My son is 4 months, he spits up a lot. should i add rice cereal to his formula?

Question

he's on breast milk and formula.he's not gaining enough weight, but the doctor says he's okay. should i add rice cereal to his formula to reduce the spitting up? did it work for anyone out there. pls, answer only if you have tried this with your child.i.e, you have experienced it personally. thanks

doctor is on vacation, wont be back for about 3 weeks. pls dont answer my question if you have no personal experience. i hope you understand simple english

Answer 1

Do not add cereal to his formula. I, personally, do not agree with this method. If you give a child solids before they are ready to start that could open the door from allergies and other sickness.

If your child is ready to start solids, do not add it to his bottle. Solid foods are meant to be separate from the bottle so your child can feel the texture and know that it is different from the formula. I also believe adding solids to a bottle creates more of a parent dependancy on the bottle.

If your son is not sick and is spitting up a lot try changing your bottles. I had the same issue with my daughter (who will be 17 months on the 24th) when she was a baby. I talked to my doctor and he said she was fine but I still worried because it seemed like she was spitting of a lot.

The doctor told me that while it may seem like a lot of spit up, it is not just milk that is coming up. And since my daughter wasn't losing weight there was nothing to be worried about.

My advice to you is to first do what I did. Change the bottle. I changed from Evenflo to the Playtex drop ins so I could push all of the air out and make sure she wasn't getting any bubble.

Make sure you are mixing the formula well. I switched from shaking the bottle to mixing it in the blender. I was able to measure it perfectly and add the correct about of water.

Reduce the ounces your baby eats in one sitting. If he is eating 6 ounces go down to about 5.5 or 5. Many times if a baby gets too full the extra will just come back out.

As for the weight gain, each baby is different. My daughter is constantly growing taller but her weight hardly ever changes. Her last appointment was about 1 1/2 months ago and she is still 24 lbs. She's been 24 lbs since she was 8 months. But I don't worry about it because I have a good doctor who says she is healthy and she plays and such like a happy healthy toddler.

Not all babies are going to cute, chunky, and have rolls of baby fat everywhere. My daughter and my good friend's son never had any baby fat rolls. It's their body make up. You might be worried because your baby doesn't look like other babies but if your doctor isn't worried, you get a second opinion that says he's okay, then don't worry. You child will gave weight when he's supposed to.

Answer 2

Rice won't help the spit-up. I'd change the formula, maybe to a soy formula.

When my daughter was 4 months, the dr. said to start spoon feeding her rice cereal (2 tbsp) with a little sugar (1/2 tsp) and formula in it until it's the right consistency. (She was hungry!)

She didn't know how to open her mouth, though, so that was fun teaching her to open so I could put food in. Soon it was okay to use baby green beans or applesauce instead of sugar.

In my experience, spitting up was caused by lactose intolerance from milk-based formulas. Spitting up big time can occur when the baby hasn't been burped properly. Gross! She never spit up the rice cereal (I fed cereal first), but spit up a tiny bit after formula.

That's all I know

TX Mom
Debbie

Answer 3

I had a child that spit everything even when you added rice to his bottles. You can talk to your Dr about trying other formula's until you find one that he can handle better. I breast fed only for the 1st 5 months then did both for another month or so. He still spit up. If he does not stop after trying other formula's he may have GERD and need medication. I am not a dr so this is just a personal experience. I know there is one formula that has a little rice already in it so it is heavier than the others. As for his weight if the Dr thinks it is ok I am sure it is.

Answer 4

You don't want to add cereal to his formula, you'll run the risk of choking. There are formulas called AR, which has added rice - but it's a special formulation of rice.

First try burping him more frequently - after every ounce if you need to. Also make sure the opening in the bottle's nipple isn't too large or small - if it's too small, he's sucking in a lot of air, and when he burps, he'll spit up anything on the air bubble. If it's too large, the formula rushes out too quickly, and he's gulping it and taking in a lot of air.

If that doesn't help, ask the doctor about changing his formula to the AR one, but don't put cereal in the bottle.

There should be a covering doctor for yours, so make an appointment to see that one. (No need to get snotty, I was offering help from my personal work experience, because I've seen a hundred babies with this issue.)

Answer 5

Regardless of whether your doctor is there or not his nurses still are. Talk to one of them. Most times they have been nurses for several years and could help you. If not they will put you down as soon as the dr gets back. Don't add the cereal to his formula. He's old enough to eat that by itself. Try feeding more often but smaller amounts. The size of a baby's stomach is the size of their fist so it could be that he's eating too much at one time. This is what I was told with my middle child and while she still spit up it was less often than before. If your dr isn't worried about the weight gain then relax a little but your concern is still okay. Good luck.

Answer 6

my son was spitting up everything he put down. After going to the doctors for a month straight she finely had me switch formulas. She had me put my son on infamil AR which stands for added rice. This formual is thicker and made for babies that spit up more then normal. Also ask your doc if your child has reflex which means that the valve between the throat and stomache isn't closing like it normally should. If this is the case trying feeding your baby less at a time so that your not over filling the stomach and keep the baby sitting up for at least 30 minutes. These have all helped my son. Good luck hope it helps.

Answer 7

I never heard of adding rice to formula for reducing spit up. It also isn't a good idea to give a baby solids to early especially through a bottle. Doctors recommend waiting to give solids until six months now. Unless doctor says otherwise don't give the baby cereal. My son used to spit up a lot he just out grew it, if the doctors aren't concerned about the weight I wouldn't be.

Answer 8

The only time I would have a problem with my son spitting up is when he was on a formula that he didn't like. So I would talk to your Dr. about change your son's formula AND check your diet. If he is also getting breast milk it could be something you are consuming that he doesn't like. Good luck and hang in there, but I wouldn't resort in adding rice cereal just yet.

Answer 9

At four mos it's normal for most babies to start eating cereal...our pediatrician recommended for us to try spoon feeding our kids rice cereal first since it's the easiest to digest. Babies at this age only need a couple of baby spoon fulls at first.... I've never heard that cereal will stop spitting up, unless he has severe reflux, the spitting up is normal. If you suspect reflux,though, make sure you check in with the doctor as soon as he comes back. Most doctors , even on vacation, have a nurse in office you can speak to; don't worry about bugging them, that's their job. Good luck!

Answer 10

I wouldent.
The spitting up could be due to a sensitivity (or God forbid-and allergy) to a component of his formula.
May be try changing formulas.If hes on a milk based one, go for a lactose free one.
I nursed my babies but two of them spit up tons.my friends told me to give them rice cereal but I am glad I didnt because the cereal may slow the spitting up but it would have just masked the problem.Both babies were allergic to dairy and when i eliminated it from my diet...no more spitting up than an average baby.
the whole "reflux" diagnosis is a bit of a fad.often the "reflux" is a food sensitivity.
There are lots of ingredients in formula that a baby can have trouble with.
Also,try burping him halfway through his feedings,as well as when hes done.especially dont let him fall asleep without a burping.this may help too.
good luck with this!