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Dr. Browns bottles and rice cereal?

I want to start my son on rice cereal before bed time to help him sleep longer. Which nipple is big enough? He uses a size 2 currently...is that big enough?

Public Comments

1. Putting rice cereal in a bottle is a choking hazard. It's a myth that rice cereal will help your baby sleep. http://www.parenting.com/parenting/baby/article/0,19840,1033521,00.html
2. If that's a pic of your son, he's a cutie! Please consider NOT adding cereal to your son's bottle; cereal is not proven to help them sleep longer. In addition, cereal should be given with a spoon, not a bottle. The current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations are to hold off on starting foods until age 6 months, unless otherwise directed by a pediatrician for reasons such as severe reflux or failure to thrive (seriously insufficient weight gain). Waiting until age 6 months helps to decrease chances of developing food allergies, as well as decreasing chances of later developing obesity and diabetes. In addition, the gut can handle food much better and you don't end up with a constipated baby. When the baby is 6 months, please feed cereal using a spoon. At that age, they are generally developmentally ready to handle it (holding head up, sitting with good trunk control, and integrating the tongue thrust reflex). Bypassing developmental readiness by giving cereal through the bottle will buy you some problems.
3. I believe that putting cereal into a bottle makes for a lazy baby. But that is MY opinion, also if they are too young to eat it off a spoon then the baby probably doesnt need it. I know that you are exhausted with a new baby, and probably stressed out, but starting cereal too early can cause worse problems than your lack of sleep. As he gets older he will sleep longer periods of time, until then you probably need to just wait it out and catch naps when you can. Good luck
4. How old is your son? Why would you feed a child food through a bottle?
5. You will have to use the Y-cut nipple if you are putting rice cereal in the bottle.
6. Dr Brown's makes a Y-cut nipple. It's for thicker liquids such as formula with ceral. Hope that helps
7. If that is a recent pic of your baby, he is too young to be digesting cereal. He needs to be at least four months old. Besides his age, I agree with the others. Cereal should not be given in a bottle for any reason. The theory that it will help fill up a baby before bed is crap. (excuse me, had to say it) In fact, it really makes them hungrier. They'll get used the full tummy feeling and when their tummy empties ( usually at about the same rate as it would with just formula) their gonna wake up for another filling feeding. So it doesn't really do any good to use cereal. Some babies tummies don't tolerate the cereal at all and just get a tummyache. Don't do that to your baby. ***But, I'm sure there are mothers on here who are gonna say that they give baby cereal in the bottle, baby sleeps better blah blah blah. With that, and because I know once some moms have their minds set they aren't changing it...check the aisle at your favorite store for all the accessories for your bottle. (Target and Babies R' Us have great selections) If the bottle is compatible with feeding thicker fluids it will have certain nipples that are used just for that. I don't know if Dr. Brown's has them, but I know AVENT bottles do***
8. I did that with my son because I was a walking zombie. It didn't work. I used a very small amount and just used a pin to open up the nipple just a little more. I only gave it to him when I was giving him his bottle before bedtime while rocking him so that I could watch for choking. He never choked...but like I said....it didn't work.
9. http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html Throughout most of human history children were exclusively breast fed for the early months. During the previous generation or two, when bottle-feeding became very popular, rice cereal was often put into the bottle at a very early age. What were the results? Most children seemed to thrive. A small number of children, though, did not tolerate the addition, because their sucking and swallowing actions were not yet fully coordinated. They inhaled small amounts of the rice cereal into their lungs, which led to pulmonary problems. I’m much more concerned about a subtler issue. Babies are born with a wonderful mechanism for knowing how much food they need. During the early months, they take their cues from the volume of what they drink. Adding cereal derails this mechanism. It forces them to take in deceptively large amounts of calories. It teaches them to overeat. By starting with a spoon, resting between bites, and stopping when your child lets you know he’s full, you will be laying an excellent foundation for good eating habits throughout his life. A major study looking for the causes of obesity found that short-circuiting young children’s self-regulation of how much they eat is a major cause of later obesity.1 Cereal in the bottle does just that. Babies that are fed this way may appear to be unaffected – but those few weeks of added convenience may result in a lifetime of struggles with weight. This common practice may have contributed to our being the most obese generation in history. And it doesn’t even work. Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic studied the effect of cereal on sleep and found that adding the cereal did nothing at all to speed up the age of sleeping through the night. That first uninterrupted 6-hour stretch of sleep came no earlier in those who took cereal early.2 People swear otherwise. I suspect the reason is that kids do fall asleep a bit more quickly, and some babies may even go a bit longer between feedings. There is no scientific evidence, though, to support the claim that cereal in the bottle will help an infant increase total sleep or decrease crying.3 Drawing on the wisdom of experience and the latest scientific knowledge, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against adding cereal to the bottle. It may be tempting after your 16th straight sleep-deprived night to cut a bigger hole in the feeding nipple to add rice cereal. But it won’t offer lasting help, and it may be giving your baby a lasting gift that both of you will regret. http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-sleep.html Will giving formula or solids at night help baby to sleep better? The idea that solids will help your baby sleep is an old wives' tale that has been disproven by medical studies. Feeding your baby solids or formula in an attempt to make baby sleep longer is not a good idea for several reasons: There's no evidence that it will help. Some babies will sleep worse, due to reactions to the formula or solids (tummy ache, etc. are not uncommon), particularly if baby is younger than around 6 months. Two studies have indicated that adding solids to the diet does not cause babies to sleep longer. These studies found no difference in the sleep patterns of babies who received solids before bedtime when compared to babies who were not given solids. Here are the two studies: Macknin ML, Medendorp SV, Maier MC. Infant sleep and bedtime cereal. Am J Dis Child. 1989 Sep;143(9):1066-8. Keane V, et al. Do solids help baby sleep through the night? Am J Dis Child 1988; 142: 404-05. Formula requires a baby's digestive system to work overtime as baby tries to digest something not specific to the human body. Formula is harder to digest than human milk; thus formula-fed babies tend to go longer between feedings. While this may seem like a benefit, it's probably not something we want for our babies' bodies unless there are no other alternatives. There are also risks to formula use (see What should I know about infant formula?). It certainly has a place in infant feeding but probably shouldn't be used whenever mom's milk - either directly from the source or expressed - is available. Early introduction of solids (before six months) carries its own set of risks. Recent research suggests that longer stretches of deep sleep are associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and babies who sleep longer/deeper may be more vulnerable to SIDS (see in particular the research of James McKenna, PhD). Some scientists are saying that it appears that long sleep stretches are not "natural" for human infants and that sleep interruptions in the early months may provide a protective factor against SIDS. More research is needed on this subject, but parents might want to think twice about significantly manipulating baby's natural sleep pattern in the early months. A little more about feeding baby cereal from a bottle... Doctors and other experts recommend that you never give baby cereal in a bottle unless recommended by baby's doctor for a specific medical condition. Here are some of their reasons: * It is a choking hazard. * The cereal takes away from the amount of milk in the bottle (adds carbohydrates and dilutes the nutrient density), and baby may not get adequate milk volume for proper growth and development. * Baby is being given a higher concentration of calories without being able to regulate her own intake. This can lead to weight problems in the future. If baby’s doctor suggests thickened feedings for reflux, consider asking about alternatives, as many doctors question this practice and it has the potential to cause more harm than good. http://web.archive.org/web/20030404085424/http://babyparenting.about.com/library/weekly/aa021399b.htmAdding cereal to a bottle of breast milk or formula has often been recommended to help a baby sleep better. But there's no evidence that babies will go to sleep faster or sleep better if they're given cereal — or even a full meal — just before going to bed. For one thing, babies are programmed to wake up fairly often during the night, not only to eat, but also to socialize and touch base with their parents. Moreover, your baby won't be able to sleep through the night (defined as a five-hour stretch) until his central nervous system has fully matured; it has almost nothing to do with whether he has a full tummy. Every baby is different — and some will be able to sleep through the night sooner than others. Keep in mind, too, that breast milk or formula provides everything your baby needs until he's 4 to 6 months old. Introducing cereal earlier than that puts him at a higher risk for allergies. The next time someone tells you to "just give the baby a little cereal to get him to sleep better," ask what she would recommend for an adult who can't sleep. Chances are, her advice would be to drink a glass of warm milk.
10. my son slept through the night at 3 months. he never had cereal in his bottle. he is still sleeping through the night at 10 months. your baby can choke on the cereal. he can aspirate it into his lungs. if given too much it could lead to obesity later. it could also be too harsh on his little tummy. why risk it? a doctor told me to give my son cereal in the bottle at 2 weeks for reflux. i switched his Dr! his new Dr. said Enfamil AR was a better treatment. cereal is a solid and you don't put your food in a bottle do you?
11. You're not suppose to use rice cereal in bottles at all. It's a choking hazard and it doesn't teach them how to eat properly. If you want him to sleep longer feed him cereal with a spoon and the give him a bottle afterwards. Granted, this may not work. Babies change their sleeping habits when they're ready.
12. Honestly, that is a very irresponsible thing to do. I know this is not the answer you wish to hear.. but please think about this. Your baby does not need to have cereal this young unless he has reflux, which in that case it helps. But other than that there is NO reason he should have cereal. You could hurt him. Seriously. If you want your baby to sleep longer.. well than thats just too darn bad.. you are going to have to wait a few months for that one. I'm sorry if I sound rude, i'm not intending too, but i am just sick and tired of irresponsible parents who "want their babies to sleep longer". You should never give a baby cereal in a bottle anywho. It is a choking hazard and is completely unessesary. Any baby who is old enough to eat cereal can be spoon fed cereal.
13. The size 2 should be fine that's what size i use. Don't listen to these people telling you not to feed your son rice cereal, it will be ok to. My son has had rice cereal in his bottle since he was born. The pediatrician is the one who told me to because he had acid reflux. It will not hurt your son to have it. You what you need to to help your son sleep and yes it does help. As long as the nipple isn't to big, your son will not choke. Unlike the person before me you are not being a irresponsible mom. Please don't take what these people are saying to heart. Sometimes a bottle just doesn't satisfy some babies.