What are the downsides to adding a little rice cereal to formula, for a three month old baby?

Answer 1

Worst case scenario (you asked!!) would be death. But that's highly unlikely. Giving solids before a baby is ready can lead to allergies or asthma, both of which can be life-threatening.

More likely scenario...baby is allergic. Or has more health problems in general (more ear and respiratory infections, for example). Digestive problems (since a baby that age can't digest solids yet). Baby feels full because the cereal sits in the baby's stomach undigested, and baby doesn't get needed calories, so growth and/or development are slower than they would otherwise be.

However, no matter *what* you choose, you will never know... Since you can't go back and raise the same kid a different way and then compare, there is *no* way to be sure if she/he would have gotten this particular ear infection...or would have started walking 2 months earlier...or wouldn't have died of cancer at the age of 30...etc. That's why it's always better (where possible) to play it safe and (in this case) wait until at least 6 months before giving anything other than formula.

Answer 2

Rice cereal can be a little binding at first to babies. Only use it in small amounts and make sure that the formula is still pretty watery. If it is too thick, the baby might choke on it. Always make sure the baby is sitting up as much as possible when giving them cereal in formula. If you've used a juice nipple before for the baby, that may work best for the formula that is mixed with cereal - regular nipples may clog.

Answer 3

As a mother that feed her baby rice cereal at 6 weeks, there are no downsides. She wasn't getting enough from just formula.
Just mix the cereal with formula or breast milk and make it fairly runny. Start with 3 or 4 tablespoons as a serving.

Answer 4

"Your pediatrician says this is not wise (except as a treatment for reflux). Dietitians and nutritionists concur. Introducing solids before 4 months might cause food allergies. Your well-wishers discount these recommendations because cereal in the bottle worked wonders for their children!

Throughout most of human history children were exclusively breast fed for the early months. During the previous generation or two, when bottle-feeding became very popular, rice cereal was often put into the bottle at a very early age. What were the results?

Most children seemed to thrive. A small number of children, though, did not tolerate the addition, because their sucking and swallowing actions were not yet fully coordinated. They inhaled small amounts of the rice cereal into their lungs, which led to pulmonary problems.

I’m much more concerned about a subtler issue. Babies are born with a wonderful mechanism for knowing how much food they need. During the early months, they take their cues from the volume of what they drink. Adding cereal derails this mechanism. It forces them to take in deceptively large amounts of calories. It teaches them to overeat.

A major study looking for the causes of obesity found that short-circuiting young children’s self-regulation of how much they eat is a major cause of later obesity. Cereal in the bottle does just that.

Babies that are fed this way may appear to be unaffected – but those few weeks of added convenience may result in a lifetime of struggles with weight. This common practice may have contributed to our being the most obese generation in history."

Answer 5

i did it with both of my boys. i was told when my first son was about 4 months old that he would probably be an 18 month spitter. he was constantly spitting up, usually babies stop spitting up at 6 - 12 months. the cereal helped a lot. with my second son i used the cereal in the formula because he loved to and still loves to eat anything except green beans. if you give it in the last bottle of the day, both of my sons were usually around 9:00pm, your child should sleep through the night. mine did and has most nights since then. they are now 2 1/2 and 5 years old.

Answer 6

A 3 month old still gets up in the middle of night for feedings because he/she's hungry and still needs the nutrition. Rice cereal does not provide the nutrition like feeding them in the middle of the night. I have read this and the pediatrician told me this. It could cause severe constipation and babies don't need solid food until they are 4-6 months old.
They are young once let them be young.

Answer 7

in a 3 month old baby there are no actual problems with it they usually tell you to start feeding them cereal at about 4 months anyways. i would give it to the baby with the last bottle of the evening only put about two spoonfulls in it and drop by a wal mart and buy a feeder bottle it has thicker holes to allow the food to go through the nipple wihout the baby having to suck too hard to get it out make sure its real runny and dont feed it too fast but the baby will be fine and will sleep alot better at that because it will have a full tummy

Answer 8

Around the age of 3-4 months it is safe to start feeding your baby rice cereal, but NEVER out of a bottle! You need to take the time to teach your baby to eat off of a spoon. When you put cereal in your baby's bottle, you are only cheating yourself out of bonding time and learning for your baby. You are also setting your baby up to be overweight. The #1 reason why baby's are so overwieght is because parents put cereal in thier baby's bottle. Think of it this way, your baby normally drinks 6oz. during a feeding and then she's full. When you put cereal in her bottle she still eats the 6 oz. bottle but then her tummy realizes it's over full with cereal, because it takes time to register. I think you should speak to you pediatrician, they will tell you it is safe to feed your baby cereal , but not in the bottle.

Answer 9

Could cause tummy ache. My son was a big baby so at 3 mths old I started adding a small amount to his bottle & it helped him to sleep a little longer. He always seemed so hungry. But I only put it in his night bottle. He loved it & he did fine. I wouldn't give much though. Seems like I added like a teaspoon. And you may have to make the nipple a little bigger, I remember we had to do that for that feeding. Best of luck! God bless.

Answer 10

I had to feed my daughter Formula and Rice Cereal until she was off of Formula because she had Gastresophaegal Reflux and would spit up just Formula. We never had any problems with it and she did MUCH better on it.