Help with Feeding My 2 Month Year Old Rice Cereal!!

Hey rach,

How are you two? I hope all is well. I used the Doctor Brown "Y" nipple when I started feeding Talan rice cereal, which wasn't until he was six months! Her doctor prescribed feeding her the rice cereal? Let me know if that helps, hopefully it will! Hey, let me know if you ever want me to babysit. I would be more than happy to watch that precious lil girl any evening or weekend! My # is ###-###-#### just in case you don't already have it. Take care.

V.

Use AVENT FEEDER nipples. They are the fast flow and they have always worked for me and my sister who is a mother of 4. Never had a problem. They are SPECIFICALLY designed for thicker feeds.

try slow flow evenflo latex nipples. they have a bigger hole. I had the same problem and was adding rice cereal to bottles as well. these work without the choking!

I would personally not feed rice cereal to a 2 month old!! That is way too young. There are other ways of dealing with acid reflux and giving the infant rice cereal will probably do more harm than good. Smaller, more frequent feedings is one way of dealing with this. The baby gets just enough to satisfy her hunger and not too much that it comes back up. Keep the baby upright for as long as possible after a feeding, because laying down after one increases the risk of the food coming back up. Burp the baby a few times and then some more, to get most of the gas out after each feeding. The baby's system is way too sensitive at this tender age to be feeding cereal, so you might want to look at better alternatives. Wish you all the best R.. I've had to deal with this, so I have a clue.

I think your baby is way too young to be having cerceal and yes my daughter who is just 4 mths old right now had a severe case of acid reflux. She cried 24/7 for the first 3 mths. She had acid reflux, bad gas, thrush, ear infections and colic, within those months, anything that could make her cry 24.7 she had it so I do understand. I had to take a step back and evaluate what was in my daughter's best interest. Her not crying was definately what I wanted but was it best for her. I know she was in a lot of pain so it was a difficult situation. It took me a few weeks to even consider putting her on Zantac because of how young she was. I never ever considered cereal or formula for her. I looked at a lot of research out there and stricktly breastmilk is what is best for a young baby. The negatives associated with giving a young baby cereal to me werent worth the frustration of dealing with crying. My pediatrician even said that my daughter was the unhappiest baby she had ever seen. Not only was I dealing with her but I also had a 19mth old daughter at home who craved my attention, so it can be worse. When I was comforting the baby my older daughter would scream for attention. Keep in mind that it is only for a few months. A child under the age of 4 mths is too young for cereal. I would go online like I did and read about all of the research associated with acid reflux and giving a 2 mth old cereal. I never have just done anything someone else says to do even my pediatrician I always research the issue and facts especially for a baby. Pediatricians like anyone are human they do there best and stress there opinions but sometimes they are more concerned about the mother who is going out of her mind with a crying baby then with the baby and its needs. Research the topic. I wish you and your baby the best because I have been there and know how bad it can get. No body likes to see there baby in pain.

My oh my, I must agree with Meg on this one. Could you all please tell me what Dr(s) prescribed cereal, I would really like to make sure I never went to them. There are so many reasons not to give a baby that young cereal. One of the biggest is that there bodies cannot digest it. I'm really not sure of the reasoning of giving an infant with acid reflux problems something their stomachs can not digest. I'll stop before I rant, but please look into other options, and other Dr's.

My son is 5 months olds on nutramigen with rice cereal, I am not sure if you have a baby's r us near you but that have nipples ecspecially for that, hope this helps.
J.

Hi R.:
They sell feeder bottles. I am not sure exactly what they are called, but they are made to put baby food in. As the baby suckes, it pushes the food up. I tried these with my daughter and they work good, but I always just prefered her using a spoon, but she was much older than yours. I know they don't sell them everywhere, but I got mine from Baby depot (burlington coat factory). I think it came with 2 for about $6. That should do the trick, if it's made for baby food, it should work fine with cereal too.

they do make feeder bottles i think you can get them at walmart we had to do this for my nephew good luck he grew out of it

When my children were younger, I used to take a reular nipple use a fork or a knife and enlarge the hole a little bit more. It used to work.

Hi R.,

I'm E. and also a mother of a 2month old with reflux. We have found that the avent bottles with the 3 level nipples work as well as the dr. Brown's with the "Y" cut nipple. My two year old had the same problem when he was a baby. We tried nutramigen with our daughter but she won't drink it so she is back on soy formula. I have half a can of the nutramigen if you want it. Email me at ____@____.com and i can give you my phone number. I live in Mayport.

I am extremely surprised that the doctors prescribed cereal at such a young age. It could cause allergies and other problems later on in your child's life. Unfortunately, I have never given my son cereal through a bottle. I spoon feed him the "runny cereal". I am sure that probably wouldn't work in your case. Sorry I couldn't help.

I also was prescribed rice cereal in the bottle by 2 different pediatricians from 2 different practices. My son was 8 weeks when we started. I went through every bottle out there, and found Dr. Brown's Y-cut nipples to work best. That was for 1 teaspoon of rice to every ounce of formula. I found them at Toys R Us, but you can also order them online. You have to use them with the Dr. Brown's bottles, which are a bit more expensive, but worth it, in this case. The dr. also said that they would try the rice as a first step, and if it didn't work, we'd go to medication. We since have started Zantac, about 2 weeks into using the rice cereal. Now, he's 9 months, and we still feed rice in the bottle in addition to food, of course, and we have weaned the Zantac to once a day. My son was a different baby once he finally got treated. By the way, not to offend the previous poster, but don't worry about the rice in the bottle unless you have a history of food allergies in the family. Most of us were given rice cereal as early as 2 weeks old, and yes, they don't recommend it nowadays unless there is a problem with reflux or something like that. My doctor assures me that there is no problem with it, but that there are studies linking early food to allergies and later possible propensity to obesity. I like that he was honest with me. But he also said that with no family history of allergies, and by beginning healthy eating habits when the babies begin eating, there shouldn't be any problems. Good luck, and if it doesn't work for you, let the dr. know so they can keep on top of it!!

i know this could be very time consuming but have you tried giving it to her with a spoon

I know it is so hard! Avent and Dr. Brown both have nipples specifically for feeding with thicker liquids. Both of my boys were on rice cereal very early in their life. But it was a good first step to avoid having to introduce medications. Best of luck to you! Jen

I started giving my twins very small amounts of rice cereal at two months old. It helped to keep them full and sleep through the night and they are 2 now and it hasn't been a problem since. So if your doctor has okay'd the rice cereal then go ahead with it. We used vent air bottles from playtex like one of the other moms suggested. The nipple does have the cross cut so that helped and we never had a clog. Dr. Browns bottles are also good. They have a nipple that is specific for cereal feedings in bottles. They are a bit more in price than the playtex ones. But check with Babies R Us, they should be able to help you out.

Hi R. -
When I used to feed my son cereal bottles I took a #1 nipple and just slightly inserted the tip of a steak knife into the hole. All you want to do is make the hole a little bit bigger. Also, make sure your baby isn't tilted back to far when drinking the bottle. If you have a high chair with the seat that tilts back - try that it worked very well for my son.
Best of luck!!
N.

You can use "Parent's choice" bottles (found at wal-mart) and it does not clog up with the cereal. If you do a full 8 oz add only 6 spoonfuls of the cereal w/ no promblem. On a 4 oz bottle use only 3 to 4 spoonfuls. Hope this helps

Hi, I had the same "exact" problem with my son, after much investment in different bottles and nipples, I found Munchkin tri-flow bottles were absolutely the solution to my problem. Although I have only seen them at Winn Dixie of all places. They have 3 levels to chose from in 1 nipple they are AWESOME that way you can see which level is better without buying 8 diferent nipples. My son also had rice in his nutramigen and there is nothing wrong with giving your child rice in his/her milk we did (per the Dr.) about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon rice to each ounce. He eventually still needed Zantac but only after I about had a breakdown and I insisted on meds for him or I. Zantac was a miracle some Dr's are reluctant to prescribe if baby is gaining and thriving. Dr's dont always realize how things like this really affect your life. Its stressful I can totally relate. Honestly try the munchkin bottles, Dr Brown and Avent were useless and so were there cereal nipples,the flow was still to fast. Good Luck :) M.

My 6month old just started with the reflux thing. I have her on Axid and then the doctor also recommended to try putting rice in with a bottle. I am still breastfeeding so I have to pump (which I doing but whatever!) I only put rice in with the bottle at night and I use a stage 3 (AVENT) I made one hole slightly bigger by getting a fork and inserting it in one hole until it expanded. I find that I can not put too much rice in because it will clog. I do not do the recommended 1-2oz. of cereal for each oz. of milk (way too much I think) I only put in about 2-3oz of rice. I hope this helps you out. I know it drives me crazy too. I really think my daughter just needed more than breastmilk so I have really been trying to introduce more cereal and veggies on a spoon! She just needed more in her tummy. I also try to keep her still and relaxed after each feeding at least until she burps. I don't really pat her back as much anymore - I rub it and that seems to be the ticket!!!!! Good luck mommy R. - I am sure you are doing a wonderful Job. Just keep those burp clothes handy!!!!

Hello, I fed both my daughters cereal from their bottles. I just took some good scissors and cut the nipple hole a little bigger. I would make it up in a separate jug so i could make sure the cereal didn't clump, because then it clogs the nipple. i also added some fruit to it to give it a little flavor.

You can try Dr. Browns "y" nipple. The bottles are kind of expensive but I have heard that certain nipple might help. You can also buy stage 2 gerber jarred cereal instead of dry rice cereal to mix in it wont clog your regular bottle as easily but ask your doctor first.

Hi R.! Beech nut cereal doesn't clog like Gerber does in a bottle. Maybe you shoud try to spoon feed her (like it is soup). It will probably take longer, but it might work. Best of luck to you. I am curious to know how you knew that she had acid reflux. Did she spit up more?

Dr. Brown bottles are the best for this kind of problem. They do not allow the gas to build up and they help with the acid reflux. They make a special nipple for the cereal bottles that are criss crossed. My DD has even cut with scissors to make the criss cross in a nipple in emergency.

I used the Playtex Vent Air bottles, the regular ones, not the natural shape. The reg. bottles come with nipples that are cut more like X, rather than an actual hole, which in my opinion controls the flow better, since it only opens when the baby sucks on it. And I used the stage 2 when I started adding cereal, but perhaps since your baby is so young, you might want to stick with stage one and see how that works for her. And to prevent clogging the nipple when mixing it all up, I just swirled it all around until the spoonfuls of cereal sunk under the water/formula and then I shook it normally.

Hey sweets. Take your fingers squeeze the nipple real tight, in your other hand have a knife and cut a small cross into the top of the nipple. Not to far in.... then when you are done try it and see if it works if not you can always go back and make it bigger, but remember you can not go back and make it smaller so start with small slits. :)

They have a specially designed bottle that is used for feeding. I seen them at WALMART and they were about $5-6 each but if it works you should only need 2. Also try spoon feeding her the cereal. I spoon feed my babies cereal at 6 weeks. It's worth a try.

well this is something I know about very well my now 20 month old had horrible acid reflux and was put on rice cereal at like 3 weeks old, and had her formula changed like 5 times..
does your doctor have your daughter on any medication like tagamet or something similar?? well anyway what i used for the nipple problem is Playtex ventaire (bottles) they are a little expensive but they work.. they have a x shaped hole and not just a little pinhole it will also help with gas and
I'm sure that upsets your daughters reflux.. get the ones for older babies though..If you find the cereal is still getting clogged in the nipple 1. you might not be shaking it enough or 2. you might be using too much cereal...
also if your baby has a problem sleeping and tends to scream all the time I recommend letting her sleep in her car seat in a sitting up position(strapped in of course).. I used to have to rock my daughter to sleep in the car seat (sometimes it would take hours) and then place the car seat in the crib..
also try for a little bit of relief for her, if she is not on any medication anti gas drops (mylicon) or equivalent.. they seem to work for a little while.. I hope this helped you a little because I know exactly what you are going through and if you need any more advise please e-mail me and ask.. Also If you need a break and live in citrus county let me know. Trust me I can handle it..lol

R., My son had reflux and we had to add tons of rice to his formula, we used ventair stage 2 nipples they are criss-cross cut and never cloged for us.
And please don't let the others out there talking about how you shouldn't be feeding you daughter cereal, I can promise that none of them had an infant with severe acid relux!
My son is now 15 months old and at one point was on 3 different reflux meds. He did not gain wieght unless his formula had the rice, he still breast feed at night and in the morning so he could get the benefits from that, but we had to use formula as well b/c even pumping and adding the rice wasnt working, he needed all the calories he could get and now at 15 months old he still only weighs 20lbs...he no longer spits up but still suffers slightly from reflux.
We saw a GI dr, Dr Arasu, and I would recommend him to anyone he was great, and has LOADS of offices. If you arent already seeing a GI dr I would recommend starting as soon as possible, talk to your pedi about it.
What ratio is your daughter on? My son took 4 oz of water, 3 scoops of formula and 1 1/2-2 tbs of cereal for every ounce....it was like mush and playtex worked great and we used gerber cereal most of the time, the only kind I don't recommend is the walmart brand it turned too thick.
Good Luck, you can message me if you have any questions!
S.

I was fortunate to not have had this problem with my boys but you might try using large syringes (let her suck the fluid out of it) and large "eye" droppers (they sell them for administering medicines). In a few months you should be able to switch her to the spoon with less mess. Good Luck.

did you try playtex vent aire stage 1 or 2 will work My daughter went through the same thing at 3 months I just started feeding her with a spoon. Good luck