Rice Cereal in Bottle - Ferndale,MI

Updated on January 24, 2011
M.W. asks from Ferndale, MI
7 answers

Hi Ladies! I have a 4 and a half month year old son who eats every 3 hours or so at night. My daughter slept through the night (7 hours or so) at about 8 weeks. Now I know every child is different. I work midnights 2x a week and my husband stays at home and takes care of the baby. My question is have any of you put rice cereal in your baby's bottle at night for him/her to sleep longer? My peditrician recommended it actually so please no hate mail! ;-) If you have done this how much did you use? He's been spoon fed the cereal for a few weeks now (also at my peds recmd) he weighs 16 lbs 11 oz so he is much bigger than my daughter was. Yes I will say there are times when he wakes up and I know its not hunger, but there definately are times when I know he is so hungry. I breastfeed and pump while I am at work. I am not being "selfish" I understand some kids never sleep through the night. BUT, for my husbands sake even a 5 hour stretch would be great for him. He works an upwords of 65 hours a week and this is hard on him. So, if you have done this, how would you recommend doing this? Thanks so much!!!
M.

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B.H.

answers from Detroit on

I have given both of my boys rice cereal in there milk. They are now 6 ad 4 years old so I don't really remember how much I gave them. I don't remember measuring it though I think I just decided how much was enough. The only hard part was that sometimes they would cry because the rice would get jamed though the nipple and make it hard for the milk to flow. so then what I would do is get a fork and try to polk a whole though the nipple to make it a little wider. My grandma recommended that I try rice cereal my Dr. was actually against it saying that it was not necessary. My grandma had her younger sibblings, 6 kids of her own, grand kids and a few great grand kids so I did what she told me. My babies seemed like they could never get full. My 4 year old today will go through a gallon of milk in less than a week by himself.

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J.B.

answers from Phoenix on

I had to feed my seond child with rice and formula because she was spitting up and not staying full for long periods of time because she had acid reflux. My doctor recommended giviing her rice cereal mixed with formula to help her keep it down and stay full longer. So I went out the walmart and bought a feeder cup. It looks like a bottle and has a nipple at the top. You mix the formula with the rice cereal to your desired thickness. Then add it to the feeder and let him suck on the nipple and then the feeder will move up as he sucks. I tried using bottles but the cereal had to be mixed to the t or she was not going to get anything out of the bottle because the nipple hole was too small. Good Luck hope this helps your hubby and you!

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M.F.

answers from Detroit on

Isn't it sad that you have to ask for no hate mail? Especially when we are all supposed to be helping each other and offering advice? On that note...

If you do decide to add the cereal be sure to make the hole bigger in the nipple. I used one specific nipple for night time so the cereal would fit through in order to avoid ruining all of the nipples.

I started with a very thin spoon feeding at 4 months with both of my girls. You could maybe try that before bed too. It was really thin though...more like a thick shake. Once they got used to eating from the spoon I thickened it up little by little.

Good luck! I hope everyone gets some sleep very soon :o)

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K.M.

answers from Detroit on

Four tbsp or more maybe needed. Give him what he can handle plus they have growth spurts too at 2,4,6,8,10,and 12 weeks of age where he may need more than normal. good luck oh ya don't put the rice in the bottle spoon feed it before bottle.

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A.U.

answers from Detroit on

In response to one of the other posters... never let him just CRY it out.. thats torture, seriously! ugh
As for the rice cereal, don't listen to the people that freak out about giving it to him... It was given to all of us as babies, and quite frankly you don't hear of food allergies among the older people, but kids nowadays have tons! weird huh? Anyway, my pediatrician told me to give my 3 month old 1 tsp of rice cereal per ounce of formula... So, for a 6 oz bottle you'd put in 6 tsp. Try the Y cut nipples that they sell at babies r us.
Good Luck :)

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M.P.

answers from Detroit on

I hear you on the not sleeping. My daughter's flap between her esophagus and stomach was not fully developed until she was 6 months and 1 week old. Us moms never forget that!

I would start with a tablespoon of cereal and remember to make the hole in the nipple larger, otherwise the cereal will get plugged up.

I know it is hard and maybe start on the weekend, but let him cry. He will know you are not going to come and pick him up and will put himself back to sleep.

You can try using a sound machine that has soothing sounds (birds chirping, tide coming in, etc). Turn it on and let that put him to sleep.

Hope this helps.

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K.S.

answers from Grand Rapids on

I did the same thing with my daughters but don't remember how much. I made it thick enough for a good consistency but not too thick to fit through the nipple. I don't think you are being selfish and you shouldn't compare your daughter to him, he is a boy and from what I have heard can tend to need more. We fed it to her about a half hour before bed unless she fell asleep while she was eating/drinking. Good luck and enjoy!

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