How Soon Can You Add Cereal to Baby Formula

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The procedure of adding rice cereal to formula or breast milk is a common transitional footstep parents tin have when they desire to innovate solid foods into their baby's diet. Generally, infants tin can begin to eat rice cereal with formula betwixt the ages of iv and 6 months. These ages may vary depending on the advice of your pediatrician or health intendance provider and if your kid has met certain developmental milestones.

1. ane

   Wait until your infant is 4 to 6 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until half-dozen months of age to showtime solid foods, but some babies are ready earlier than others.^[1] Giving your baby cereal besides early increases the chance of choking or inhaling the rice cereal mixture into his or her lungs. Early on exposure to cereal can besides increase your baby's hazard of developing nutrient allergies.^[ii]

   • Your baby may be fix to try rice cereal at 4 months of historic period. Your doctor can aid yous decide what is best for your babe.
   • It may be alright to innovate rice cereal before iv to 6 months of age if your infant has reflux issues. Talk to your pediatrician before you lot effort this though.^[3]
   • Your baby should likewise be able to consume from a spoon before yous introduce rice cereal to his or her diet.
   • Feeding your baby solid foods besides early tin cause your babe to become overweight.^[4]

2. 2

   Be sure your babe has met the necessary developmental milestones. In addition to existence former enough, your infant should meet certain developmental milestones before you introduce cereal. Your infant should be able to sit down with back up, have head and neck command, push up with elbows from a lying position, place hands or toys in his or her mouth, and lean forward and open up his or mouth when hungry or interested in food. If your child is 6 months of age, but has not met these milestones, y'all may demand to delay the introduction of rice cereal.^[5]

   • Waiting for these milestones is important. They help ensure that your babe can safely eat the rice cereal.
   • Infants also have an extrusion reflex that causes them to heighten their natural language and button confronting objects that are placed betwixt their lips.^{[half dozen]} This reflex is commonly gone by iv to half-dozen months of age. Trying to spoon feed your child cereal with this reflex can be frustrating and difficult.

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3. 3

   Meet with your infant's pediatrician or health care provider. Talk to a medical professional earlier you introduce solid foods.^[7] Your md tin verify that your infant is adult enough to handle solid foods. This is the time for you to enquire questions and mention any concerns you lot have about solid foods.

   • In some cases, your infant's intestinal tract may not be fully developed or your baby may not be able to fullness, leading to potential overfeeding.
   • Do not requite your infant solid foods until your doctor says that is alright.

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1. 1

   Talk to your pediatrician.. Exercise non add rice cereal to your baby'due south bottle unless your pediatrician recommends that yous should. This is typically merely washed to treat infants with gastroesophageal reflux (GER). Eating cereal from a bottle tin make it more difficult for your baby to learn to eat from a spoon^[8] and can increase the risk of your babe eating too much and condign overweight.^[9]

   • To reduce reflux, proceed your infant upright (i.e. on your shoulder) for xx to 30 minutes afterward a feeding.
   • Endeavor a premixed,"anti-reflux" formula. These formulas contain rice starch.
   • Try a hypoallergenic formula that does not contain cow milk or soy milk and encounter if your infant's reflux improves. Effort this for one or two weeks.^[ten]
   • The American University of Pediatrics does not recommend that you feed your infant rice cereal from a canteen.^[11] Withal, your pediatrician is the best source for deciding if you should feed your baby rice cereal through a bottle.

2. two

   Add rice cereal to the canteen. Start by calculation 1 teaspoon of rice cereal per ounce (i.e. vi teaspoons) of formula. Prepare the canteen right before you programme to feed your baby. The mixture will continue to thicken if you let it sit.

   • Your doctor may recommend a unlike ratio of rice cereal to formula.
   • You lot can add up to ane tablespoon of rice cereal to the bottle.

3. 3

   Give the bottle to your baby at night. The canteen with the rice cereal should be your baby's last feeding for the nighttime. This may assistance your baby sleep longer because the baby's stomach will feel fuller. Cut a larger pigsty in the nipple of the bottle because the mixture is thicker than formula alone.^[12]

   • Don't requite your infant rice cereal at every feeding. Rice cereal is mostly carbohydrates and does not provide the same nutrition that formula or chest milk does. Giving your baby rice cereal at every feeding may decrease the amount of nutrients the baby is getting.
   • You can either cut a small "ten or "y"" in the nipple of the bottle or get upwardly to a larger nipple size to accommodate the rice cereal formula.

4. four

   Monitor your baby'south response. Lookout how your baby is swallowing the rice cereal. If the mixture is too thick, your baby will have difficulty getting it downwardly and may get tired during the feeding. Notice if your baby becomes constipated or starts gaining also much weight. These are common side effects of drinking rice cereal.

   • Conform the amount of rice cereal you are giving your infant based on your observations.
   • If the rice cereal makes your baby constipated, yous may want to try oatmeal instead.^[13]
   • If you are trying to treat your infant'southward reflux, yous should start seeing results in 2 or 3 days. If you see no improvements in that amount of time, rice cereal may not be a proficient solution for your baby.

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1. 1

   Mix the rice cereal and formula. Read the package instructions for preparing the rice cereal. Typically, you lot add 1 tablespoon (14.78 ml) of rice cereal to every four tablespoons (60ml) of formula or breast milk ^[14] For example, if you are currently feeding your baby 8 tablespoons of formula, you must add together 2 tablespoons of rice cereal.

   • Stir the mixture with a spoon until it looks like thin milk or has the consistency of soup.
   • If you have purchased rice cereal that already contains formula, prepare the cereal as directed on the packaging. In some cases, y'all may only need to add water.

2. 2

   Serve the rice cereal and formula mixture with a spoon. Although the mixture has the consistency of milk, serve information technology to your baby with a small spoon.^[15] Eating the mixture from a spoon will too keep your baby from overeating and ingesting also many calories.^[xvi]

   • Your infant is used to drinking formula from a canteen and instinctively knows how much to potable based on volume.^[17] Nonetheless, calculation cereal and eating from a spoon can make information technology more than difficult for your baby to know when to stop eating.
   • Alternatively, you can add just a tiny amount of formula to the rice cereal, so it nonetheless holds it shape on its food. This is a good way to assistance your baby do eating solid foods.^[18]

3. 3

   Serve a small-scale amount initially. The showtime mixture that your baby eats should exist thin. You lot can thicken the mixture over time. Requite your infant one teaspoon (5 ml) of the mixture at the end of breastfeeding or canteen feeding at first. Gradually build upwards to i to four tablespoons (15 to lx ml) of the mixture two times a mean solar day. This process volition give your babe time to develop his or her ability to swallow.^[xix]

   • Place the spoon almost your baby's lips and permit your baby scent and taste the cereal on the spoon beginning. Your baby will probably turn down to eat at first.^[20]
   • If your infant is not interested in the mixture or refuses to consume it, endeavor the mixture once more the next day. Y'all can likewise try a thinner mixture.
   • Your infant may intermittently spit out some cereal with his or her tongue as a natural reflex.
   • You lot can also feed your infant formula or breast milk from the bottle, serve the rice mixture from the spoon, and then end the feeding with formula or breast milk from the canteen.
   • You lot can brainstorm to thicken the mixture in one case your baby has tolerated the mixture well for three to five days.^[21]
   • Your baby may vomit after trying the rice cereal the first few times. Do non worry about this. Just try the rice cereal again the adjacent day.

4. 4

   Look for allergy symptoms. An infant that is allergic to the mixture may experience bloating, airsickness, diarrhea, or increased gas. If your baby experiences any of these symptoms, cease feeding him or her the mixture until you speak with your doctor. If your infant has hives or difficulty breathing after eating the mixture, see a doc immediately.^[22]

   • Your infant is more likely to have an allergic reaction if a shut family unit member has whatever blazon of allergies, eczema, or asthma.
   • Talk to your doc about your family history of food allergies when you lot discuss introducing rice cereal and solid foods.

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1. ane

   Avoid arsenic found in rice. Most rice cereals are made from candy, white rice. Rice has a college concentration of arsenic than other grains. Arsenic is a carcinogen (i.e. cancer causing) that tin set your child upwards for health issues afterward in life.^[23] If you are concerned about exposing your babe to arsenic, yous can cull a cereal fabricated from other grains (e.g. oats, quinoa, wheat, and barley).^[24]

   • Not only does whole grain cereal reduce your infant's exposure to arsenic, it has more fiber and nutrients than white rice cereal.
   • The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends cereals fabricated from oats equally an alternative to rice cereal.^[25]

2. 2

   Introduce another first nutrient. Although rice cereal is the virtually common first nutrient, other foods are acceptable likewise. Finely chopped meat and pureed vegetables can be your baby's outset food.^[26] Mashed avocado and stewed pears are proficient options for a showtime solid food.^[27]

   • Introducing rice cereal is a tradition, but information technology is completely safe to effort other solid foods outset.^[28]
   • No matter what solid food y'all offering, make certain it contains no sugar or table salt.
   • Wait 3 to v days between each new food that you lot introduce.^[29]

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• Question

  How do I know if my baby is fix to showtime eating solid foods?

  

  Sarah Siebold is an International board certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and Certified Lactation Educator Counselor (CLEC) based in Los Angeles, California. She runs her own lactation consulting practise called IMMA, where she specializes in emotional support, clinical intendance, and evidence-based breastfeeding practices. Her editorial work most new maternity and breastfeeding has been featured in VoyageLA, The Tot, and Hullo My Tribe. She completed her clinical lactation preparation in both private practice and outpatient settings through the Academy of California, San Diego. She also earned her 1000.A. in English and American Literature from New York University.

  

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  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends not starting solid foods until at least six months of age. With that said, some babies are ready a little flake earlier than others. At that place are a couple of readiness cues yous can expect for. You lot want them all to be present, not just one. First, your baby needs to testify interest in family meals by watching yous put things in your oral cavity, put things on your plate, and do things at the dinner table. They also demand good head and neck control and the power to sit on their own unsupported so they don't choke. Additionally, they should be starting to develop what's chosen the pincer grasp, where they can actually start using their fingers to grab smaller $.25 of food. Finally, yous should wait for the elimination of a reflex called the natural language-thrust reflex, which causes babies to thrust their tongue and push button things out of their mouth.

• Question

  How much h2o do you mix with rice cereal?

  

  Amy Chow is a Registered Dietitian and the Founder of Chow Down Nutrition, a family and kid nutrition consulting service in British Columbia (BC), Canada. With over nine years of feel, Amy has a special interest in pediatric nutrition, food allergy management, and eating disorder recovery. Amy holds a Bachelor's degree in Nutritional Sciences from McGill University. She gained her clinical experiences at residential and outpatient eating disorder treatment programs as well as for BC Children's Hospital before starting her own business concern. She has been featured on Find BC Dietitians, Dietitians of Canada, Food Allergy Canada, Recovery Care Collective, Parentology, Save on Foods, National Eating Disorder Information Center (NEDIC), and Joytv.

  

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  I recommend adding formula or breast milk to it instead so you lot don't dilute the diet. I think the best fashion to do it is to use as little milk equally possible, considering you nonetheless desire the puree to hold its shape on a spoon. That style, the babe can practice their eating skills, rather than just drinking from a spoon.

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• If you are unsure or accept any questions, always consult your infant'due south doctor.

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• Do not feed the rice cereal and formula mixture to your infant from a bottle unless directed by your babe'south pediatrician. Drinking rice cereal from a canteen may atomic number 82 to hazards such as choking and overeating.

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Things Y'all'll Demand

• Prepared formula or breast milk
• Rice cereal
• Babe spoon
• Small bowl

About This Article

Article Summary 10

Before you add rice cereal to formula, make sure your babe is at to the lowest degree 4-6 months former, is able to sit up with assistance, and has head and neck control. If yous aren't sure if your babe is ready, cheque with your kid'due south wellness intendance provider. If rice cereal is right for your babe, kickoff by calculation one tsp of rice cereal to your baby's nightly bottle. Or, you could endeavor spoon feeding 1 tsp of rice cereal mixed in with 4 tsp of formula. Commencement with a small amount and bank check for allergic reactions earlier increasing the amount y'all give. For some healthy alternatives to rice cereal, roll down.

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