cereal in bottle?

Question

anyone ever put cereal in a baby's bottle? my friend does this and she says it's fine and her baby is only 1 month old. I'm only 3 months along but I wanted to get some opinions from some "experienced" parents. :) Thanks!

oops maybe I wasnt clear. she adds a little rice cereal to a bottle of formula.

wow! I had no idea this was a hot topic!

Answer 1

Both of my kids had really bad acid reflux so i started doing this at one month! My doctor advised me too! I used rice tho! My kids did not have any problems afterwards and they slept better!
I used one scoop of rice with 8 oz it did wonders so yes it does do something!

Mother of a two year old and three year old!

Answer 2

I was advised by my in laws that If I put cereal in my daughters bottle, she'll sleep better. I never put cereal in her bottle and she slept just fine. Especially so young. A baby that young could choke, because if you put cereal in the bottle, you may have to cut the bottle nipple for baby to be able to suck cereal. Cereal in a bottle can also cause over feeding. It's definently not recommended by doctors for some of these reasons. I also have a theory about what that does to a child when they get older. My mother had 4 children, and she never put cereal in my brothers bottles, but she did in mine. I'm am the only one with severe intestinal issues. A baby that young has a harder time digesting anything besides milk.
Even when baby gets older, you shouldn't do this. When it's time for baby to start eating cereal (4-6 months), and they are always getting it in a bottle, it's gonna be a lot harder for baby to catch on to the concept of a spoon.

Answer 3

The following is not my opinion but the opinion of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
First, the introduction of cereal and other solids in the infant's diet is not recommended before the age of 3 months (best after 4 months). Second, the cereal should be fed by spoon and not in the bottle; mixing the cereal with milk and feeding it by means of the bottle increases the risk of aspiration of solid particles which could be very dangerous. Furthermore, the use of a spoon is beneficial for the infant from a developmental point of view since it introduces a more complex way of feeding into the infant's routine, stimulating thus psychomotor development....
I would also like to add something more here because I just read the rest of the answers and there is plenty of information not based on evidence...Adding cereal to the formula or changing the consistency of the formula by thickening it has been extensively studied in the treatment of reflux in infants; all the studies have shown no reduction in the episodes of reflux from such an intervention. Although many pediatricians still recommend this practice, this is not based on evidence and there is no such recommendation from any formal pediatric authority. Reflux is an almost "normal" phenomenon in the first 6 months of life since it is present in close to 70% of normal infants of that age; it uniformly disappears without any treatment (aging is the only solution). Of course, there are some exceedinly rare cases which may require medical treatment; the treatment though has nothing to do with changing the consistency of formula...

Answer 4

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.1 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.

And it doesn’t even work. Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic studied the effect of cereal on sleep and found that adding the cereal did nothing at all to speed up the age of sleeping through the night. That first uninterrupted 6-hour stretch of sleep came no earlier in those who took cereal early.2

People swear otherwise. I suspect the reason is that kids do fall asleep a bit more quickly, and some babies may even go a bit longer between feedings. There is no scientific evidence, though, to support the claim that cereal in the bottle will help an infant increase total sleep or decrease crying.3

Drawing on the wisdom of experience and the latest scientific knowledge, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against adding cereal to the bottle. It may be tempting after your 16th straight sleep-deprived night to cut a bigger hole in the feeding nipple to add rice cereal. But it won’t offer lasting help, and it may be giving your baby a lasting gift that both of you will regret.

Answer 5

Lots of people will tell you this is a horrible thing to do - doctors generally advise that you only feed the baby rice cereal from a spoon, starting between 4-6 months when they are ready for solids (it depends on the baby's development).

However, if your baby has a problem with acid reflux (like mine) your doctor might recommend that you put cereal in the bottle, up to 1 tablespoon per two ounces.

Answer 6

Its really a bad idea. There is no reason to. It doesn't do anything, it doesn't make them sleep through the night, it really just fills them up with cereal instead of the nutrients in the milk that the baby really needs. Breastfeeding is best consider it, I did it and it is easy, cheap and a lot less work. If you choose the bottle, don't ever put anything but formula in it. Cereal has little nutrition, it is for fun and experience when the baby reaches 3-4 months old. Its not for bottles.

Answer 7

Way too young! They're not ready for anything at 1 month, their digestive systems aren't prepared for anything more than breast milk or formula!!!! Wait until at least 4 months before introducing rice cereal, and that's the earliest. Only when she shows signs of being ready for it. And pediatrician's recomend not putting cereal in a bottle because it defeats the purpose of differentiating between "eating" and bottles, or "drinking" Now, my mother fed me cereal in a bottle over 20 years ago, and I'm here today, eating fine on my own...so =) Just talk to your dr, that's always best!

Answer 8

I was horrified when my MIL said that she started feeding my boyfriend cereal when he was two weeks old. I held out until my brat was 2 months old, swearing up and down that she wasn't to have any real food for 6 months. Lol. She was having a fit the one night, didn't want held, or put down, or to be in her swing. She had a diaper change and had just finished a bottle about an hour before she started with her fit. So I made another bottle and put maybe a half teaspoon of rice cereal in 6 ounces. Lol, not even a lot, but hey, she calmed down and even decided to sleep through the night that night. Scared the crap out of me, lol, I stayed up all night checking her again to make sure she didn't have any reactions. She didn't, so I just add a little amount, never more than a tablespoon to her six ounces, but she's slept every night since. If my daughter ends up being chunky in life, it's because her papa is over 7 feet and 450 lbs and I'm no featherweight myself. I say go for it, but wait till your baby starts drooling at least a little bit. That's one of the signs that their digestive system is getting ready to operate. Good luck!

Answer 9

Why do you want to? Is so your baby isn't hungry as often? If that's the reason, it's quite selfish your baby would get less nutritian from milk. Also it can cause overeating because cerial has alot of empty calories. The cerial is supposed to be a suppliment or a starter food when your baby is ready for solids

I know someone who did that so their baby would last longer between feedings. It did work but once they made it too thick and the poor thing nearly choked.

Answer 10

People think when they put cereal in a bottle that their baby will sleep better, but sometimes the baby will gulp it down like it's all milk and it'll do just the opposite.........the baby's belly will hurt from being so full. Never put it in a bottle, spoon feed the cereal.

Answer 11

Cereal in a bottle is a serious choking hazard.

Introducing any solids before 6 month carries serious risks:
Immediate risks:
*choking
*aspirating cereal can lead to lung infections and pneumonia
*malnutrition
*anemia
*early weaning
*in the breastfed baby it interferes with immunities passed from mom

Long Term risks:
*diabetes
*obesitity
*food allergies
*asthma

Adding cereal to the babies bottle has also been scientifically proven not to increase the amount, duration, or quality of infant sleep.

Why delay solids?
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

Will giving formula or solids at night help baby to sleep better?
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html

Cereal in a Bottle?
While many continue to believe this practice will buy parent's some sleep, studies show it simply doesn't work that way.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030404085424/http://babyparenting.about.com/library/weekly/aa021399b.htm

Baby Bottles and Cereal
http://www.drgreene.com/21_861.html

Will my baby sleep better if I add cereal to his bottle at night?
http://www.babycenter.com/expert/baby/babyfeeding/9155.html



And the best resource on starting solid foods, in my opinion:
http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/vast_voedsel/rapley_guidelines.html