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adding baby rice to milk?

I'm just looking for some advice. Harry is 11 weeks old and still waking for a feed or two feeds in the night (i know this isnt unusual) but as i do the night feeds i am desperate to get him to go through. Both my mum and MIL have said me and DH had baby rice mixed with our milk from 10 weeks which was what made us go through the night.... it doesnt seem to have done us any harm?
Harry has 4-6oz feed every 4 hours day and night but very rarely drains a bottle.
Please dont shoot me down i am just after advice / experiences... has anyone else added baby rice to milk at this age? did it work? is there a reason why you shouldnt do it?
Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • NO! dont add anything to his milk especially at this age!! 4 hours isnt that bad and twice during the night is normal. its not worth it just so you get a full nights sleep. my LO is 17 months, fully weaned and still doesnt sleep through, wakes once in the night for milk.

    seriously have you tried hungry baby milk first?
  • Hi Hun,

    it's apparantly a choking hazard putting anything in bottles other then milk/water etc

    and his little tummy isn't ready for anything else just yet.

    I'm sure some of the other girls will help you a bit more image xx
  • i think one of the reasons is that,the milk gets thick and it doesnt go throw the teats and anouther reasons is the babies guts have'nt devopled proper yet and iam sure they is loads of reasons but cant remember :lol: have you tried giving hungry baby formula at night?
  • Right. I'm not shooting you down, but it's a really bad idea on a variety of levels.

    Primarily, it's bad because at 11 weeks he shouldn't really be EXPECTED to sleep through. His tummy is tiny and he might not be able to fill it with enough milk to see him through. I know disturbed nights are tough, but babies need parenting in the night and that's just all there is to it. He'll sleep through whe he's ready.

    Introducing solids at 11 weeks is not recommended. Numerous high profile studies have shown that doing so can cause all manner of problems later in life.

    Thirdly, you should never put cereals in a bottle. It can cause choking and can potentially make your baby aspirate the feed (draw it into his lungs) which can make him very very ill indeed. It's just a bad bad plan.

    Fourthly, studies have shown that cereal feeds at night don't actually work in making babies sleep longer. All those risks and it won't make a difference. Why bother?

    I'm sure your mums mean well but we have so much more info available to us now, and that info says this is not a practice that's recommended.

    I'm happy to supply links for all the above if you'd like to show the new research to your mums.
  • Hiya hun, it's such a nightmare hearing well meaning friends and relatives recommending we do what they did (and was thought to be fine then). My nan (not suggesting it) was told to put baby rice in my aunties bottles at 3weeks and finds it so funny that we're now advised to wait until 6 months!
    I knowhow current evidence shows nothing should be added to milk in bottles (although I haven't read details as to why) I think it's because of choking and aspirating. I'd tell your mum and mil that although it sounds like a good idea you're going to stick to the current guidelines on this one. Have you tried a split feed before bed? Or a dreamfeed?
    At put postnatal group we keep bein reminded that most babies don't sleep through until 6-7months! xx
  • Bless you. Have you tried giving him a bigger bottle at bedtime? My ds has a whopping 9-10oz bottle at 7pm and that sees him through till 7am but he has only just been doing this the last few days. Dreamfeeding didn't work for us it actually made him wake up sooner rather than later which is weird but i think it use to confuse him!

    As for the rice its personally not something i would do but i know it was the done thing 10/20 years ago and most of us have turned out fine ha ha! My dd slept through from 20 weeks. Give it time it will happen image xx
  • my ds1 was a bad sleeper and mil was always telling me to add rusks or rice to his last bottle. i tried it once at 12 weeks and to be honest he woke 6 times that night i think it gave him tummy ache
  • Hi there ,firstly no never add anything to the milk but the other ladies have said that already ....my ds is 4 and is STILL a nightmare sleeper ....all i can suggest is what the others have hungary baby milk and maybe a dream feed image like mrsnoname a dream feed didnt work for us it confused my 2 infact i think cos they were asleep they didnt acknowledge it :lol: as hard as it is i think at 11 weeks you need to give him a little more time ....eventually he will sleep through (then u will start to think ooh i could do this all over again :lol: )
  • oh goodness he is doing so well already waking once or twice. I would say that rice is a very bad idea as his tummy is simply not ready - we did go onto hungry baby at about 12 weeks - we also cluster fed - at 7pm every night we made up a big bottle and did bottle bath more bottle bed - so is tummy was nice and full - he then started sleeping 7pm - 1am - another feed and he slept till 4am. Hubby did the 1am feed which meant i could get some sleep.

    hth x
  • I started to wean Abby at 13 weeks (on medical advice) by that age she was able to take runny baby rice off a spoon though - so I didn't have the same dilema. I did find that when I started weaning she actually woke up MORE in the night at first - so it might not be the magic solution you think.

    When It comes to weaning, I am a firm beliver in Mummy knows best - so I would always say to follow your mummy instincts, just as long as it is your instincts, and not your Mum/MIL's!
  • you are not suppose to add anything to a bottle as the ladies have said its a choking hazard, we were on hungry baby but for us it didnt alter night wakings just made him more content inbetween, what did help was a dreamfeed, may be worth a go, we got him to go through from half 10 until 6am with a dreamfeed, LO is nearly 9 months and still doesnt go through everynight x
  • Thanks for your advice ladies, i will definately take it and not add it to his milk then. Its so hard being a 1st time mum, &with MIL,mum and DH all saying to do it I really didnt know what to think....but as its me getting up with him i know its my choice (DH isnt lazy he works shifts hence he cant help with night feeds).
    Thank you for being kind and advising me and not having a go at me! I know controversial subjects can sometimes get heated, but thankfully becuase of your kind advice you have made me see sense!x
  • Remember - in the fifties, doctors actually encouraged pregnant women to smoke to 'calm their nerves'.

    Advice changes over time as we learn more about the ramifications of things. If the mums or your hubby put pressure on you, remind them of that. It's not *bad* advice, just outdated. We know better now.

    It might be worth trying the cluster feed trick. DS is mostly breastfed but I do notice that when he clusterfeeds more in the evenings, he sleeps better.
  • just to add, I promise, with hand on heart that your baby WILL eventually sleep through. I know it seems that you probably havent slept for an eternity but it does get better. My DS is 23 weeks and started to sleep through at 19 weeks.

    xx
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