At what age can you add rice to a baby bottle? Does that help prevent constipation?

Answer 1

Never heard of that. Wouldn't it clog the nipple?

If baby is constipated you may need to help the baby. Ask a nurse or doctor for advice, not us YAHOO experts.

Answer 2

Rice and Rice Cereal will worsen constipation (BRAT diet for diarrhea is Bananas Rice Apples Toast-- helps to THICKEN stools). If your baby has constipation, and is old enough to eat solids (6 months is ideal) you can offer pears or prunes or peaches (all three will soften stools).
I wouldn't put cereal in a bottle unless your baby has reflux. It's just adding more calories, and as someone else said, babies know exactly how much to eat, and adding more calories will only throw them off.
A little tip, though-- start ALL new foods in the morning, so that if baby has a reaction, it's worked it's way out during the day, AND you're aware of any changes in baby's appearance or behavior.
www.askdrsears.com has some tips on identifying true constipation and some tips for alleviating it.

Answer 3

I added a teaspoon of rice cereal to my son's bottle at about 1 month because formula was not fulfilling enough. You may need to slit the nipple just a bit so the thinker formula comes out.

I have never heard of this preventing constipation. I would talk to the doctor about that.

Answer 4

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.

By starting with a spoon, resting between bites, and stopping when your child lets you know he’s full, you will be laying an excellent foundation for good eating habits throughout his life.

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

Answer 5

Never add rice cereal to a baby bottle. Between 4 and 6 months you can start feeding your baby rice cereal to start him/her on solid foods, but it's not a good practice to add it to baby bottles. It can cause baby to eat too much. Babies naturally know how to regulate how much food they take in, but if you add a "solid" food to what should only be a liquid intake, you will confuse your baby's system. And no, it will not prevent constipation.

Answer 6

Contrary to what some people here are saying in their answers, there is a time when it's appropriate to add rice to a bottle -- the idea of doing so is not crazy, nor does it mean you are going to cause your baby to choke.

When is it appropriate? When a doctor recommends that you add rice cereal to the bottle to alleviate some of the symptoms of reflux. Many, many babies suffer from some degree of reflux or pediatric GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), and there are doctors who will recommend the addition of rice cereal to the bottle to help with this. The rice cereal thickens the expressed breast milk or formula, which makes it easier on the baby -- liquids are far more problematic for sufferers of reflux than solids are, which is why so many babies with reflux problems when they are infants and outgrow them start to experience the improvements when they start eating some solid food. Solids just don't "come up" as easily as liquids. So, it can be appropriate, and it won't choke your baby -- although you have to be careful about how much cereal you add (it's very little cereal per ounce of liquid, although the exact recommendations vary and in any event I don't recall them offhand) and you may have to change the kind of nipple you're using.

Incidentally -- formulas out there designed to help alleviate reflux symptoms already have added rice. For example, "Enfamil AR" -- the "AR" stands for "added rice."

Adding rice cereal is often also recommended to help babies sleep through the night faster. However, that recommendation -- which almost always comes from well meaning grandparents, or other moms, and (thankfully) doesn't come from doctors too often -- should be ignored. It won't help babies sleep better and shouldn't be used for this purpose.

Which brings us to constipation: rice cereal will not alleviate constipation and, in fact, is highly constipating itself. Many moms who start with rice cereal when introducing their babies to solid foods stick with the rice for as short a time as possible, moving quickly on to oatmeal, which is less constipating for baby. So, if your baby is constipated to start with, please don't offer rice!

As to age: if the rice cereal is for reflux purposes it will be advised by your doctor...some doctors are find starting it sooner than others. Otherwise, it's a matter of when you start solids: the current recommendation is to wait until 6 months (the recommendation historically has been to start solids anywhere from 4 to 6 months, but the current thinking is that waiting reduces the incidence and risk of food allergies).

Edited to Add: Please do not add orange to the water to combat constipation. Citrus is not recommended before the age of one year.

Answer 7

Don't add it to the baby's bottle. Mix it in a bowl and feed it with a spoon. This is part of your baby's development, using a spoon. Around 6 months the baby will begin to reach for the spoon and make attempts to feed himself - without much success. Around 8-10 months the baby will become more adept at self feeding. You can begin to use a "sippy cup" for formula and juices around 6 months. Whenever you have questions about your baby's health, growth and development - ask the baby's doctor. You never know about the quality of information given on here - because you don't know the education or experience of the person giving the advice.

Answer 8

you are not supposed to put it in the bottle & no it dont prevent constipation try a little pure orange and the rest water that should clear the problem you can give baby rice to them at about 3 months

Answer 9

omg.
dont put it in the bottle! that can choke a baby.

as soon as the baby has some control over its mouth and lips you can start not usually before about 3months. put some rice on your finger and see if the baby manages. if not delay for another week or so, but if it goes down and stays down try a little every day barely more than a teaspoon at first then build it up slowly never rush the pace

Answer 10

My baby is 5 mnths old and I tried adding rice to her bottle at four months, however, she couldnt suck it out as it makes the milk thicker. So instead I mix the rice with some formula milk in a bowl and add puree food so she eats from a spoon and she likes it.

Answer 11

I wouldn't start adding rice to your baby's diet until at least 3 months.

Rice does not prevent constipation.