Rice cereal in bottle question

[Soulmate]

DS was prescribed 1 tsp of rice cereal/ounce in his bottle for his acid reflux. Is that prepared or unprepared? For example, do I make the rice cereal as indicated on the box and then put 1 tsp/ounce of that in the bottle or do I put 1 tsp of the flakes/ounce in the bottle?

[amygrrl]

my dd has reflux and i spoke with our dr about the rice cereal. what he told me was that he wouldn't recommend using the rice cereal b/c reflux babies tend to aspirate their food (thus the choking and coughing) and breastmilk aspirated is much easier on the esophogus and lungs and b/c it's thinner it's much easier for a baby to cough up. on the other hand, if you thicken the bm or formula it can make it more difficult to cough it up and then you run the risk of pneumonia and/or more violent choking. therefor he recommends positional therapy (sleeping on an incline, using a slow flow/ preemie nipple, frequent burping, holding upright for 20 minutes after feedings, moving to dr. browns bottles, etc) and then if that doesn't help, add in a small amount of medication like zantac.

i know it's not what you asked for.. but it might be worth further discussion with your dr.

[Soulmate]

No one has ever put rice cereal in a bottle?

[solongtogo]

You won't find many. Putting rice cereal in a bottle is pretty taboo.

[cc8]

I agree. The rice cereal in a bottle thing is something that more dates back to my mother's generation.

[Soulmate]

amygrrl that makes a lot of sense about the aspiration. He is already on Pepcid and Mylanta and was on Zantac and it didn't work very well for him.

Can you guys elaborate as to why it is taboo...besides the aspiration...unless that is the sole reason. I did read that it can lead them to over eat. I had no idea it was so taboo. I know other people IRL who did this too and they say that it worked miracles. I guess I will stop doing it. Crap, I was hoping for something to really help him :(

[Marisa]

It's a choking hazard -- it's too easy for the cereal to clump and then go down too quickly, and cause him to choke.

I agree, that's a trick where that's been drilled into our heads, do not try this at home!

[Sal03]

I have two friends who did put rice cereal in their babies bottles but it did not help the reflux.

My DD has reflux and we tried a bunch of different things...zantac did not work for us. Her first 12 weeks were miserable. But then our ped put her on prevacid and it seriously changed her life. She is the happiest baby now. So maybe ask your ped about prevacid. She takes one tablet dissolved in a dropper every morning. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss further.

[kindermom]

Soulmate - Why don't you call your ped and ask for clarification? Only s/he knows what you need to do.

[jennylou]

I have a friend who gave rice cereal to her DD starting at three weeks old - but that wasn't for reflux...she did it b/c the baby was eating too often at every three hours. :rolleyes:

[Kelly51703]

I had to do this for DD. I did it unprepared. All you are doing is adding the flakes to the bottle. I think I added 1/2 tsp. Adding the cereal didn't help DD, it actually made her reflux worse. We did this for about four days and then she went on Zantac. Zantac didn't help too much. The reflux will get better once DS can sit up.

[emschwar]

You might find more info here - http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2260&highlight=cereal

[tray622]

You would put the cereal in with the formula and shake it all together.

FWIW, our story is similar to sal's and prilosec/prevacid was the only thing that worked. I do know many who have used thick-it which is added to elderly peoples food sometimes to make the consistency thicker. This allowed them to avoid the rice cereal.

[Soulmate]

I have a friend who gave rice cereal to her DD starting at three weeks old - but that wasn't for reflux...she did it b/c the baby was eating too often at every three hours. :rolleyes:Now *that* is silly! I would never even consider giving it to DS so young, or in a bottle, if it wasn't for his reflux.

Thanks tray622. kelly and sal I am going to stop using it. I too think the 1 bottle we used made it worse. I think my ped might be resistant to Prevacid for some reason (maybe the cost??). The pepcid works ok and much better than zantac. He has the symptoms but not as much pain. If the pepcid stops working then I'll ask about prevacid. I keep hearing good things about it.

[allyray231]

Soul Is your DS FF? If so Efimal makes a ticker formula for babies with acid reflux-it is called AR I think.

[Sasha]

I will admit that yes, we did it. DD had VERY severe reflux. My ped. recommended we do it in addition to medication and positioning. FWIW, I trust my ped. 110% and she has been right on in every problem we've had with DD since she was born. We did it for about 2 months or so, until things started to get better with her reflux. That combined with Prevacid was a lifesaver for us and DD.

I added it unprepared, but we did have to make the nipple bigger for flow since the pieces tended to clog up the nipple. That was the most aggrevating part. Talk to your ped. further about your concerns. I honestly didn't know how taboo it was at the time so maybe if I knew then what I know now, I would have done things differently, but I will say that it did work for us.

[Soulmate]

allray He is FF but also has significant food sensitivies and is on Alimentum. It is so bad that he is even sensitive to the corn in the powder version of Alimentum and can only have the ready to pour version. This stuff is expensive so I wish I could switch! His digestive system is just horrid!

[allyray231]

Oh wow!! So sorry! Hope you guys figure something out!

[amygrrl]

He has the symptoms but not as much pain.

from what i understand about dd's reflux, the only things that can lesson the symptoms are the positional things. all the meds do are reduce the acid, thus making the reflux less irritating and painful and the babies more happy. so if your ds seems to be in less pain, then the meds are probably doing what they are supposed to do. reflux, unfortunately, is just one of those things kids have to out grow.

are you using a slow flow nipple? having him sleep on an incline (we had dd sleeping in a swing until almost 5 months)? etc.?

[Soulmate]

amygrrl Thank you for that. I keep wondering if my expectations are just too high. He can lay on his back for about 15 minutes (activity mat) before getting cranky. He sounds like he snores a lot of the day. But his crankiness has gone down a lot and his feedings are mostly drama free (except when he has gas :rolleyes: ). He has slept in his swing 100% of the time pretty much since birth. As we speak I am trying him out for a nap in his carseat because I think he is getting pretty sick of the swing. We bought one of those foam inclines you put under the sheet and it is a joke. The incline is probably about 5 degrees! Even his bouncy seat is not enough of an incline most of the time! We tried raising the mattress but to get it to a sufficient angle he ends up sliding down to the bottom. We are still using the newborn flow nipple (#1 Avent). We tried Dr. Browns bottles and it stirred up his colic in a bad way for some reason. Plus the gas level was the same with Avents. I think I've tried everything and next just have to adjust my own expectations and perceptions.

Thank you all for your help! I guess if he gets bad again I'll ask about Prevacid. No more rice cereal ;)

[amygrrl]

your trying all the right things! it just requires some time for his little digestive system to mature. for dd, we actually had her on a preemie nipple for the first 2 months which was even slower than the newborn and it made a ton of difference. also, we fed her fewer ounces but more often (sucks, i know!) but it worked. there is an incline for the crib that's pretty steep that has this slingy thing attached to keep the baby from sliding down that's made especially for reflux babies. we never tried it b/c the swing and bouncy seemed to work for us. there is light at the end of the tunnel, however. dd is 5 months and sleeps flat on her back in the crib and we have no more of the coughing/ choking nighttime episodes that used to scare me to death.

[Kanga]

I'm sure you probably already know this, but just in case I thought I'd throw it out there - but you get a lot less bubbles if you stir the formula rather than shake it.

Also there have been studies shown that giving solids before 4months can leave the child more at risk for developing allergies, so that's why most people don't give cereal before 4mo.

[solongtogo]

Try also adding some mylicon directly to the bottle of formula after you mix it up...

[NYN]

also how many ounces are you feeding at a time? my mom would feed my sister in 1oz increments. it seemed like she was feeding her all day long but it was the only thing that her little tummy could handle.