Rice cereal in bottle at 8wks??

[Brz04]

I know this might be a controversial subject and I don't want any judgement or argument please but our LO is almost 8wks and I have had several friends/family members ask about how long he is sleeping for at night and about his reflux issues and have suggested putting a very small amount of rice cereal in his last bottle before bed to help him feel more full/sleep a little longer at night and to help keep food down from reflux (we EBF but do one bottle of formula before bed). I am SO hesitant to do this as I know that solids are not recommended until 6 months of age due to possibility of baby developing food allergies but my grandmother keeps asking me if I've tried it and says that she started doing it at 3wks with all 6 of her children and none of them developed any food allergies or had any problems with it and it helped them sleep better?? Any experiences or opinions on this?

 

[catherineq87]

No experience before but I'm wondering would it come out of the teat ? Might be thick ? Lol
My lo has silent reflux too and still sometimes wakes for night feed so could be normal for refluxers
Each to their own tho and let me kno how that goes fur u c

 

[alicecooper]

Nothing on earth could persuade me to do it. If that were my situation I'd just tell relatives that it's not recommended to give solids before 6 months, and that's that.

Giving a baby solids too early isn't really about allergies, it's because their gut isn't mature enough to cope with anything other than milk.

 

[Seoul]

My sister did it with her son at 4 months for excessive reflux the doctor actually recommended it. He is fine no food allergies as of yet and he is almost 4. My mother put cereal in all of our bedtime bottles we all turned out ok. That being said I did not do this with mine because I figured these recommendations are for a reason and I respected it, but if my child had reflux and was not a good sleeper I most likely would have tried it after consulting my doctor. Good Luck!

 

[babyjan]

I'd be more worried about the choking hazards, honestly I wouldn't do it x

 

[SassyLou]

I really wouldn't. My now 24 year old son was weaned using rice cereal at 12 weeks, as was recommended then. DS 2 (now 15) was again weaned with rice cereal at 4 months, as was recommended. DS 3 was turned 5 months and DD was 6 months. Interestingly the older 2 have bowel problems. My 3rd son doesn't and up to now DD shows no signs of any problems.

 

[AP]

Honestly I had the worlds worst reflux baby and putting rice in a bottle would have caused it to be even worse, one slight gag and it was back to the start of a fresh feed again!

I wouldnt even suggest weaning at this point because he's only 8 weeks. No where even near ready for anything but milk in his tummy.

Babies get up at night because thats what they are meant to do hun, and this could go on for months yet. This is something people find really hard to accept I have rarely had a full nights sleep in the last four years, it does get easier!

In terms of helping with reflux you need to ask your doctor for a prescription milk thickener

 

[laila 44]

I had to. My dr suggested I put a pinch in my dd's bottle because of her reflux and constant vomiting and it helped soooooo much! She's now 14 weeks and perfectly fine. I was very skeptic at first but after speaking to several dr's turns out its actually often used for reflux babies because it works better than the AR formula. It's case specific though and I would speak to your dr if I were u

 

[babyhopes2010]

no no no no no! my dd had major reflux and altho it was v hard id never give her solids at that age.its dangerous.my dd had carobel which thickens milk up in tummy,it worked well x

babies sttn when there ready. expect sleepness nights for a few years.

also ignore people that say wean i know they did and my dh was weaned at 11wks totally goes against medical advice now but bak then everyone did it

 

[Katerpillar]

I think it's a really old fashioned way of thinking! It can be really dangerous - it is a serious choking hazard - I would definitely recommned against!

I would go see your GP about reflux - there are meds available.

 

[highhopes19]

I wouldn't do it at all not just early weaning but the risk of choking Aswell... Just nod and agree say thanks for the advice to them but I wouldn't do it x

 

[jd83]

Agree with the others, I would not give rice without being adivsed to do so by a medical professional, with good reasoning. I know sometimes they do recommend it for reflux to help keep milk down, but I'd want the dr telling me to use it, and how much, etc. Not recommendations from family because they did it and turned out fine. That's such an old school way of thinking. Yes, they may have been fine, but obviously you will never have it recommended from someone who didn't turn out fine. And honestly, I'd be asking for a milk thickener rather than rice, with such a young baby.

 

[GemmaG]

Agree with what everyone else has said it would be crazy to give an 8 week old solids..... My twins had awful reflux one is on cow and gate carobel thickener and the other is on enfimal AR I know that enfimal is widely available in the states it has worked wonders on my little boy so maybe you could look into that.... As for sleep it's part of being a mum and we have many many sleepless nights ahead trust me we would all love sleep but putting that stuff in their little bodies is so not good for them I would be firmly telling my family exactly that x

 

[felix555]

It might actually make sleep worse! an 8 week old baby is not that easily going to digest rice cereal.

My baby was a bad sleeper until recently. up until 4 months old he would still wake twice in the night for a feed. Introducing solids does not mean better sleep. Trust me I know because even when my LO was having a full bowl of porridge for dinner (at 6 months) he didn't sleep better.

how often is your LO waking up? Are you expecting your LO to STTN or just not wake up so often? What are you hoping the rice cereal would achieve?

 

[Celesse]

I know this might be a controversial subject and I don't want any judgement or argument please but our LO is almost 8wks and I have had several friends/family members ask about how long he is sleeping for at night and about his reflux issues and have suggested putting a very small amount of rice cereal in his last bottle before bed to help him feel more full/sleep a little longer at night and to help keep food down from reflux (we EBF but do one bottle of formula before bed). I am SO hesitant to do this as I know that solids are not recommended until 6 months of age due to possibility of baby developing food allergies but my grandmother keeps asking me if I've tried it and says that she started doing it at 3wks with all 6 of her children and none of them developed any food allergies or had any problems with it and it helped them sleep better?? Any experiences or opinions on this?

If you gran has managed to safely run across a motorway and survived with each of her babies would you consider it safe? No!? Just because you hear someone who engaged in risky behaviour and didn't have a negative outcome from this doesn't make it safe.

 

[lanaross]

my pediatrician recommended it at 3 months for DS' reflux. Since DS never even took a bottle, it was pointless. I wouldn't even consider it before 17 weeks and even then only for medical reasons.

 

[TMonster]

My SIL did it with her son at 2 months. He had the worst reflux ever and it really helped her a lot. He is happy and healthy at 2.5 and every allergy under the sun runs in that family but fortunately he has none.

I have had numerous people tell me that the doctor will allow me to give rice cereal once a day in a bottle at 2 months so I thought it was pretty standard advice. I planned on trying baby led weaning at around 4-5 months or once she is ready and shows an interest in my food etc. but I would do rice cereal in a bottle if I needed to.

 

[amjon]

We had to put ours on Enfamil AR to keep them from getting sick. It's made to be completely safe so I would go that route over adding rice.

 

[jodiex]

I know this might be a controversial subject and I don't want any judgement or argument please but our LO is almost 8wks and I have had several friends/family members ask about how long he is sleeping for at night and about his reflux issues and have suggested putting a very small amount of rice cereal in his last bottle before bed to help him feel more full/sleep a little longer at night and to help keep food down from reflux (we EBF but do one bottle of formula before bed). I am SO hesitant to do this as I know that solids are not recommended until 6 months of age due to possibility of baby developing food allergies but my grandmother keeps asking me if I've tried it and says that she started doing it at 3wks with all 6 of her children and none of them developed any food allergies or had any problems with it and it helped them sleep better?? Any experiences or opinions on this?

I personally wouldn't do it hun. I think it might make him sleep worse as its harder for their stomachs to digest.
Have you tried another formula? Maybe try tilting the matress where he sleeps. Try keeping him upright for a while after a feed. Sorry if you tried all these things just giving you ideas.
How long is he sleeping at night.?My lg is 8weeks and she sleeps 10-4/5 then straight back down til 8. I dont expect to have a full night sleep for a while. X

 

[ArmyJsGirl]

My LO will be 2 months on the 22nd and the dr has had us putting rice cereal in her bottles since 3 wks because she wasnt sleeping well and has had so many troubles with spitting up and not being full. We ebf so I tried it and I found not only did she start sleeping better but her fussiness from her reflux has been a lot better. She has not had any tummy tribes or anything from it. They told me to do it because breastmilk digests easier in baby's tummy whereas formula takes longer to digest which is why breastfeed baby's tend to eat more often than formula fed. So that's why our pediatrician has had us putting rice in a bottle once a day. I do it at night during her bedtime routine and hav found she sleeps so much netter and I honestly think it's because her tummy fuller. She actually since about 4 weeks has been sleeping from 8:30-4:15. And two days ago slept thru the night (8:30-6:30) Honestly, if there was anything wrong with it my pediatrician wouldn't of reccommended it. She hasn't had any troubles with it, and has done so much better since using it. We started out with 1teaspoon of rice in 2oz of breastmilk and last week the pediatrician said we could up it to 2teaspoons per 2oz. It's actually gentle on baby's tummy.

Edit to add: it helped with her spittin up or I should actually say she would projectile vomit because of her reflux. It brought her vomiting down to the normal spit up. It helped so much. It was until recently because she was still spitting up that the dr has us giving her Zantac. She has been so much better and loves the rice. We don't give her the flavored rice but the plain rice in her bottle makes her a much happier baby. And she doesn't choke on it. It's still able to come out of the bottle nipple just fine, it's still so thin in the bottle. It only thickens it up like formula. And I've not weaned her from breastfeeding either, we still ebf just like nothing's different, it's only one 2oz bottle of breastmilk with 1tsp now 2tsp of rice to help her sleep at night.