Do people really do this...

dmartin726 · May 2014

A girl told me that her 7 week old was having a bottle with rice cereal. I'm sure our grandparents did it, but I was under the impression that is a huge no no. Turns out she is not the only one I have heard doing it.

I think I'm shocked that people still do this, even though nothing should shock me anymore...

Did you do it? Thoughts??

penguingrrl · May 2014

It's not something I ever did, but I have heard of peds recommending it for reflux. From what I've heard it's mostly considered outdated advice but still very occasionally recommended.

notreallyirish · May 2014

A mom at a La Leche League meeting whose newborn was 7 weeks said her parents were pressuring her to allow them to give the baby cereal because they wanted to be able to feed her. I think they wanted to spoon feed her too. I cannot see that going well.

Some people do it because they think it will help the baby sleep, some just want to push milestones and do something new, some people get advice from parents or older friends and relatives who have their own cultural and personal motivations. There are also people who do it for reflux, but I'm not sure of the age and recommendations for that and that would be done with the advice of a doctor I imagine.

Hollylb3 · May 2014

I did it on the advice of my pedi for severe reflux. Looking back, I wish I hadn't because he was always a happy spitter.

notreallyirish · May 2014

Hollylb3 said:
I did it on the advice of my pedi for severe reflux. Looking back, I wish I hadn't because he was always a happy spitter.

Did it cause any problems or do you just wish you didn't because it was unnecessary?

MomIn2013 · May 2014

It's outdated - I know I was spoonfed rice cereal at around that age. That must have been interesting...

Andrewsgal · May 2014

Yep I had a friend do it to help her baby sleep. It didnt work oh and she is a nurse. :-??

dmartin726 · May 2014

oh I should add, they are totally doing it to get the babies to sleep through the night. No reflux issues.

AprilLVE · May 2014

Andrewsgal said:

Yep I had a friend do it to help her baby sleep. It didnt work oh and she is a nurse. :-?

Many nurses do all kinds of things that they ought to know better. The smoking rate of nurses astounds me.

AprilLVE · May 2014

I had never heard of this before TB. I have a four mo and nobody has suggested rice cereal to me.

Hollylb3 · May 2014

joirish said:

Hollylb3 said:
I did it on the advice of my pedi for severe reflux. Looking back, I wish I hadn't because he was always a happy spitter.
Did it cause any problems or do you
just wish you didn't because it was unnecessary?

Not problems per se, but #1: I think it caused a little unnecessary weight gain, though he's right in the middle of the chart for now, he used to be on the higher end even though he's not a big eater. #2: the inconvenience of having to carry it with me in addition to the formula, and now milk. I've tried to slowly cut back on it, but he gags on the thinner milk. I still do about a tbs per 6 oz bottle. He still usually doesn't sttn so clearly that's a myth.

jesselayne8 · May 2014

I had a nurse friend who spoon fed it at bedtime to her 6wk old because he didn't STTN even with his 12oz bottle of formula. I don't know how he didn't explode.

princessbmw · May 2014

Lots of people suggest rice cereal to help ds sleep. I have a Facebook friend who was proud he gave his done rice cereal at 3 weeks...yikes!

notreallyirish · May 2014

jesselayne8 said:
I had a nurse friend who spoon fed it at bedtime to her 6wk old because he didn't STTN even with his 12oz bottle of formula. I don't know how he didn't explode.

Or at least his diaper!

jenniann87 · May 2014

My SS aunt started giving her babies rice cereal at 8wks and her 15wk old is now on purees and has been since about 12wks. That is just the beginning of all the poor food/feeding choices they make. And I know none of it is advised coming from their pedi bc the whole family proudly makes it public knowledge that that is their doing. It boggles my mind, I just cant with them.

Chapter79 · May 2014

It's done. And it's silly when done for sleep purposes. Stupid.

My DD had very bad reflux and it wasn't even recommended to us. We did a special formula, instead.

Hollylb3 · May 2014

Chapter79 said:
It's done. And it's silly when done for sleep purposes. Stupid.

My DD had very bad reflux and it wasn't even recommended to us. We did a special formula, instead.

Yeah, we did nutramigen and he still spit it up all the time. Sucked, but like I said, he was a happy spitter at least.

kcisthebombdotcom · May 2014

I used rice cereal in the bottle for reflux but the vomit was so bad it was negatively affecting ds and the meds didn't prevent vomiting. It had no adverse effects though ds was a but chunky (but was born at 10lbs so prob would have been anyway) but he thinned out right at 1.

catycate · May 2014

I might do it under the advice of a pedi, but if it didn't help I would discontinue right away.

JeffandLeslie · May 2014

I know people who give rice cereal at 4 months just because that's what the pedi says to do at the 4 month well visit, but 7 weeks for STTN is a new one for me.

kimmee1997 · May 2014

I give it to my son. He's 3 months old now and he's been on it since about 10 weeks old or so. His pedi recommended it. But I had gotten desperate and had already switched his formula to a spit up formula and had noticed a big difference. Before that he was on gentlease and it was too thin. We had a lot of problems with him choking and spitting up on it. We can now use it again as long as i thicken it with cereal. A thicker formula made a world of difference for us.

scubagirl81 · May 2014

We do for reflux, it helps DS not spit up so much. Otherwise, I would not. I'm not feeding it to him in addition to that, and I wouldn't even if he wasn't getting it in his bottles. Other foods have way more nutritional value!

minerswife17 · May 2014

My neighbor told me that she told her 16 year old son and his gf to put rice cereal in their 2 month olds bottle so he'd sleep better,. He's now 7 months and is on WCM, I could explode.