Adding rice cereal -- nipple help!

Copernicus08 · December 2010

Yesterday, our ped told me to start adding 1 tsp of rice cereal per 2 oz of formula to help with DS's reflux. This means 3 tsp of cereal in DS's 6 oz bottle.

To those of you who are doing this for reflux or any other reason ... how are you preparing it? The cereal seems to get clumpy and stuck in the nipple. Should I be warming the formula and mixing the cereal into it so it dissolves better?

Also, I can't figure out the best nipple to use. We use Playtex Drop Ins bottles and have all the nipples -- slow, med, fast, and "Y" for cereal -- but none of them seem to do the trick. Slow is too slow when the cereal is added and DS gets frustrated; med is too fast and DS can't swallow it fast enough. The "Y" cereal nipple seems to be too hard for him to suckle from.

Any suggestions?

MissNikki007 · December 2010

I just use a regular nipple and make the hole a bit bigger with a knife.

emilydholmes1 · December 2010

We started rice cereal in the bottle for reflux when LO was 4 weeks old. It is a lot of trial and error to figure out what bottles and nipples work best. We use Avent bottles and they have a nipple sized for thicker liquids that has 3 different settings. It works well for our LO and is a good investment becasuse once he can suck well from the level 1 nipple, we can still use the same nipple and adjust the flow for him. I'm not sure how different brand bottles and nipples work but that is what works for us. Also, we put 1 teaspoon cereal per oz which makes the liquid thicker. We never have a problem with it getting clumpy, we just shake really well and then let it sit for a few minutes to settle.

Mrs.Eisensmith · December 2010

DS was put on the same thing because of spitting. We warmed it before putting the cereal in. Though we use the size 3 nipples for it. We were using 2 for his formula before. He doesn't really need the cereal anymore because he doesn't tend to spit up much without it as of late, and still uses the 3 nipples. He can drain a 8ox bottles in about 2 minutes<.<

BC&MM · December 2010

I don't have an answer to your question. But I know DS has reflux and we are still trying to get his medication at the right dose.

Have you tried medication before cereal( Sorry haven't seen your whole story.)?

DS's pedi didn't want us to do cereal until DS's was a VERY serious case.

amandalawless · December 2010

We use Dr. Brown bottles. We got our old level 1 nipples (LO Has been not using them for probablly 6 weeks now) and DH made the hole bigger with a razor blade. The Level 2's flow is too fast with the bigger hole for the cereal even though they are just right for the formula. Also the Y nipples flow is too fast for LO.

jlfhurley · December 2010

I was told by a friend to heat up a needle and poke the hole to make it bigger. Haven't tried it yet but it makes since

Copernicus08 · December 2010

BC&MM:
I don't have an answer to your question. But I know DS has reflux and we are still trying to get his medication at the right dose.
Have you tried medication before cereal( Sorry haven't seen your whole story.)?
DS's pedi didn't want us to do cereal until DS's was a VERY serious case.

Yes, he has been on Zantac for a month. We upped the dosage and added rice cereal per Dr.'s orders. I'm not happy about the cereal, but we're giving it a few days to see what happens.

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Adding rice cereal -- nipple help!

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