do u put cereal in your children's bottles? if u do when did u start doing it?

Question

i put cereal in my 5 week old daughters bottle to make her sleep longer at night. i only do it at night. i was wondering did u do the same thing? if not how old was your child before u started putting cereal or oatmeal in their bottles?

i would just like to say that i wasnt really asking permission from anyone to feed my daughter cereal..i gave cereal to my first daughter when she was a couple of weeks old..and she will be 2 in july..she is perfectly healthy she isnt overweight..she didnt die from sids and she doesnt have any allergies or diabetes..i was just asking whether or not other people still did it..


i would also like to say people from a older generation have been giving cereal bottles to children for years and they are just fine...and if all u gotta do is put a little cereal in a bottle to get 6 hours of sleep then y not do it..u try bein up all day with a 2 year old then being up all night with a new born then u can holla me until then dont criticize. i dont mind ur opinons but lets not be so damn rude..and im talkin to mommy of david!

Answer 1

I am a mother of 4 and I started outting cereal in all of my babies bottles between 3-5 weeks. It worked for 2 out of 4 of my children and the other 2 still woke up every 3 hours to eat so I agree with you, if it works to get 6 hours, or even 4 hours of sleep then DO IT!!!! As long as you see that it's not hurting your baby or causing any kind of problems then don't worry what anyone has to say. You are a mother and you need sleep to function. Sometimes we have to do what works and try new things when the ones that have been around seems to fail for us. I've been feeding my 6 month old cereal since he was 3 weeks and baby food since he was 2 1/2 months old. He is a chunky boy but not obese and he is in excellent health. good Luck with your baby and you know your daughter better than any of us. My advice is to feed her the cereal at night and if you think she can handle a little more, feed her an extra 1/2 to 1 oz. in that bottle, this will help her sleep more. One thing though, I hope you are using a bottle and not a feeder. The feeder is what tends to make babies overweight, not the bottles with cereal added. When you use a feeder they eat faster so they eat a lot more than they would if they had to suck more. Do keep in mind though, at 5 weeks old the babies body is not suppose to be sleeping all night, but by 11-14 pounds they should sleep all night. THe cereal does (with some babies) help get an extra hour or two in before the next feeding. I also had to put rice cereal in my babies formual due to acid reflux, but I had started the cereal a few times before my doctor ever told me to do so for the reflux. Another thing, if your baby does have signs of acid reflux is you can try enfamil a.r., this is added rice starch. The recie cereal on top of the enfamil a.r. formula will fill the baby up more. I hope I answered your question and didn't get too off track with my details and stories. Good Luck and Congratulations on your newborn.

Answer 2

I started my now 5 1/2 month old son on rice cereal from a spoon not a bottle at 4 months with my doctors recommendation because he was hungry ALL the time...cue they are ready for something more. I personally wouldn't ever put rice cereal in their bottle unless they had some type of acid reflux and it was the only way to help the milk stay down. I don't personally know but have heard that adding rice cereal to their bottles doesn't help them sleep at night. What helps them sleep at night according to my doctor is their weight... above 11lbs, thats when they don't necessarily need the night time feedings...

Answer 3

I did put a little bit of formula in my sons bottle when he was about 6 weeks old. I did it in an attempt to "thicken" his formula because he had a problem with spitting up. Also, I was selfish and I needed to go back to work and I thought it would help him sleep through the night because I was so tired. It didn't help with the spitting up, but he did sleep through the night. I do not know for sure if it was the cereal that actually did the trick or if he was just ready to sleep through the night. I have heard that the cereal in the bottle doesn't work, but I have heard just as many swear by it. All I have to say, is that (especially when you are exhausted) you should do whatever helps your baby sleep.

Answer 4

I've heard that you shouldn't do this anymore. For many reasons. First, there's no scientific study that says it really makes babies sleep longer. They also say that the cereal can be inhaled into the lungs causing pulmonary problems.It can also lead to overeating and weight problems b/c the baby can't really tell you when they're full, especially at such a young age. I've heard that you're supposed to give cereal to a baby no earlier than 4 months, which is about when I started my 2 kids. Feed it to your baby from bowl with a spoon, then when full he/she can turn head or just slow down. That will be the cue that he/she is full.
Have you asked your pediatrician about giving cereal to your baby? Also, they say to never put your baby to bed with the bottle b/c it's bad for their teeth that will come in later. Hope this all helps. You can also check out the website drgreene.com.

Answer 5

No! Their bodies are still learning to digest formula (I assume you're not breastfeeding since you say bottle), and are nowhere NEAR ready to handle cereal. Babies aren't supposed to sleep all night long at that age (though some do - their bodies are more prepared). Do as nature shows - breastmilk has everything the baby needs, and if feeding formula then should stick with that.

Some think you shouldn't ever "trick" a baby into foods like that, either, but wait until they're able to eat it from a spoon. Makes sense to me, but if you do it please follow as below.... 5-6 months.

Preferably solids shouldn't be started until age of 6 months, although 5 isn't horrible. It all depends on your baby. Your pediatrician should have some good advice.

The reason they sleep longer is because it tricks their bodies into thinking they're full since they can't really digest it. It puts a strain on their body and also increases risk of allergies later. Babies bodies know when they need more nourishment. You're cheating her body of what it needs to grow healthy by doing that.

Answer 6

I started putting cereal in my daughters bottles very early they were like a month or so old but this way only because they had a bad acid reflux problem so when they'd drink their formula and you'd go to burp them after wards they would spit everything up so the pediatrician told me to try putting cereal in the bottles to make the formula thicker so this way it would stay down. I think you're fine but if you notice your daughters starting to show signs of constipation (i.e.- crying when having a bowel movement, hard bowel movements, or irregular bowel movements) then I'd ease up on the cereal and give her a little while because this means her body isn't doing well digesting the cereal but as long as she's having regular bowel movements then you should be fine.

Answer 7

You can really make your daughter sick by giving her cereal this early. Even when you can start cereal (at 6 months) you should never put it in a bottle it can cause ear infections. It should always be spoon fed to the child. My doctor says if they aren't able to take it from the spoon they aren't ready for it. Even if they're past 6 months.

Answer 8

I started my boy on cereal and milk combo when he was 2 months--AS REQUESTED BY HIS DOCTOR....lol......My breast milk was completely inadequate for him, so Doc told me to put a little in his bottle to help him put some weight on and get some kind of nutrition out of his feedings. I think it was like a half spoon for his 6 ounce bottle--not too thick, was pretty runny stuff.
Started with rice cereal and milk. That was his final feeding of the night around 11pm. I honestly don't recall if he slept any better, but he had the combo bottle 2 times a day.

At about 4 months, started adding in a little more cereal for the increase in milk.
At 6 months, got him one of those cereal feeders. Worked great for cereal and fruits.


Don't let anyone get to you about this though. Every one likes to think that because they've popped out a couple, they know what they're talking about. Truth is, we ALL just winged it best we could. ;) I'm not tripping over it at all.

BTW: my kids are teen and tween. Neither one of them are overweight--if fact trying to PUT weight on them!!! No one's a diabetic, no one has or had digestive issues.....they're healthy. Just wish they'd put some weight on. The boy could use about 10 more, the girl could use about 10-15 more.

Answer 9

I'm sorry. I can't be nice about this.

Do you know the risk you are putting your child in? Do you know that you have increased her chance of developing diabetes and allergies, and you have also increase the probability that she will be overweight in the future?

I also would not be surprised if they found a connection to "cereal bottles" and SIDS.

Infants are simply not meant to sleep for long stretches. It's really cruel to mess with your babies digestive system simply because you want her to sleep longer.

Bring her to your bed and leave her bottles next to the bed. Better yet, teach her to latch and let her nurse at night. She will get a double benefit there.

How can people be so damned SELFISH!?

Edit: MY son woke up every 2 hours until he was about 14 months old. Even now at 17 months he wakes up 3 or 4 times a night. Even though i know my next child will probably be the same, i would NEVER give solids to a child that young.
Sure, its been done for years... but we also have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes than we ever had before. *ALOT* goes into that, but I have no doubt that this "practice" contributes. Eating habits start at birth. Infants learn to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full and putting cereal in a bottle basically tricks them and messes with thier hunger cues.
I just explained to my husband what i was so fired up about and even he can see what problems giving cereal so early can cause.

Think about it. I'm sorry I was rude, this is jsut a hot topic for me. I just can't understand setting your child up for so many problems, so early.

Answer 10

I tried to give my son rice cereal in his bottle and his fat but sucked out all the formula and I was left with a clump of nasty cereal in the bottom of his bottle. I am a first time mom and would have tried anything to get a 6 hour slot of sleep. I totally agree with you on the things that worked for everyone before us. Woman have been having children since the dawn of time, and I am sure that the process of raising a child has evolved as much as human beings themselves. I have done a few of the "old wives tales" and "home remedies" to soothe my son. In addition I have added a few new tricks to my book. Good Luck and Congrads sweetie.