Babies with acid reflux...is it okay to not put cereal in their bottles?

Michele - posted on 08/30/2009

my first son had reflux and my newborn is following suit. he's been on rice cereal since 2 weeks. we had to do the same with my first son. just add 1 tsp of rice per 1 ounce of formula. keep the baby upright for at least 1/2 hour and don't worry. they do out grow it as my first son did before his first birthday.

Sherry - posted on 08/30/2009

1 tsp of rice cereal per ounce of formula will work, but if you are worried you can buy special formula (for spiting up) which has a thickening agent in it (similar to adding cereal). If you still have concerns you can also ask your doctor if medicine would help. They can prescribe Zantac to help.

Amanda - posted on 08/30/2009

My baby is two months old, a preemie, with Acid Refux, and she does wonders with cereal in her bottle, I do pump and add cereal, and neosure w/cereal. Also, I had a son on every kind of Acid Reflux meds, he also had GERD, once I started giving him cereal it worked great!!

Tracy - posted on 08/27/2009

My daughter has GERD and we do put cereal in her bottle. She was in the hospital for 6 days when she was 4 weeks old. We went in bc of a fever and were told she had 2 viruses, then she started spitting up blood. We knew she had reflux but didn't know the extent of it bc they hadn't done an upper GI until being in the hospital. She has reflux to the clavicals (sp?) which means all the way up. They also took her off of breastmilk and put her on a hypoallergenic formula bc they said she has a cows milk protein allergy (me drinking/eatting anything with the protein). They put 1/2 tspn cereal to 1 oz formula and on Zantac. She has still ahd problems, she has projectile vomitting. The upped her cereal to 1tspn to 1oz and have also added Reglan, which speeds up the digestion of the food in her tummy so it stays in there for a shorter amount of time. I've also been told not to put her in a car seat for a while after eatting bc it puts pressure on her tummy which causes her to spit up. Also, they say to keep them up right for 20-45 min or so after eatting, but this doesn't always work for us. Our ped. also said that they usually start babies with GERD, especially to this degree, on solid food a lot sooner than the norm bc the food has to be heavy to stay down.

Amber - posted on 08/27/2009

You could try feeding with the baby more upright (like a 45 degree angle) and keep upright and no jiggling for 20 mins. after. Also the sleeping on an incline wedge is good! If you're not comfortable with the cereal, don't do it! You have mom instincts for what's best for your little one! They're all different, so just do what works for you! Good luck with your baby!

Alicia - posted on 08/27/2009

My baby is 2 months old and has acid reflux and all do which seems to work is I have the infant to toddler (I bought it at Wal-Mart) rocker. I strap her in that at night so she sleeps in more of an incline position (car seat works too) and ever since I started doing that she sleeps through the night and there is NO vomiting/spit-up. The chair is very soothing because the seat vibrates. The chair is amazing. My poor baby couldn't hold a bottle down before that I tried changing the formula, burping, thinning and thickening the formula and this chair is the only thing that seemed to work for my baby. But remember all babies are different. But I would recommend the chair, its a good buy and they can still use it as a toddler. Good luck with you baby!

Heather - posted on 08/27/2009

Cereal isn't necessary for a child with reflux - and sometimes babies just have thicker spit-up with it. I breast feed, so simply treat with prevacid and make sure she stays upright 20 minutes after eating. I also have her sleeping on a slant at night.

Tara - posted on 08/26/2009

My daughter has reflux and she is on zantac. We do not add cereal, as I am breastfeeding. I was told it was an option (I could pump and add cereal to the breastmilk), but that it wasn't necessary.

Tegan - posted on 08/25/2009

I put 1 tsp of rice cereal per ounce of formula and it works wonders!

Carlie - posted on 08/25/2009

my little boy has reflux and we put thickening powder in his bottles and it has done wonders for him!

Alicia - posted on 08/24/2009

My 2month old has reflux and that was what our pediatrician told us to do (along with med's) was to put rice cereal in the bottle. It's worked great for us!