bottle and she'll eat when she realizes that's all she's gonna get! try having hubby feed her (but leave the room totally when he does). it'll take some work and figuring out which bottle she likes best but keep at it and it'll work out fine. she won't starve!

I would try having your hubby feed her at home..keep trying the different bottles and nipples. There are so many types. Silicone and latex texture. Slow flow and the next faster flow. The bottles with the bag insert. A wide based nipple (more like the breast)....an ortho shaped nipple that fits more fully into the mouth. There really are so many choices to try. Plain old fashioned cheapie ones too!

But she is not likely to take a bottle from YOU at this point..not when she can sense in all ways the "source" is right there! When I nursed my dd (short lived but I did all I could)....I could not be in the same room with her without her screaming for me..no way I was ever gonna be able to give her a bottle! I do home childcare and have encountered this many times as well. Patience is needed...which is difficult when your child is upset and cranky...you all feel the brunt of it. But she will get thru it.

Have gramma or auntie come over...have daddy do feedings...use the evenings and weekend time you have to do a little bottle training. Just a small bump in the road.....

You can do it!!! And so can she!!!