How old was your baby when you started rice cereal?

Question

My baby is 2 months and I've heard that I can start giving him a little rice cereal at night to help him sleep better. Should I put some in his bottle or from a spoon? I tried putting half a teaspoon in his 4 oz bottle last night, but I think he was having a hard time getting it out.

Answer 1

You heard very, very wrong.

Not only is it dangerous to put cereal in you babies bottle, its very possible they will have a hard time digesting it. Infants dont make alot of amylase. Amylase is the enzyme that digests grains. They make alot of lactase, because they are meant to digest milk. They dont start producing more amylase until closer to a year old.

Even if they seem to digest it well, there is the increased possability of diabetes and obesity in babies that are given cereal too soon. You wont see these effects until much later. Infants younger than 4 month who were given cereal started producing diabetic antibodies.

As for obesity... if theyre not able to self-regulate their food intake, they never learn to listen to thier hunger cues. This leads to overeating later in life.

2 month olds arent supposed to sleep good. Thats the most common age for SIDS... theyre supposed to sleep lightly and wake frequently. Its just natures way of keeping them safe.

So... by starting cereal right now, you are putting your child at risk for digestion issues, food allergies, diabetes, obesity and death. Is it really that important to you, that you can ignore all of the risks?

I don't even agree with giving a 4 month old cereal (heck, i dont agree with cereal period!), but a 2 month old??? PLEASE dont put your babies health and life at risk, they are too precious!

Answer 2

2 months is too early for a baby to get rice cereal. He can't digest it properly and it can lead to problems. Some well meaning grandmothers may tell you to give it to them at 2 months but new studies have shown that it isn't good for them. Your son is still young. He shoould start sleeping through the night soon, with out the cereal. Try giving him a larger bottle. Maybe if you give him 5 oz instead of the cereal might help. But there is a link between baby weight and sleeping through the night. If you baby is still small for their age, they still need the night time feeding to help put on their layers of fat. Which they can do without cereal. Wait until 4 months to feed him cereal. And don't put it in a bottle. It may be easier for you but in the long run it will be harder. They suck it down like nothing and will tell you they are still hungry, leading to obesity. Teach him to take it off the spoon.

Answer 3

My son was this way. He had such a huge appetite that I put rice cereal in the bottle - just a tablespoon. But you had to make sure it is very well mixed and also you will have to expand the "slow flow" nipples' holes a bit with a hot needle. Just stick it in the hole and wiggle it around to make the whole bigger. the more dense formula should now flow better. But be careful not to use that nipple with "non-doctored" formula - it will pour out everywhere.

But I have found that the "sleeping through the night" thing is really a weight thing, not a food thing or an age thing. Their little tummies can only hold so much and thier tummy size is due to their weight, not the age.

My son wouldnt sleep through the night until about 4months (he was a preemie and small). Once he hit about 12-14 pounds (which my daughter is now) he (and she does too) slept through the night. I gave him cereal thinking that would do it, but it was his weight that determined when he would sleep. She sleeps 7-8 hours and i havent given her cereal.

Other than that, rice cereal can be taken by spoon at about 4 months, depending on whether or not the reflex " to push something out of their mouth" has subsided.

Good luck!

Answer 4

I started rice cereal around 4 1/2 months. I had read in a parenting magazine that if you start before 4 months it could cause your baby to have allergies (to many different things). My mom gave us all rice cereal at about a month old and I don't have any allergies. My point is do what you think is best for your baby. A baby that little will need it in the bottle, put in very little and make sure to widen the nipple (a needle will do this). Good luck

Answer 5

No!!!

Rice cereal doesn't help an infant that young sleep! They can't properly digest it and they can get food allergies.

No cereals until 4-6 months of age and then it's only in limited quanities.

Your baby needs more breastmilk or formula than anything else even after they start solids at 6 months of age.

BTW: Many infants inhale the rice cereal if you put it into the bottle and on chest x-rays it looks like snow flakes. It can be life threatening.

Answer 6

There are special bottles made for cereal. Starting your baby on cereal is a great idea. He won't be hungry all the time, which means not having to get up 1 or 2 times in the night to feed him. My children always slept better.

Answer 7

i started my 2 month old son on rice cereal when he was a month old . because he was always hungry so i asked his dr and she said that i could feed him a lil cereal either by spoon or in his bottle. which has help keep down his formal. he doing just fine and it helps him sleep at night. which is the only time i give it to him.

Answer 8

I don't know why people get so hysterical about this subject. Thirty years ago, it was the trend to give rice cereal when babies were 1 month old or even younger. My sister and I both had rice cereal at that age, and we are both very slim, not diabetic, and have no allergies whatsoever. I started my own daughter on rice cereal when she was 3 months with no adverse effects. I think every parent needs to make their own decision based on what they think is best for their own baby. Good luck.

Answer 9

Rice does not help babies sleep. That's just a myth. My baby is just turning 4 months and I'm just now introducing rice. I would hold off on the rice. Although, all babies are different. If your baby seems to not be satisfied with just formula or breast milk, adding a little rice to the formula is fine. Try taking a tooth pick to make the hole bigger in the nipple so your baby doesn't have such a hard time getting it out. Now, if your are having a hard time getting your baby to sleep through the night, try doing the same routine every night with your baby. That way they know it's bed time. When your baby cries in the night, just give a pacifier. Don't feed your baby until the morning. With time, your baby will understand that when you do the "routine" it's bed time and time to sleep. Good luck!

Answer 10

I didn't give my daughter any till she was about 5 1/2 months old when her push out refelx with the tongue went away. As for it helping them sleep through night I haven't heard of it helping them at all, at that age they still need to feed every 3 to 4 hours if your are breastfeeding.
But if you want to give it a go, the best method for getting it into your baby's tummy is with a spoon as the stuff is too thick to flow through a nipple opening. You might also want to try waking baby just before your bed time for a night cap that might help get you an extra hour or two.