Our ped recommended that we put 2 tsp of cereal per oz of formula in my 5wk olds bottle. But she doesnt spit up much at all, and is putting on weight just fine. do you think i should be putting cereal in her bottles? We are also on Zantac, which doesnt seem to be helping. We have been doing both for 2 weeks now. Thanks

If she is a silent refluxer she may not spit up but the stuff still comes up the esophagus. They just swallow it back down. When I was thickening Mason's formula it was a HUGE help at the time. Occasionally thickening can make it worse but it does usually help.

I would go ahead and give it a try for your ped's sake. If she is still in pain after a couple days of that I would ask for a GI referral. I find peds are usually too conservative on meds. Mason was way underdosed on Zantac by our ped. The GI put him on Prevacid (which the ped refused) and it worked wonders!

Hi Molly, I think I said in another post, give the Zantac another week or so to kick in. It doesn't help all kiddos, but it was our miracle drug.

Our dd had had her bottles thickened with rice cereal ever since she was 2 mos. old. She is currently no longer on the bottle at 14 mos. Like Bonnie said, if she's a silent refluxer, the fluids are still coming back up the esophagus, which may cause the damage. If you can prevent it from coming back, I'd try the thickening.

My dd never had a problem gaining weight either... don't know how with the amount she threw up constantly... but the thickening didn't hurt her. I wouldn't have gone any other way. I can't say that drs. know best, as a lot of us on here know, but I'd give it a try. If you're worried about her gaining weight, try thickening agents like Simply Thick or Thick It.

its definatley coming back up into her throat, you can hear it. The cereal may be helping, ill continue to do it, its definalty not hurting her and i really dont want to make matters any worse. Ill also give the zantac more time, whats the difference between zantac and prevacid? is prevacid stronger?

You've gotten great advice from Bonnie and Sandy already --- here's my two cents ...we starting thickening my son's bottles at about 6wks - but only 1tsp per oz. We didn't move to 2tsp per oz until his reflux peaked at about 4mths. But, if what you are doing is working, stick with it! :)

He too is a silent refluxer and rarely spits up. Sounds like your daughter might be one too!

I was doing 1 tsp per oz orig, but i thought since she was still unhappy and refluxing that it was because i wasnt doing the max cereal the ped told me to use (i though it was alittle much also) but now im thinking it has nothing to do with that, and maybe i havent giving the zantac enough time to work properly. i think ill go back down to 4tsp for her 4oz bottles. I use the readdy to feed so its thicker anyways. Do you find it better to blend in the cereal or just mix it in the bottles right before feeding?

I've always just mixed it in the bottle. I got a bunch of those long ice tea spoons at a thrift store - ran in the dishwasher on high, of course, before I used them. They work great for getting all the way down the bottle - we use the Dr Browns.

Oh - and I use Organic Brown Rice Cereal - I found that it mixes the best and has the least additives.

i will try that, we are currently using gerber oatmeal, maybe ill give the organic brown rice cereal a try?

I wanted to also add something. I'm not sure about thickening with rice as I always used Thick It or Simply Thick (Thick It caused major diareha, Simply Thick is beautiful stuff). But when you thicken, it needs to be thick enough to stay down. If it is still coming up a ton then it needs to be thicker or it's not doing anything. Mason's bottles were the consistency of honey....very thick. A nectar consistency is good too. But if it's still runny it won't do anything. You will probably need to get cereal nipples as well (Y-cut) or possible fast flow if it will fit through.

i will try that, we are currently using gerber oatmeal, maybe ill give the organic brown rice cereal a try?

My son can't tolerate Oatmeal so that was out for us...the Gerber Rice was hard to mix for us, didn't dissolve well at all. The Organic Brown Rice is very simple, just rice flour and a couple of other things.

You can find it at most of the stores now, also at Whole Foods, even saw it at Babies R Us! Brands are Earth's Best and Healthy Times.