Cereal and milk in a bottle?

[themaybaby]

What do you ladies think about feeding cereal with milk from a bottle. I don't like it, and I don't want my daughter drinking milk and cereal through a bottle, but my husband and his stepmom seem to really want me to do that to my 8 month old.... She says "She'll sleep longer if you do".... I don't really care if I have to wake up in the middle of the night.. Something about thickening my baby's milk and her sucking it through a bottle seems wrong to me. What do you all think. Has anyone done this?
Thanks,
Mesha

 

[Noelle610]

I have done it, but for medical reasons - it was recommended by our doctor to help with reflux. Otherwise it's really not recommended as it's a choking hazard. It's really a myth that rice cereal helps babies sleep longer. It certainly didn't help mine at all. It's not very high in calories. At 8 months, I would recommend foods high in fat and protein to keep a baby full, such as avocado, cottage cheese, meats, yogurt, etc

 

[themaybaby]

Thanks! We have just moved out of state, and we didn't bring our baby blender so I'm having to feed her god awful canned nonsense and I won't feed her the food that my in laws make... I will take your advice about the foods higher in good fats, thanks again.

 

[AP]

If the only reason is to get the baby to sleep longer, then its not a good enough reason. Thats what babies do! I'm sorry you arent getting the right support from them! Here they say its a choking hazard.

 

[mommy0629]

That's really an old school thing to do. My mom was advised by my pediatrician to do it when I was a baby. We know better now...it's dangerous (choking hazard) and it doesn't work anyway. Since your lo is 8 months, if you want to give her some cereal at night (if you really thing she needs something extra before bed), just feed it to her from a spoon before her last bottle. I doubt it'll help her sleep longer though since at 8 months she's most likely not waking during the night from true hunger (more than likely just looking for comfort instead) as long as she's taking in enough formula and solids during the day. Even back when it was recommended to put cereal in a bottle to help a baby "sleep longer" that was for young babies, like 3 months old P).