Infantreflux.org | Rice Cereal or Oatmeal to thicken feeds?

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June 10, 2006 at 9:59 am #9506

Anonymous
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Hi,

My daughter, Emily’s spitting up has not improved at all. She is still spitting up her entire feeds (at least 1x a day) and often coughs/chokes while drinking.

She is still on Zantac and I understand that is not supposed to help with the actual spitting up, but just with the pain.

I would like to try thickening her formula and pumped breastmilk bottles to see if that would help.

Is oatmeal better than rice cereal for constipation?

Can oatmeal thicken breastmilk successfully or is SimplyThick the only product that will thicken breastmilk?

What is the best way to mix the rice cereal/oatmeal with formula? I’m currently using GoodStart powder form. Can I just put the rice cereal and powder together in a bottle and then mix/shake with warm water?

Also, how much rice cereal/oatmeal would you recommend to start off with?

Any advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Sarah

June 10, 2006 at 10:26 am #9510

Anonymous
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I use 1 tablespoon of oatmeal cereal for every two ounces. And yes, oatmeal is much better for preventing constipation, but some babies can’t handle any grains early on, so it’s really trial and error.

As to how to mix it, I never used powder so I’m not sure if that would work. Some moms here have said they use a blender. I’d make the formula first, then add the cereal and mix.

One thing I noticed is that mixing the cereal into breast milk is much different than the formula. It seems you need more cereal to get the same amt of thickness. It definitely can be done, but you either have to use more cereal or try a thinner consistency than you would get with the same amt of cereal in formula.

I hope thickening helps her keep her food down better and choke less when feeding. It definitely helped Myles.

Have you had her evaluated for a sucking/swallowing problem?

Good luck.

June 10, 2006 at 10:33 am #9512

Anonymous
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I’m sure that oatmeal and rice cereal can thincken breastmilk, but I’d

really try to use Simply Thick. I’m not sure how old Emily is, but

introducing rice and oatmeal too early can have a negative effect for many

babies. We were eager to try rice cereal (for the same reason as you

probably; to help keep food down) and started it around 4 mo. She loved

it the first week, then all of a sudden she became very ill and would throw

up (with retching and dry heaves) 2 hrs after any cereal. I waited a month

and tried again, with the same results. I looked online because rice is

not supposed to cause allergic reactions, but I found that lots of babies

experienced the same thing, until they were 6-7 months when parents

would try it again and everything would be fine. This, I think lends

credence to the idea that their little systems may not be able to handle it

until 6 months.

This is only my experience, and I kow many have had success with rice

thickening. Also, I’m told by my mother that I was eating rice cereal from

2 weeks. I’m not sure about oatmeal.

As far as how thick you want it to be, I’m sure it can’t be too much more

than the consistancy of breastmilk or formula, so they don’t have trouble

swallowing it. You’d probably want to add they cereal to already mixed

formula until you know how much it takes to get it to the thickness you

want, then you could probably mix the ceral and dry formula, then add

the water. Keep in mind that the longer the cereal sits in the liquid, the

thinner the mixture seems to get. Again, that’s just what I’ve noticed.

There are many more people here with more experience, but I just

thought I’d help if I could…

June 10, 2006 at 3:49 pm #9522

Anonymous
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We used oatmeal b/c the rice caused her to be constipated. But I could never thicken the breastmilk, I didn’t know why. I learned later that the antibodies kept breaking down the cereal. I did notice that the frozen breastmilk would thicken fairly well. Maybe Laura will post for you about this. I know that there’s a yahoo breastfeeding forum but don’t know the link. Good luck.

June 10, 2006 at 4:13 pm #9525

Anonymous
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I used oatmeal to thicken frozen breastmilk. It does work but you have to feed it immediately because the longer it sits the thinner it gets. And you will need to add more cereal to get the same thickness that you get with less cereal in formula. I used to use 3 tablespoons of cereal to 6 ounces of soy formula, but 4 – 5 tablespoons for 6 ounces of breast milk. I hated giving him so much cereal in his bottles, but when he was throwing up and choking that’s the only thing that helped.
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