Cereal in a Bottle - Graham,WA

Waking up could be caused by habit not by hunger - this was the case with my son. If you try to feed him and he still takes a full feeding then he is probably hungry but if he doesn't seem that hungy then he is probably just waking up because he is used to doing so and you should try to get him back to sleep without feeding him and help him break the habit. You didn't mention how old he is which is a big player in this decision. If he is old enough (like 5-6 months or more) I would try feeding him cereal instead of putting it into his bottle - it will be more filling and will get him moving toward eating that way. Good luck!

If he is ready for cereal, I would give it to him from a bowl and spoon, not in his bottle. They are ready when they can move the food from the spoon to the back of their mouth and swallow it without gagging, usually between 4 and 5 months old. If you try and the baby gags, then wait a few days and try again. You should not feed solids before 4 months, their tummies are not ready for it. If you are trying to night ween than you need to stop feeding him when he wakes, and find other ways to get him to go back to sleep. It may work to have Daddy get up with him for a few nights. After the first 2 weeks of life babies no longer need night feeding (as per my docs advice), and following that my boys all slept from 8 until around 5 from 1 month old. They feed at night because we train them to feed at night. Re-train him, and he should be sleeping through the night in no time.

you don't put rice cereal in a bottle. If he's not big enough to eat it from a spoon, he's not big enough for it. a little bit of rice cereal is NOT going to make a baby sleep through the night.

How old is your baby? Under 6mos, sleeping 'through' is 4-6hours. If he's sleeping 4-6 hour stretches at night, he's right on track. You can't force a baby to sleep all night. If he wakes, feed him, but don't put cereal in his bottle. Its not recommended, it force feeds a baby, and it can be dangerous if he aspirates. Plus its overfeeding. Don't do it.

Your son is only about 7 weeks old right?

You should not be giving cereal in a bottle unless your pediatrician advised you to do so! What is the reason you are doing this? If it is for better sleeping or because you think he is hungrier (per your other post) this is not going to work. Babies will fluctuate in their feeding schedules.

6 weeks is a common growth spurt time, and he will want to eat more frequently. Adding cereal is only adding empty calories that will not give your son any nutrition and will actually take away from his nutrition because he is filling up on something that doesn't do him any good. This is a very bad idea without a doctor's recommendation. Sometimes for cases of reflux, doctors will advise this, but not just to give them more food.

During growth spurts it is not uncommon for babies to feed constantly, then they go back to thier old feeding patterns, and sometimes even eat less for a while. My son has always done this. He eats very regular for a while, then eats like he is starving, and once he is done with the growth spurt eats less for a while until it levels back off to normal.

Cereal in bottles can lead to lots of other health problems later in life, not to mention that baby cannot handle the thickness of the cereal (even if it seems very thin to you) and they can choke. You should really follow your pediatricians guidelines on feedings, and stop the cereal in the bottle immediately unless they are the ones that told you to do this. But if the doctor did tell you this, they should have told you how much to use. And 1 tsp per oz seems like an awful lot to me!

None. Never. Nope. Not til 6 months.

Cereal DOES NOT make baby sleep longer. It just isn't true. Babies sleep longer when they are physically able to. He is waking at his regular time because he is a growing baby and needs to eat to facilitate that. He is telling you he needs you to provide him with the proper nutrition at regular intervals. How old is your baby?

Unless your baby has severe reflux and it has been prescribed by the doctor you have no business putting cereal in a bottle. It promotes over-eating and does not start healthy eating habits.

I hate to sound harsh but in this day and age we know better. Please take the time to look up "open gut" as it relates to babies. You will have a better understanding of why it is best to delay solids until baby's system is actually ready to start processing solids.

Here is some info on it:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/early-solid-food-feeding...

Feed him more milk during the day, but don't use cereal. Babies shouldn't start on cereal until they're 4 months old. I thought that feeding more at bedtime would help, too. My ped told me to feed more during the day and he'd start sleeping through the night. She was right!

Putting cereal in a bottle won't help your baby sleep longer.

Cereal also shouldn't be put in a bottle. Babies should eat solids (like cereal) sitting up rather than in the recline of a bottle. If he's not yet sitting up on his own, he shouldn't be having solids yet. Solids should be started sometime around the middle of the first year. Current recommendations are that babies be exclusively breastfed or formula ony until at least 6 months of age.

Here's the American Academy of Pediatrics website:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/f...

and info from it:
Breastmilk or formula should be your child’s sole nutritional source for the first four to six months, and the major source of nutrition throughout the first twelve months. During this time, you and your pediatrician will need to pay attention to her pattern of feedings and make sure that she’s getting enough for growth.

I would not recommend putting cereal in the bottle. Give him some around dinner time or right before you give him a bottle, but no need to put it IN the bottle.

It is a myth that cereal in the bottle will help your baby sleep longer or more soundly.

How old is your baby?

Everything that I have read on baby center and baby magazines ALL say that you should never put cereal in a baby's bottle. I can't quite remember the reasoning but experts agree that it does not make your baby sleep longer.

How old is your baby?? Rice cereal should never go in the bottle unless advised by your pediatrician and that is rare from what I hear. I didnt start any of my kids on cereal until 4 months and that was off a spoon. There is no magic way of making a baby sleep throug the night...if they wake up there is a reason for it. On a night that my son who is 8 weeks sleeps 5 hours at a time I consider myself lucky!!!! Just enjoy feeding time-no matter what time it as as a special bonding moment because they grow up way too fast!!!

Please, don't give your baby cereal. The only things that a tiny baby are meant to digest is breastmilk or formula. Until the intestines are mature (somewhere around 6mo) , they will be damaged by anything other than breastmilk/formula. It can/does cause lifelong intestinal damage that can never be healed, leading to digestion issues, pain, gas, constipation, etc.

Babies are supposed to wake up at night to eat. That's NORMAL. What's not normal is trying to force a baby to sleep like an adult. Your baby will naturally start sleeping long and longer when he's ready. Good luck!

You should never put cereal in a bottle. ALL the experts warn that it is VERY bad. Also, I agree that sleeping at night is a learned habit, not about being hungry. I learned this leason well with my daughter, she was up every couple hours until she was 10 months old...she ate plenty throughout the day and was always of normal weight. Learning to sleep was harder for her and even now at 5 year old she requires VERY little sleep...

The cereal in the bottle thing is a myth. It does not make them sleep longer.

Hi-- I never found a connection between a full belly and sleeping through the night. Some babies are better sleepers than others. I would stick to milk without cereal.

I don't know how old your baby is but I'm with everyone else... no cereal in the bottle. Try feeding more in the day or cluster feed closer to bedtime or whatever. I would need to know how old your baby is, how big and how much formula he/she is eating before I could give you any advice other than my advice to not be putting cereal in the bottle. Bad idea on many levels!

Oh, no... Don't put cereal in a bottle. Your little guy is much, much too young to have cereal at all - unless, for some reason, the pediatrician recommended it. I've never met a 7 week old who slept through the night - ever. Our daughter slept through the night at 9 weeks, but didn't have cereal until 6 months. Eating cereal and making them sleep longer is a total myth... Baby cereal in a box has very little nutritional value or bulk to keep them full. Breastmilk and formula are far fattier and keep baby full longer than cereal will. Please don't give him cereal - not yet.

Read the back of the cereal box. The guidelines are there for a reason. their little tummies aren't ready to digest any food until about 6 months old, they can end up waking more often because they have upset tummies and gas. Lots of moms have done it and I don't know of any that it truley harmed but my experience was the more waking up and interruption of the sleep cycle.

I wouldn't do any. It's an old wives' tale. I've never met anyone that it worked for. Babies are supposed to wake up to feed because their tummies are so small.

Contrary to popular belief, eating solids has nothing to do with how much a baby sleeps.... You don't say how old your baby is, but you might also try feeding him with a spoon as putting cereal in the bottle (unless your baby has GERDS and it is doctor recommended) robs him of the experience of learning how to eat. Just my opinion....

The pediatrition told me I could start giving my kids some cereal between 4-5 months old and then slowly introduce one new food at at time after a couple weeks of things going well with the cereal. It's better to give it to them with a spoon since you have to have a faster flowing nipple if you put cereal in the bottle. This could cause other problems like extra gas and spitting up because of how much they are taking in. I found that I could give my kids a bite or two (very runny consistancy) and then give them the bottle, and then rotate again. You didn't say how old your son is but check with your pediatrition to see when you can start and don't try to early. Both my kids feeding was sporatic in the beginning and settled down after 2-3 months. They were both bottle fed after the 1st month and I got really lucky as they both started sleeping through the night at 2 months. They would occasionally wake up in the middle of the night (1-2 times a week) for a bottle in the middle of the night. It was probably around the 3 mo mark that they were more on a regular feeding schedule taking about 6 bottles a day of 5-6 oz.

You didn't say how old your baby is, but I heard that giving a baby cereal before 6 months puts them at risk for diabetes later on. If your family has a history of diabetes, this is definitely something you would want to avoid. The reason it's supposed to help is that it's hard for them to digest and therefore slows down their digestion, making them think they aren't hungry. Not the best way to do things. It's better to get them to take their nutrition during the day so their bodies don't need more at night.

With both my kids, cereal did nothing to help them sleep through the night. They had become accustomed to waking up. I had to just let them cry it out (at 10 months in both cases--the point when my husband and I said "We can't take it anymore!"), and after a few nights (2-3) they started getting all the calories they needed during the day, and also realized that they weren't going to get any attention when they woke up at night, so they quit waking up. Simple. :) More or less, anyway.

Hope that helps.

Babies should not have anything but formula or breastmilk until they are 6 months of age. Cereal does not make them sleep longer. Babies wake up at night and should not be fed on a schedule they should be fed when they are showing feeding cues like sucking on their fists or opening their mouth and turning their head like they are looking for the bottle . It can be hard to have your sleep interrupted night after night. Please ask for help from friends and family (preferably from someone that doesn't believe in the old fashioned myth of adding cereal to formula to get baby to sleep) if you are getting exhausted . Give yourself permission to take naps during the day.

depends on age I did both of mine diffrent. I would leave it there for at least a week before you go to 2 tsp. leave there for a week and increase according to need