Help--Rice cereal in bottle

I am so frustrated with this! My DD was spitting up so frequently and in high volume that we started her on rice cereal in her bottle this weekend. We can't get the stuff to come out of the nipple, and when we make the hole bigger with a toothpick it comes out too fast. We use Dr. Brown's bottles and have tried the #1, 2 & 3 nipples all with the same problem. We thought we could work with the #2's and just stop her every 1/2 oz. so she doesn't get too much too fast, but she gets really frustrated with that and wails. We have not tried Enfamil AR yet, but would be willing to if others haven't had the same flow problem with it.
I will take any suggestions, I am at the end of my rope with this.

 

Our girls spit up unbelievably bad and just stopped doing so within the past month. We always just used the cheap bottles when we fed them cereal...and poked the nipple bigger and that worked great for us, however, we didn't start cereal until 4 months, and btw, for us, it didn't help with the spitting up. We tried reglan and zantac (ignore any mispelled words) and that didn't help...it wasn't an allergy b/c they spit up breastmilk as much as formula...I was very allergic to milk and formula when I was little, so I think that was there problem. The pedi told us that since it wasn't effecting their weight gain that it was a laundry problem and not a health problem. I guess I am focusing more on the spitting up than the cereal in bottle question. If it won't come out of the bottle and poking the hole isn't working, then maybe try not using as much cereal and making it a little thinner. I have no doubts that you will get a better suggestion or advice from someone else...in all attempts to help, I don't think I was successful, but good luck

 

We use Evenflo cheap bottles ($2.50 for 3) and size 2 nipples from Gerber and they worked well for us. I would put approx 2 TBS of cereal for 6 oz. of water. Maybe try using a sewing needle to widen the hole--they are not as thick as toothpicks. Just be sure to boil it first so it is sterile.

Both of mine have reflux and we had them on Enfamil AR. It didn't work for us--the spit up was just thicker. We now have them on Soy formula and prevacid--seems to be helping some.

Good Luck!

 

Hi Cindy,

Dr Brown's makes a Y nipple that is specifically designed for cereal/milk -- I don't know if you tried that one.

Teri

 

I didn't start feeding cereal until they were 3.5 months old and I use the cheap gerber bottles and took sharp scissors and made a small X cut in the nipple to help with flow (latex nipple). I usually put about 1 Tbsp of oatmeal cereal to 5 oz of formula (Neosure) and have had no problems. It seems to have helped Douglas with his frequent spit-ups and actually stopping the Reglan (since I saw no improvement with spit-up) he's been happier, less irritable and figgity. HTH

 

We use Dr. Brown's bottles with the y cut nipple which we found easily at babie's r us. My daughter was only 5 days old and weighed only 4 pounds 6 ounces when we started witht he cereal because of reflux and she is doing so well. she is now 6 weeks old 6 pounds 2 ounces. we only put one teaspoonof rice cereal per 2 ounces of formula. she was on soy formula and now is on good start and doing fine. she must like it better because she guzzles it down much better than the soy. i keep reading about how much more cereal people are using but maybe that is because the babies are older than mine. Good luck Steph

 

I used a knife and cut an X in the top of my nipples as I couldn't find any that worked.

 

We have the Y nipples for Dr Browns bottles. Got them at Walmart or Target.

 

We use the Avent bottles with the Variable nipple. We also use the Gerber rice cereal.

 

Dr Brown's and Y cuts for us as well. Use rice/oatmeal cereal in every bottle and it helped tremendously! Good luck!

 

There is this stuff called thick it that they use for older people with digestive problems. I babysat for a boy with such severe reflux that he had to go for these throat u/s things once a month 2 hours away, and instead of cereal, they used that stuff. I never had a problem with clogging using it for him. It is a lot finer consistancy than cereal, but it works the same.

 

Ditto Y Cut Nipples for Dr Browns bottles or Variable Nipple for Avent. We've put rice in their bottles since around 6wks for reflux too and started with Dr Browns bottles with Y nipples but the nipples would wear out quickly and get bigger holes. Switched to Avent and Variable Nipples- we rarely have to replace the nipples.

Good Luck

 

I have been also using the rice and putting it in our podee bottles but not using the tubing just using it as a regualr bottle and it works great! Hope that helps

 

Thanks ladies! We are working on the hole issue, and luckily very little spit up has occured!

 

Does the cereal make them sleep longer?????

 

One of my boys gets cereal in his bottle due to reflux. He gets 1.5 tsp per oz of formula, and then the reglan. I use our ventair bottles with the tage 2 nipple and it works just fine. the doc told me 1-3 tsp per oz and just opver 1 tsp is enough to make a difference for him. we are going to up it tomorrow, but ill just make it solid with a spoon instead of more in his bottle and see how that works...mind you he is 4 mos old... Good luck!

 

Susie--I haven't noticed that the cereal makes them sleep longer, but it sure would be nice!

 

When I put cereal in bottles I used a needle to expand the hole. I heated it in a flame to sterilize the needle and it helps it to go through the nipple without ripping.

Good Luck getting the spitting up under control.

 

We used a large safety pin to poke holes in the level 2 Dr. Brown's nipples. We ripped it just enough to get more flow. I found that the Y cut nipples was too fast. It was giving their brains enough time to tell their tummies that they were full. They'd finish their bottles in about 5 minutes and scream their heads off because they thought they were still hungry. Switched to level 2 (with small rip) and it now takes about 20 minutes and there's a lot less screaming at the end!

Hope that helps! The flow is really more about what flow your babies can handle. You could possibly try the level 3 nipple if the level 2 is too small but the Y cut is too fast. We didn't think of that until after we had already expanded our level 2s! Duh!

Shannon