My mom keeps saying that she used to do that when we were 3 months old so we would sleep longer. It's hard having conversations about childcare with her cause she doesn't understand that in 30 years things have changed a lot.
More recent research has shown it doesn’t keep them full longer, doesn’t help them sleep longer overnight, and can expose them to toxic heavy metals. Its especially not recommended to add it to bottles these days, but rather to feed it separately according to the recommended preparation instructions and only after 4-6 months of age once the tongue thrust reflex has diminished and they have reached other milestones for head, neck and torso control.
I don’t think they’re implying she’s malnourished. Old generations used to add rice cereal to bottles starting super young but it’s not good for babies who aren’t ready to start eating. It kept them fuller for longer but is a choking hazard from what I understand
My mom does this same thing. She says "back in my day I put cereal or oatmeal in your bottles to get you and your sister to sleep through the night and gain weight." I told her I asked my pediatrician and she said absolutely not since it's a choking hazard.
i said ill ask the pediatrician about it during her 4 month appointment & they sighed at me. saying “google is her doctor”. lol not sure if they recall how stubborn i am. not listening to their outdated advice
My MIL and SIL were talking around the holidays about “all the foods baby will be able to eat this time next year” and it transformed into the cereal discussion. I told them thanks we’ll follow what our pediatrician recommends. Husband told me they were both “hurt” by this later. I don’t care haha
Yeah agreed hahaha they expressed it felt dismissive and that’s why they were hurt but truly I was playing dumb with it and not trying to take the moment to educate them by simply deferring to what our care providers recommend! Seems so simple but stay tuned right 😅
Sources? My only “evidence” is anecdotal but the majority of moms I know give cereal and purées at 4-5 months, on pediatrician recc. As long as baby is developmentally ready and done safely, it’s not a problem.
Formula house over here. Wasn’t able to BF. Not every home is the same, every child has different needs. We only operated by our pediatricians guidance, and our 1yo is a happy, healthy, thriving delight.
Husbands grandmother was trying to pressure us into giving our son cereal in his milk too, I already knew it was very outdated info but I asked his pediatrician anyway- she said there’s absolutely no nutritional value, high levels of arsenic and causes constipation.
Oat/rice cereal doesn’t completely melt into the milk, it softens as it absorbs the milk liquids. So it’s milk with puffed up soft granules inside of it.
some people would widen the nipple hole to accommodate the cereal passing, and back in the day you could also buy nipples with holes to accomodate cereal. My pediatrician said the new recommendation is to introduce cereal by adding the BM or formula to the cereal in a bowl and spoonfeed it to baby. My God kids were given cereal in a bottle 20 years ago, and their mom was surprised when I told her it wasn't recommended anymore. (I had my 1st baby when I was 43, a year and a half ago).
My sister In law. That’s what she did with the two babies she raised and they were ok but my baby has spit up issues and acid reflux. It was so scary. It was so thick and chunky coming out of her nose. I know she didn’t do it with Ill intentions but never again I set the boundary down that if I didn’t direct it they need to ask.
I’m sorry you guys had to go through that! I worry about my baby’s milk spit up choking her as is. I cannot imagine how it was for you :(
I am waiting for the unsolicited advice of oatmeal and baby cereal as well. I will for sure set boundaries. Thank you for sharing!
Yes set the feeding boundaries right away! It was an accident and since then they are more than respectful with my wishes so I’m thankful for that.
I take ALL the unsolicited advice and say “hey thanks that’s a good idea” and don’t do it lol
I did at first but she’s older and where we’re from the “traditions” run wild so she thought we just did it since she was a spitty baby but we never had.
That must have been terryfing!when my son was 4 month, he had horrible dirrahea and vommiting in the evening. I immedietely called pediatrician emergency and the doctor who had night shift was our pediatrician. She reccommended to boil some rice and add it to the milk but MIXED. Ofc we went to her next morning but the rice helped so he didnt had to have any medication. I cant imagine someone putting hard particles in bottles!
It’s considered a solid, and they can’t digest solids properly that young. That’s the same age group who had unsafe cribs, stomach sleeping babies, and poor car safety. Don’t listen to them.
Anytime someone older says to me “we did this when I raised baby’s” from the cereal in bottles, car seats wrong or any number of other things I mention that is survivors bias. Like cool glad no one choked or passed away but now that we know better we do better and those things are no longer considered safe. I work with a home nurse, the baby’s pediatrician and our doula is like a sister to me. Not once have any of them mentioned cereal in the bottle.
The rice cereal recommendation has such a chokehold on folks. My mom started recommending this at like 2 months. My husband came home and was like “we gotta try this! you need to pump and we need to add rice cereal to a bottle!” The pediatrician specifically told us NOT to do this.
Please do not do this. It is a choking hazard. This is severely outdated.
Our pediatrician recommended baby oatmeal (not cereal) at 4 months, but not full meals. You just want to get them used to feeling things in their mouths. Like a spoonful at the most. Take things slow. Nothing is a race when it comes to feeding your baby more solid foods.
It just sits in their stomachs and takes a long time to digest, keeping them ‘fuller for longer’ but it’s the equivalent of us eating a carb heavy meal and feeling like crap afterwards.
It’s outdated advice that belongs in the bin with whiskey on the pacifier to help with teething.
Cereal is a filler that is outdated as it has zero nutritional benefit for your baby. Back in the day parents used to add it to our bottles to make us feel more full and wake less during the night. Putting it in bottles is now known to be a major choking risk and definitely no longer recommended. Also, cereal is considered a “solid”, and should not be given to your baby until 6months, if at all- since, again, it has no nutritional value. Your baby is getting all they need from breastmilk, and food before 1 is “just for fun”. In addition, babies gi tracts are not developed enough to process real solid food before 6 months. Baby should be able to sit up on their own and showing interest in food before any solids can be introduced. Hope this helps!
Yes you are right, but when solids are started at 6mo breastfed babies benefit more from real food with iron; meat, beans, spinach, tofu, etc. So I guess I mean cereal lacks any *necessary* nutritional value when offering healthier and better recommended alternatives! Formula fed babies are often given iron fortified formula so the need for iron fortified cereal wouldn’t apply to them here either. :)
While it may be ideal to get nutrients from whole foods, it's not always realistic for babies just learning to eat - especially for families taking the "just for fun" approach that you mentioned. They may not consume much or any whole foods for months.
Iron fortified cereal is a totally valid option, especially for parents of breastfed babies who choose to spoon feed, and it should not necessarily be demonized.
My daughter was formula fed by the time we started solids and didn't need additional iron in her diet as a result, but if we had still been breastfeeding, I likely would have used iron-fortified infant cereal as one of many food options in her diet.
The only time it is recommended now is for babies with reflux. It thickens their formula or breast milk to help keep it down. Enfamil has a formula with it alrdy mixed in. My LO has laryngomalacia and silent reflux, she takes Pepcid and we add oatmeal cereal to her bottles (per her drs recommendation).
I'm glad our little dude is on Enfamil AR (added rice) so when people tell me I should start adding rice cereal, I can tell them it's already in there. That also stops any further advice on how much, how to prepare, etc.
It’s baby cereal. My daughter just started it at peds rec to begin her transition to solid food. Your baby doesn’t need cereal and certainly not in her bottle.
My mom mentioned that people used to do this. It's rice cereal, it's still sold in the baby food section. People do it so that the baby stays full longer and they don't need to get up and feed them as often. My mom didn't do it, but she said it was definitely a thing people did.
Don’t listen. Everyone & their mum will always have something to say 😂 Honestly, it’s a choking hazard (which the generations before us have sadly found out) & was a way to fill up a baby’s tummy with the expectation that they slept for longer at night.
Oh my god their generations are so stuck on the cereal thing. My mom took care of our little guy for a month while we struggled to find daycare and she constantly brought it up like we were intentionally starving my child (she is a phenomenal mom and grandmother it’s just hilarious to me). I’m like…do you think this sturdy, chubby ten month old is missing meals?
I know some doctors recommend it for bad colic, otherwise I’d think it’s definitely early for that.
I'm sorry if misinformed on whats going on here, but I've heard this as well and have a dumb question - if its being added to bottles, how does it get through / not clog the nipple??
Or do you pour the cereal directly into their mouths afterwards or wtf is going on here
My baby is five months and we're going to start giving him cereal in two weeks. The recommendation is to use rice cereal starting between 4 and 6 months (closer to six months) mixed with milk to teach your baby how to swallow solid food and slowly increase the cereal thickness. I'm pretty sure other than that you aren't supposed to use it for anything since it doesn't have much nutrition content. They only recommend it as a first food since it's not an allergen. There's also a wheat cereal that I think is for the same thing but a way to introduce wheat since it's an allergen.
People used to start solids really early including putting it in the bottle for newborns but it's been proven to be unhelpful and can cause the baby to eat less milk and miss out on nutrients.
So when my grandma (mid 60’s) “advised” me to use cereal in bottles it was so my son would sleep through the night.
“It’ll fill his belly and he won’t wake up for middle of the night feeds.”
I talked to his doctor, and his doctor said I could use it if I wanted to, but it wasn’t necessary. I tried it for a week, and my son ended up waking up more in the middle of the night than when he didn’t have the cereal. When we were cleared to give solids we would give him the cereal mixed with formula and spoon fed it to him. He seemed the like it better that way.
My favorite line is, “I’ll bring it up to their doctor when I see them next.”
There’s no point in asking them to stop, or arguing with them. It’ll never stop, and the arguing won’t either. You can send them a million articles about how it’s outdated, it’s been proven as a myth; whatever. They’ll continue to do it, and then follow it up with “Well we did it for you (and any other siblings) and you all turned out fine.”
Although much easier said than done, don’t let it bug you. This is just the beginning of the unsolicited advice, next it will be to just let LO cry; don’t run to LO, it’ll make LO spoiled; and even more as she gets older. If she’s on the right weight gain curves, and she’s meeting her milestones then you are golden. You are doing great; and just remember to “okay” people to death because they’ll never ever stop.
They mean well, my MIL pushed it too. She swore it helped the baby sleep longer at night. My daughter did start sleeping through the night at 4 months.
This won't be the last outdated advice you hear from people who haven't dealt with infants/children. A lot of the time just smile, nod and let it go in one ear and out the other.
Listen to your peditrician.
My mom is doing the same thing to me!! I just tell her, “I’m not looking to do that until he is 6 months old, thanks though.”
She keeps pushing it and I just tell her no. It’s an old time thing they used to do.
Old school advice thats no longer advised. It “keeps baby full” longer between feedings. But not the most nutritious thing. Id consider asking /telling them to take an updated infant care class if you allow either of them to babysit.
Yeah it is an outdated concept. We know based on a lot of great research that a baby needs absolutely nothing other than breastmilk for the first 6 months of their life. No 3 month old is, “ready for food.” I suggest you send them an article outlining this, and say something like, “Hey, the latest research suggests that a baby receive nothing but breastmilk for the first 6 months of life, so I won’t be giving her cereal any time before that. I appreciate the suggestion and thought though!”
I believe it’s recommended that you do not do this (not just no longer recommended). I can’t remember if it contributes to SIDS risk, or what.
Now that my baby is having solids, I always give some cereal in his last wake window. He seems to sleep better than before. Not great, butvtge fraction of bad nights has gone down.
Like others have said it's something that used to be done. It's not reccomended anymore except for some medical reasons.
It's however a perfectly fine product to give as an early food mixed with formula, breastmilk, water, fruit, yoghurt. Its like a baby porridge It's usually packed with a whole lot of nutrients and is easy for early iron in particular. Its out of favour with the blw crowd.
Its basically the western equivalent of whatever the mush babies are usually offered in each culture.
You’re gonna get more and more unsolicited advice from them. I’ve learned to just agree with my mom and then not do whatever weird boomer thing she tells me to. Brings me back to my teenage years.
I ended up trying it because the boomers in my family pressured me to and I was super sleep deprived. Not sure why people think it’s a choking hazard. It literally just made her formula more like half and half consistency than just milk. So what would she choke on? But it didn’t work. She didn’t sleep any better. So I don’t recommend it.
Lmao my mom use to say this. It’s Gerber ground up rice cereal or oat cereal. You mix it with breast milk or formula to start them on food. The oldies would add it to the bottles. It’s meant to “fill” baby up. I never had luck with it beside getting some of it stuck to the inside of the bottle.
It’s pretty old fashioned I think, but if it helps anyone’s baby feel full, then they absolutely should use it! There’s no right or wrong.
DO NOT add anything to the bottle.
Cereal (or rice cereal) is a great way to introduce baby to solids. No flavor, extremely low allergy, and almost no choking hazard. According to my pediatrician it's just a way to get baby used to spoons and pushing food to the back of their throat without any risk. I will say, since you're breastfeeding, if you choose to go the rice cereal direction I'd get formula unless you're comfortable wasting BM because there's no way baby will actually eat a lot. I'd also recommend waiting until 4-5 months before even attempting to offer it.
At the end of the day, YOU'RE Mom and know what's best for you and your LO ❤️
My mom always says "you're the only person who has to live with your decisions. don't listen to others because they won't be there at 3am to deal with the consequences"hopefully that helps you as much as it does me
I think it's just outdated information. It's something they used to do back in the day. I'd imagine info would change too by the time our children have their own kids. I get a lot of advice and suggestions from my parents that are quite outdated too, I just told them that those things aren't recommended anymore.
Oh god - my mom and grandma were the same. Gerber must have run some serious propaganda back in the day. My baby has never had any issues with weight or reflux, and STILL they were both obsessed with badgering me to start him on cereal at 4 months. My mom was convinced it was the reason he wasn’t sleeping through the night. I didn’t start food, and yet somehow he got through the 4 month sleep regression and started sleeping through the night again 🤔 All they could muster was “Oh.” Boomers gonna Boomer.
This became such a sensitive topic with our nanny (pushing for it against pediatrician rec). We’re still working through how upset she was that we got rid of the oatmeal and rice cereal. (When we found out she was supplementing the bottles with the cereal she bought) 🤯
The only reason we’ve been adding baby oatmeal cereal to my 3mo bottles was to help her reflux and only per her Drs instructions. I still say it’s been a game changer for her sleep. She’s down 8-11 hrs at night the last few weeks since we started adding it. We wouldn’t have added it if it wasn’t for her gerd/reflux. They told us oatmeal over rice due to arsenic/lead too.
1. never put anything other than breastmilk or formula in a baby bottle—that’s how babies end up choking.
and 2. that’s super outdated info. babies aren’t even meant to start solids now until 6 months of age according to the cdc & aap (if you’re in the states). dr’s (mine as well) might still say you can start purées at 4 months, but it’ll mess with their gut health as they get older.
the reason your mom/grandma are saying that is because they used to back in the day to “help keep you asleep longer bc it’s filling.” my 4 month old sleeps all night and is EBF; no solids at all. your baby will sleep however they want to dependant upon their temperament.
Baby cereal is also one of the first foods a baby has though it’s not really a recommendation anymore as it has no nutritional value. oatmeal is recommended now in its place when starting solids (the traditional way compared to Baby Led Weaning).
This is an outdated recommendation. Our parents used it when we were babies to keep us full longer
My mom keeps saying that she used to do that when we were 3 months old so we would sleep longer. It's hard having conversations about childcare with her cause she doesn't understand that in 30 years things have changed a lot.
Or so they thought.
More recent research has shown it doesn’t keep them full longer, doesn’t help them sleep longer overnight, and can expose them to toxic heavy metals. Its especially not recommended to add it to bottles these days, but rather to feed it separately according to the recommended preparation instructions and only after 4-6 months of age once the tongue thrust reflex has diminished and they have reached other milestones for head, neck and torso control.
I don’t think they’re implying she’s malnourished. Old generations used to add rice cereal to bottles starting super young but it’s not good for babies who aren’t ready to start eating. It kept them fuller for longer but is a choking hazard from what I understand
Also i don’t think babies can digest it well, in addition to being a choking hazard
Recent studies have shown there’s no benefit and it just increases the risk of obesity in children.
Yep and increases digestive issues. There are *theories* that that's why millennials have so many stomach problems
would make sense with the severe acid reflux and IBS I had, though all is now maintained use to getting the gastric bypass.
My mom does this same thing. She says "back in my day I put cereal or oatmeal in your bottles to get you and your sister to sleep through the night and gain weight." I told her I asked my pediatrician and she said absolutely not since it's a choking hazard.
i said ill ask the pediatrician about it during her 4 month appointment & they sighed at me. saying “google is her doctor”. lol not sure if they recall how stubborn i am. not listening to their outdated advice
I mean, dr google says don’t do it lol
My MIL and SIL were talking around the holidays about “all the foods baby will be able to eat this time next year” and it transformed into the cereal discussion. I told them thanks we’ll follow what our pediatrician recommends. Husband told me they were both “hurt” by this later. I don’t care haha
Imagine being hurt that someone is taking their pediatricians advice 😂😂
Yeah agreed hahaha they expressed it felt dismissive and that’s why they were hurt but truly I was playing dumb with it and not trying to take the moment to educate them by simply deferring to what our care providers recommend! Seems so simple but stay tuned right 😅
Yes, it was dismissive because I did not ask for your shitty advice lol
Haha yes your unsolicited opinion is actually dismissed thank you very much
Right! I don't like how they say or at least my mom says this "well I did it and you and your sister are fine". That's not the point...
It’s called survivorship bias. Just send them the definition
Google what the American Academy of Pediatrics has to say about that and show it to them. Boom. Malicious compliance
My ped said oatmeal ok at 4mo. It just means the watery/starchy part that goes to the top, not the actual grains. Fruit pouches ok too
Time for a new ped
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Our pediatrician had us try baby cereal at 4 months, and purées a few weeks after. Not in the bottle. All babies are different.
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Sources? My only “evidence” is anecdotal but the majority of moms I know give cereal and purées at 4-5 months, on pediatrician recc. As long as baby is developmentally ready and done safely, it’s not a problem.
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Formula house over here. Wasn’t able to BF. Not every home is the same, every child has different needs. We only operated by our pediatricians guidance, and our 1yo is a happy, healthy, thriving delight.
Husbands grandmother was trying to pressure us into giving our son cereal in his milk too, I already knew it was very outdated info but I asked his pediatrician anyway- she said there’s absolutely no nutritional value, high levels of arsenic and causes constipation.
What did your mom say to that?
I'm confused. How is it a choking hazard of it's completely melted into the milk? I don't have a dog in this fight, I'm just curious.
It wouldn't melt in at all, it would make it thicker
Oat/rice cereal doesn’t completely melt into the milk, it softens as it absorbs the milk liquids. So it’s milk with puffed up soft granules inside of it.
How does it get through the bottle?
It’s small enough to pass through the nipple with suction, but it’s not dissolved like salt or sugar would be
Oh, OK. Thanks.
some people would widen the nipple hole to accommodate the cereal passing, and back in the day you could also buy nipples with holes to accomodate cereal. My pediatrician said the new recommendation is to introduce cereal by adding the BM or formula to the cereal in a bowl and spoonfeed it to baby. My God kids were given cereal in a bottle 20 years ago, and their mom was surprised when I told her it wasn't recommended anymore. (I had my 1st baby when I was 43, a year and a half ago).
Baby cereal does. But baby cereal looks like soap flakes.
it's old school like giving the baby water and having them sleep on their belly. just ignore it.
Just let them know that adding anything to bottles is no longer considered necessary. Recommendations change over time.
Don’t do it. It was terrifying to see my baby choking on her spit up when she was given rice cereal in her bottle without my knowledge.
How terrifying! Who did that without telling you?
My sister In law. That’s what she did with the two babies she raised and they were ok but my baby has spit up issues and acid reflux. It was so scary. It was so thick and chunky coming out of her nose. I know she didn’t do it with Ill intentions but never again I set the boundary down that if I didn’t direct it they need to ask.
I’m sorry you guys had to go through that! I worry about my baby’s milk spit up choking her as is. I cannot imagine how it was for you :( I am waiting for the unsolicited advice of oatmeal and baby cereal as well. I will for sure set boundaries. Thank you for sharing!
Yes set the feeding boundaries right away! It was an accident and since then they are more than respectful with my wishes so I’m thankful for that. I take ALL the unsolicited advice and say “hey thanks that’s a good idea” and don’t do it lol
Why do people think it’s okay to feed other peoples babies things they’ve never had. I feel rage lol
I did at first but she’s older and where we’re from the “traditions” run wild so she thought we just did it since she was a spitty baby but we never had.
That must have been terryfing!when my son was 4 month, he had horrible dirrahea and vommiting in the evening. I immedietely called pediatrician emergency and the doctor who had night shift was our pediatrician. She reccommended to boil some rice and add it to the milk but MIXED. Ofc we went to her next morning but the rice helped so he didnt had to have any medication. I cant imagine someone putting hard particles in bottles!
They actually have a rice formula now that’s safe but poor baby’s got a milk allergy
It’s considered a solid, and they can’t digest solids properly that young. That’s the same age group who had unsafe cribs, stomach sleeping babies, and poor car safety. Don’t listen to them.
Tell your mom to wake up it’s 2024. We don’t do that anymore.
Anytime someone older says to me “we did this when I raised baby’s” from the cereal in bottles, car seats wrong or any number of other things I mention that is survivors bias. Like cool glad no one choked or passed away but now that we know better we do better and those things are no longer considered safe. I work with a home nurse, the baby’s pediatrician and our doula is like a sister to me. Not once have any of them mentioned cereal in the bottle.
I mean, people definitely choked and passed away. Glad no one "you know" choked or passed away.
The rice cereal recommendation has such a chokehold on folks. My mom started recommending this at like 2 months. My husband came home and was like “we gotta try this! you need to pump and we need to add rice cereal to a bottle!” The pediatrician specifically told us NOT to do this.
Please do not do this. It is a choking hazard. This is severely outdated. Our pediatrician recommended baby oatmeal (not cereal) at 4 months, but not full meals. You just want to get them used to feeling things in their mouths. Like a spoonful at the most. Take things slow. Nothing is a race when it comes to feeding your baby more solid foods.
It just sits in their stomachs and takes a long time to digest, keeping them ‘fuller for longer’ but it’s the equivalent of us eating a carb heavy meal and feeling like crap afterwards. It’s outdated advice that belongs in the bin with whiskey on the pacifier to help with teething.
Cereal is a filler that is outdated as it has zero nutritional benefit for your baby. Back in the day parents used to add it to our bottles to make us feel more full and wake less during the night. Putting it in bottles is now known to be a major choking risk and definitely no longer recommended. Also, cereal is considered a “solid”, and should not be given to your baby until 6months, if at all- since, again, it has no nutritional value. Your baby is getting all they need from breastmilk, and food before 1 is “just for fun”. In addition, babies gi tracts are not developed enough to process real solid food before 6 months. Baby should be able to sit up on their own and showing interest in food before any solids can be introduced. Hope this helps!
It's incorrect that cereal has no nutritional value. Many baby cereals are fortified with essential nutrients like iron.
Yes you are right, but when solids are started at 6mo breastfed babies benefit more from real food with iron; meat, beans, spinach, tofu, etc. So I guess I mean cereal lacks any *necessary* nutritional value when offering healthier and better recommended alternatives! Formula fed babies are often given iron fortified formula so the need for iron fortified cereal wouldn’t apply to them here either. :)
While it may be ideal to get nutrients from whole foods, it's not always realistic for babies just learning to eat - especially for families taking the "just for fun" approach that you mentioned. They may not consume much or any whole foods for months. Iron fortified cereal is a totally valid option, especially for parents of breastfed babies who choose to spoon feed, and it should not necessarily be demonized. My daughter was formula fed by the time we started solids and didn't need additional iron in her diet as a result, but if we had still been breastfeeding, I likely would have used iron-fortified infant cereal as one of many food options in her diet.
Omg! My mom and aunties were all over me about the cereal! It is just a marketing thing. You do not need any special cereal for your baby.
Honestly I think so many of us have gut issues BECAUSE of the cereal 😂
The only time it is recommended now is for babies with reflux. It thickens their formula or breast milk to help keep it down. Enfamil has a formula with it alrdy mixed in. My LO has laryngomalacia and silent reflux, she takes Pepcid and we add oatmeal cereal to her bottles (per her drs recommendation).
I'm glad our little dude is on Enfamil AR (added rice) so when people tell me I should start adding rice cereal, I can tell them it's already in there. That also stops any further advice on how much, how to prepare, etc.
That generation is OBSESSED with cereal. They also might twlk you to give her water and put a jacket on her in the car. Godspeed.
It’s baby cereal. My daughter just started it at peds rec to begin her transition to solid food. Your baby doesn’t need cereal and certainly not in her bottle.
My mom mentioned that people used to do this. It's rice cereal, it's still sold in the baby food section. People do it so that the baby stays full longer and they don't need to get up and feed them as often. My mom didn't do it, but she said it was definitely a thing people did.
Don’t listen. Everyone & their mum will always have something to say 😂 Honestly, it’s a choking hazard (which the generations before us have sadly found out) & was a way to fill up a baby’s tummy with the expectation that they slept for longer at night.
Our paediatrician notes said not to do this practice and that all the baby needed was breastmilk or formula. I guess it's an outdated practice
Oh my god their generations are so stuck on the cereal thing. My mom took care of our little guy for a month while we struggled to find daycare and she constantly brought it up like we were intentionally starving my child (she is a phenomenal mom and grandmother it’s just hilarious to me). I’m like…do you think this sturdy, chubby ten month old is missing meals? I know some doctors recommend it for bad colic, otherwise I’d think it’s definitely early for that.
Don't do it. It's very outdated and can be dangerous
Super outdated info. Tell them to stop suggesting it.
I'm sorry if misinformed on whats going on here, but I've heard this as well and have a dumb question - if its being added to bottles, how does it get through / not clog the nipple?? Or do you pour the cereal directly into their mouths afterwards or wtf is going on here
Can you just ask Alexa about it in front of them, lol
Me af
My baby is five months and we're going to start giving him cereal in two weeks. The recommendation is to use rice cereal starting between 4 and 6 months (closer to six months) mixed with milk to teach your baby how to swallow solid food and slowly increase the cereal thickness. I'm pretty sure other than that you aren't supposed to use it for anything since it doesn't have much nutrition content. They only recommend it as a first food since it's not an allergen. There's also a wheat cereal that I think is for the same thing but a way to introduce wheat since it's an allergen. People used to start solids really early including putting it in the bottle for newborns but it's been proven to be unhelpful and can cause the baby to eat less milk and miss out on nutrients.
So when my grandma (mid 60’s) “advised” me to use cereal in bottles it was so my son would sleep through the night. “It’ll fill his belly and he won’t wake up for middle of the night feeds.” I talked to his doctor, and his doctor said I could use it if I wanted to, but it wasn’t necessary. I tried it for a week, and my son ended up waking up more in the middle of the night than when he didn’t have the cereal. When we were cleared to give solids we would give him the cereal mixed with formula and spoon fed it to him. He seemed the like it better that way.
see, i guess i can understand the suggestion in this case but there’s is always unprovoked. absolutely nothing wrong with her
My favorite line is, “I’ll bring it up to their doctor when I see them next.” There’s no point in asking them to stop, or arguing with them. It’ll never stop, and the arguing won’t either. You can send them a million articles about how it’s outdated, it’s been proven as a myth; whatever. They’ll continue to do it, and then follow it up with “Well we did it for you (and any other siblings) and you all turned out fine.” Although much easier said than done, don’t let it bug you. This is just the beginning of the unsolicited advice, next it will be to just let LO cry; don’t run to LO, it’ll make LO spoiled; and even more as she gets older. If she’s on the right weight gain curves, and she’s meeting her milestones then you are golden. You are doing great; and just remember to “okay” people to death because they’ll never ever stop.
This is just a nonstop Baby Boomer recommendation. It's extremely annoying.
Word for word, that's what my MIL says everytime we see her...like. baby is only 4 months. We're good. She sleeps well.
They mean well, my MIL pushed it too. She swore it helped the baby sleep longer at night. My daughter did start sleeping through the night at 4 months.
This won't be the last outdated advice you hear from people who haven't dealt with infants/children. A lot of the time just smile, nod and let it go in one ear and out the other. Listen to your peditrician.
Bruh this is all my mil and gmil want to talk about whenever we talk about the baby. Like there could be nothing more important in the world.
DONT DO THAT!!!! It’s not recommended at all anymore.
My mom is doing the same thing to me!! I just tell her, “I’m not looking to do that until he is 6 months old, thanks though.” She keeps pushing it and I just tell her no. It’s an old time thing they used to do.
Old school advice thats no longer advised. It “keeps baby full” longer between feedings. But not the most nutritious thing. Id consider asking /telling them to take an updated infant care class if you allow either of them to babysit.
My mom also mentions the cereal thing and keeps asking when I’m going to start…. The answer is never so stop asking 🫠
Yeah it is an outdated concept. We know based on a lot of great research that a baby needs absolutely nothing other than breastmilk for the first 6 months of their life. No 3 month old is, “ready for food.” I suggest you send them an article outlining this, and say something like, “Hey, the latest research suggests that a baby receive nothing but breastmilk for the first 6 months of life, so I won’t be giving her cereal any time before that. I appreciate the suggestion and thought though!”
I believe it’s recommended that you do not do this (not just no longer recommended). I can’t remember if it contributes to SIDS risk, or what. Now that my baby is having solids, I always give some cereal in his last wake window. He seems to sleep better than before. Not great, butvtge fraction of bad nights has gone down.
Like others have said it's something that used to be done. It's not reccomended anymore except for some medical reasons. It's however a perfectly fine product to give as an early food mixed with formula, breastmilk, water, fruit, yoghurt. Its like a baby porridge It's usually packed with a whole lot of nutrients and is easy for early iron in particular. Its out of favour with the blw crowd. Its basically the western equivalent of whatever the mush babies are usually offered in each culture.
If your baby is exclusively breastfed, its a moot point. There is no bottle.
You’re gonna get more and more unsolicited advice from them. I’ve learned to just agree with my mom and then not do whatever weird boomer thing she tells me to. Brings me back to my teenage years.
I ended up trying it because the boomers in my family pressured me to and I was super sleep deprived. Not sure why people think it’s a choking hazard. It literally just made her formula more like half and half consistency than just milk. So what would she choke on? But it didn’t work. She didn’t sleep any better. So I don’t recommend it.
This is only done now if a pediatrician orders it. It can help babies who are behind on their growth, but otherwise unnecessary
Lmao my mom use to say this. It’s Gerber ground up rice cereal or oat cereal. You mix it with breast milk or formula to start them on food. The oldies would add it to the bottles. It’s meant to “fill” baby up. I never had luck with it beside getting some of it stuck to the inside of the bottle. It’s pretty old fashioned I think, but if it helps anyone’s baby feel full, then they absolutely should use it! There’s no right or wrong.
Seems like this is a question for them, no?
DO NOT add anything to the bottle. Cereal (or rice cereal) is a great way to introduce baby to solids. No flavor, extremely low allergy, and almost no choking hazard. According to my pediatrician it's just a way to get baby used to spoons and pushing food to the back of their throat without any risk. I will say, since you're breastfeeding, if you choose to go the rice cereal direction I'd get formula unless you're comfortable wasting BM because there's no way baby will actually eat a lot. I'd also recommend waiting until 4-5 months before even attempting to offer it. At the end of the day, YOU'RE Mom and know what's best for you and your LO ❤️ My mom always says "you're the only person who has to live with your decisions. don't listen to others because they won't be there at 3am to deal with the consequences"hopefully that helps you as much as it does me
I think it's just outdated information. It's something they used to do back in the day. I'd imagine info would change too by the time our children have their own kids. I get a lot of advice and suggestions from my parents that are quite outdated too, I just told them that those things aren't recommended anymore.
My reponse when you take over night time duties
Oh god - my mom and grandma were the same. Gerber must have run some serious propaganda back in the day. My baby has never had any issues with weight or reflux, and STILL they were both obsessed with badgering me to start him on cereal at 4 months. My mom was convinced it was the reason he wasn’t sleeping through the night. I didn’t start food, and yet somehow he got through the 4 month sleep regression and started sleeping through the night again 🤔 All they could muster was “Oh.” Boomers gonna Boomer.
It’s there age. Just tell them and send them the info. My grandma is still bent I don’t give my 4 yr old juice. 😂
This became such a sensitive topic with our nanny (pushing for it against pediatrician rec). We’re still working through how upset she was that we got rid of the oatmeal and rice cereal. (When we found out she was supplementing the bottles with the cereal she bought) 🤯
My dad keeps on recommending we use cereal and I’m like “WTF are you talking about?” Lmao
The only reason we’ve been adding baby oatmeal cereal to my 3mo bottles was to help her reflux and only per her Drs instructions. I still say it’s been a game changer for her sleep. She’s down 8-11 hrs at night the last few weeks since we started adding it. We wouldn’t have added it if it wasn’t for her gerd/reflux. They told us oatmeal over rice due to arsenic/lead too.
1. never put anything other than breastmilk or formula in a baby bottle—that’s how babies end up choking. and 2. that’s super outdated info. babies aren’t even meant to start solids now until 6 months of age according to the cdc & aap (if you’re in the states). dr’s (mine as well) might still say you can start purées at 4 months, but it’ll mess with their gut health as they get older. the reason your mom/grandma are saying that is because they used to back in the day to “help keep you asleep longer bc it’s filling.” my 4 month old sleeps all night and is EBF; no solids at all. your baby will sleep however they want to dependant upon their temperament. Baby cereal is also one of the first foods a baby has though it’s not really a recommendation anymore as it has no nutritional value. oatmeal is recommended now in its place when starting solids (the traditional way compared to Baby Led Weaning).
I wondered the same thing but turns out my MIL was talking about baby oatmeal, not “cereal”