I want to start giving my 4 1/2 month old cereal at night?

Question

I would like to start mixing a little rice cereal in her nightly bottle. She doesn't seem satisfied with just formula.

My only question is...what nipples do I use? I use Avent bottles with medium flow nipples (3+ month). I bought some fast flow nipple (6+ mo), but will the cereal go through the holes? Or so I need to make bigger holes...and in what nipples should I do that? Also, how do you keep them separate from the other nipples?

Answer 1

hi there,

my baby brother is 4 months old now and we have been feeding him solids since he was 3 months old and he loves it...its good for them and wont do any harm and it makes them sleep so much better!

He is pritty much fully off brest feeding now and having solids for breakfast lunch and dinner and just some milk after each meal :) he cant get enuf of it.

Answer 2

Any doctor will tell you not to use nipples at all for cereal. The reason is this confuses the baby when you want to start feeding foods from a spoon. They will taste the same thing from a spoon later on and want it in a bottle cause that is what you started it with. But try it on him in the mornings first cause if he has a reaction to it then you can see it, if you give it at night and you are sleeping he can react and it might be too late. But I recommend using a spoon, just make it watery like their formula and it will be fine. That is what I did with my daughter and she has been on solids since 5 months.  She is now 8 months and eats perfectly with a spoon.  

Answer 3

I always used a #2 and make it bigger as I had to because if it comes out to fast, could upset her stomach, so buy the smaller ones and make the holes bigger yourself.  I gave mine cereal early because he wasn't getting enough from the formula and I have a healthy manipulating, intelligent spoiled rotten 5 year old.  3 months from now she will be on jar'ed baby food, if you feel the need to give it to her, then use your instincts.  Get a container with a lid and keep cereal nipples in that I had 2 bottles just for cereal just put the bottle back together after its washed. That will keep them separate too.

Thumb me down if you want, doesn't change anything.

Answer 4

Uh?

You do not need nipples for eating cereal. Use a small bowl and baby spoon. Personally I think she is far too young.

Just give her more milk. Cereal won't do anything.

Answer 5

I wouldn't give cereal in a bottle.  Stick with just formula, try feeding cereal by spoon, mixed very runny.  That should satisfy her!  And I disagree with the above statement...it will help her sleep more soundly.

But as with everything...talk to your doctor first!

Answer 6

O my gravy people give the girl a break!!  Honestly honey, both of my kids were on rice cereal by 3 months.  I put just a little in their bottle and poked a small hole in the nipple to make the hole bigger.   The pediatrician will tell you no, but out of all the children in this family it has never hurt any of them. Acutally, my oldest was 3 months old when he had his first table food (Thanksgiving) and he slept all night.  

Answer 7

You should only do that if your doctor tells you.

Giving babies cereal before bed will NOT help them sleep longer.

Answer 8

i had the same problem. all my son wanted to do all day long was eat! but you shouldnt put it in her bottle. just intoduce it to her normally with a spoon and all but for the first few times make it pretty runny so she can get use to it. then start thickening it up as you go. it worked great for my boy. and fills them up longer which can save money on formula!! thats always a plus!

Answer 9

why would you want to do this?  the only reason they "sleep longer" or "arent hungry as fast" is because their little bellies arent matured enough to digest this stuff.  technically their bodies are being deprived of milk or formula or whatever because they dont want to eat, but need the nutrition from the milk.  this isnt a good idea at all.  she is much too young.  even doctors, and even wic people will say this is a bad idea.

Answer 10

She really is old enough to eat with a spoon its messy at first but that is really how cereal should be feed unless your doctor says differently.

Answer 11

I started my daughter on cereal at about 4.5 months.  I used a spoon, though, not a bottle. I stated by making it runny and gradually thickened it. I started with twice as much water as cereal, now it's about 1/2 and 1/2. She now eats cereal in the morning and a veggie at night before bed. She's 5.5 months old.

Babies can choke on cereal from a bottle.  Also, the whole point of cereal is to get them used to eating foods. For the first year, solid foods are more an experiment than nutrition.  

Answer 12

Fast flow will work just fine.  Make sure your pediatrician is okay with you adding cereal to the bottles...  

Answer 13

My son's doctor put him on rice cereal at 3 weeks old because he was having a hard time keeping his formula down. She had me put it in his bottle, so to put cereal in a bottle is no big deal, mix it with his formula and buy the stage 3 nipples, which have bigger holes.  At 4 1/2 months she might even be able to eat off a spoon. I was feeding both my kids cereal at that age.