Rice Cereal in Bottle

[Anonymous]

My son is 4.5 months old, weighs almost 15 pounds, and drinks about 30-35 ounces of breastmilk a day. At day care, he takes a 5.5-ounce bottle every 2.5 to 3 hours. I was going to wait until he turned 6 months to start him on solids, but his teachers believe that he's ready for rice cereal now because he's frequently still hungry after a bottle or becomes hungry very soon afterwards. His pediatrician noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics advises waiting until 6 months but didn't seem opposed to starting him earlier if necessary.

So, my questions are:

How old was your baby when s/he started on rice cereal?
What brand did you use?
Did you use a bottle or spoon?
If you used Avent bottles, which nipples did you use? I understand that their variable flow nipples are specially designed for solids, but seems like it would be too much to ask his teachers to line up the appropriate number with his nose every time they feed him.
If you used a spoon, which did you use?
Any other words of wisdom?

Thanks so much for your help.

[Anonymous]

OP - you should talk to your doctor about putting rice cereal in bottles. Most say not to do this, unless you're dealing with reflux issues. The point of giving solids to a small baby is to practice eating and swallowing, so cereal in a bottle defeats this. We didn't start until 6mos, but DS didn't show any interest until then. We use the happy bellies brand b/c it has probiotics. Any soft spoon is fine. Search on "solids" on this forum and you'll find a ton of advice about introducting solids (or google for that matter).

[Anonymous]

Cereal in the bottle is also a choking hazard.

If your son is frequently still hungry after the bottle, starting rice cereal is not going to change that much, I don't think food really starts filling them up until you start moving to table foods. For now, he probably needs more breastmilk or maybe some formula.

For reference, my 6 month old eats some rice cereal and two little jars of baby food but still nurses 3 times a day and takes 25 ounces of formula.

[Anonymous]

Started at 5 mos b/c DD also had a huge appetite. We tried the "thick milk" in a bottle, but it didn't have any effect, so we went right to cereal in a bowl, and almost immediately after that to stage 1 baby food.

The ladies at our daycare just fed her out of a bowl with a spoon, and we did the same at home. We used Earth's Best for a while but also tried a few of the others. They're all quite similar -- i.e. all pretty gross on their own. Mixed with formula or BM at first but then just mixed with water and baby food for flavor.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the PP's about the bottle - don't do it. You want to get your baby used to eating with a spoon.
He may be going through a growth spurt right now - hence the extra hunger.
We started solids at 4.5 months and had the go ahead from our pediatrician. DD is now 9 months and gets 3 meals a day plus 30 oz/breast milk /day.

[Anonymous]

4.5 months is about when my DD had a growth spurt. I'd see if that's what's happening before starting solids, personally.

[Anonymous]

Babies that young need more breastmilk or formula if they are hungry, not empty filler calories from rice cereal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Babies that young need more breastmilk or formula if they are hungry, not empty filler calories from rice cereal.

This.

And when the time comes to try cereal, don't put it in a bottle.

[Anonymous]

My 4-5 mo also ate ~36 oz/day. After we started solids (at 6 mos), he tapered down to about 28 oz / day plus 2-3 meals, but I don't think the solids are replacing the formula - I really think he needed to eat more when he was 4-5 mo (maybe the growth spurt others have referred to). I would just give him more formula/BM if he still seems hungry. Maybe try giving 6-7 oz at a time?

[Anonymous]

My 4 month old weighs 17 pounds and drinks at least that much breastmilk per day. He is very tall and wide but not all that fat. I think he just needs more calories than a smaller baby would.

Our ped has said that a little rice cereal a day at this age is fine, but not in a bottle. 1-2 tsp a day, mixed with breastmilk or formula, given with a small spoon. He has also said that after a week or so of that, we can add the right smooshed vegetables.

So you can judge the recommendation for yourself, I will tell you that our ped is at Northern Va Pediatric Assocs., a large and well-respected group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Babies that young need more breastmilk or formula if they are hungry, not empty filler calories from rice cereal.

This.

And when the time comes to try cereal, don't put it in a bottle.

Another vote for this. Breastmilk and formula have about 20 calories per ounce and rice cereal has about 5 caories per ounce. Rice cereal is not going to fill up a hungry baby. If you don't produce enough breastmilk, give him some formula!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Babies that young need more breastmilk or formula if they are hungry, not empty filler calories from rice cereal.

This.

And when the time comes to try cereal, don't put it in a bottle.

Another vote for this. Breastmilk and formula have about 20 calories per ounce and rice cereal has about 5 caories per ounce. Rice cereal is not going to fill up a hungry baby. If you don't produce enough breastmilk, give him some formula!

This. I'm 100% pro-breastfeeding, but if you are not producing as much as your baby needs, you need to supplement with something else. So why choose rice cereal which is so different from what he's eating now and will make him hungry 10 minutes later (don't you get hungry pretty fast if you just stuff your face with carbs?) instead of giving something that has the nutritional value similar to what you're already giving him? My DD also went through a growth spurt around this time and she was drinking 5 oz BM + 3 oz formula every 3h.

[Anonymous]

Mine did the same thing around this time, and I had to supplement for a few weeks. Then suddenly, just BM was ok again. Try adding a pumping session in the evening before you go to bed to up your supply if that's an issue (but also supplement in the meantime).

[Anonymous]

Not to get off-topic (NP here) but I have a question. I understand the reasoning that BM or formula has more calories than rice cereal - but I think rice cereal can be more filling. A cup of milk and a medium sized baked sweet potato have about the same calories, but the baked sweet potato is definitely more filling. There is more volume. So, I truly don't understand why I hear so often that BM will fill a baby more than the cereal. Can you explain?

To the OP - it sounds like your ped is ok with you giving some cereal to your DC. If so, I would try that. I agree with other PPs and wouldn't do it with the bottle. It might take a few days for DC to learn how to swallow the cereal - that's ok - it's a different skill than just swallowing milk.

FWIW - my mom tells the story of how when I was a baby I would just scream not that long after being fed (I was fed formula). My grandma told my mom I was hungry. She gave me some cereal and I stopped screaming.

Every child is different and it could be your child is ready for cereal. It might also be your child is not. You've talked with your ped, I would do what you think is best for your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to get off-topic (NP here) but I have a question. I understand the reasoning that BM or formula has more calories than rice cereal - but I think rice cereal can be more filling. A cup of milk and a medium sized baked sweet potato have about the same calories, but the baked sweet potato is definitely more filling. There is more volume. So, I truly don't understand why I hear so often that BM will fill a baby more than the cereal. Can you explain?

To the OP - it sounds like your ped is ok with you giving some cereal to your DC. If so, I would try that. I agree with other PPs and wouldn't do it with the bottle. It might take a few days for DC to learn how to swallow the cereal - that's ok - it's a different skill than just swallowing milk.

FWIW - my mom tells the story of how when I was a baby I would just scream not that long after being fed (I was fed formula). My grandma told my mom I was hungry. She gave me some cereal and I stopped screaming.

Every child is different and it could be your child is ready for cereal. It might also be your child is not. You've talked with your ped, I would do what you think is best for your child.

It's not about volume. It's about how long it takes for your body to digest what you ate. Protein and fibers take longer to digest than simple carbs, so they stay in your stomach longer, so you're not hungry right after you eat.