rice cereal

Mjobrien1515

Hey everyone my lo is 10 weeks old... he currently taking 5oz every 2-3 hours... he is mostly formula.. but i am still using my freezer stash. I am getting mixed advice on rice cereal... his doctors said no rice cereal until he is 4 months...however, another doctor stated rice cereal is fine to give him and gave me the measurements to put in his bottle. I am very confused and not sure what advice to follow? TIA

baloneydisc

Do not put rice cereal in his bottle. It is a choking hazard and he won't be able to digest it right now. The reason to hold off on solid food is to allow their digestive tract to mature enough to handle it.

Mjobrien1515

thats what i thought about rice cereal... he spits up all the time but they do not beleive any reflux.. because he is gaining weight. They think he is just fussy at times. but I dont know he is giving me a very tough time witht he bottle all of a sudden. He was doing fun. He moves his head side to side and it takes me an hour just to get him to eat. 

ashiscute

Both of mine took a bottle fine until about 2.5 mos.  And then they never really took a bottle again.  

Also, my DS has reflux (still) and he was gaining weight okay.  They can still gain weight with reflux.  Is he arching his back constantly after meals?  Does he have a hard time finishing his bottle?  A doctor should be able to look at the back of his throat and see if there is any redness/irritation from reflux.  Have they recommended a different formula?  DS went on zantac at 2 weeks and switched to Prevacid around 3 mos and has been on that since.  

Mjobrien1515

there are sometimes he can eat fine.. but other times he moves his head from side to side... and does arch his back.. however he can sleep the whole night. around 3 weeks he was introduced to similac supplementation... and was doing fine.. they i dried up and we did switch to similac advance. He has been on it for 2+ weeks. It was going fine but it the past couple of days he is giving a hard time with a bottle... 

tbmadeamistake

Babies with reflux will often over eat to try and soothe things. Eating keeps the stomach acid down, but unfortunately over eating can then make it worse. If he's eating that much that often, and he's arching his back, I vote reflux. Ask to do a med trial.

Joyash

My baby is 7 weeks old and will be eight tomorrow. He was born preterm and has bad reflux. The pediatrician and gastroenterology provider said to mix 1 teaspoon of cereal in 1 ounce formula. It seems to be working for his spitting and throwing up. He is 100% formula.

ElTrain5

If it really is a "major choking hazard" and babies "cannot digest it", then why do so many pediatricians recommend it?  I'm not disagreeing with either of those statements…I just don't understand why medical doctors would recommend something that dangerous/indigestible to a parent…… (I keep seeing people post that their peds have said to use it for reflux)

ASmallWonder

What is recommended for reflux is a small amount to weigh the formula down and it's also a lesser of two evils situations.  It's not something healthy infant need and the danger outweighs the benefits because there are zero medical benefits for a non refluxing child.

Rosebean

My son had acid reflux and we ended up having him on two types of meds to help him with it. He spit up lots, over ate and at the 3 month mark would arch his back while nursing. It was awful for him. Rice cereal will not solve this issue for your LO, and I agree with PPs that it's not good to add to bottles or start this early.

On a side note: I am a huge advocate of skipping cereals altogether when introducing food and even waiting until 6 months... Google Baby Led Weaning if you have some time. It's how we introduced food to our son and we loved it. 

FAWKES81

My son will be 11 weeks on Friday.  When he started getting fussy with the bottle, turning head, arching back and slapping bottle away we went up a size in the nipple and it has helped tremendously.  He no longer takes an hour to eat but eats in 20 minutes or so.  This may be something to consider trying for your LO as well.  Good luck.