giving a 3 week old rice cereal- does this sound right to you?

[lovelylisa]

So, my little baby is a spitter upper and when she spits up, it comes out her nose sometimes. That kind of freaks me out. So I called our new pediatrician today, and she recommended a formula with Rice cereal  already added. Or, (since we BF) to mix a couple of tsp of cereal or oatmeal. per oz of pumped milk that I give her.

She's 3 weeks old. That sounds a little crazy to me, to be giving her rice cereal or oatmeal already. I think she should be nursing as much as possible.

Anyone else heard of their Ped. recommending this so soon? This doesn't sound right to me.

[Avani]

I would switch ped's immediatley. No that is very wrong. Keep nursing only please.

[NiteNicole]

That's a very common first suggestion when babies do a lot of spitting/throwing up.  My ped says in abou 10% of reflux babies, it makes things much better and in the other 90%, it makes it worse.  My own daughter was not keeping anything down and not gaining weight.  We tried mixing in the rice - which is essentially just a thickener - to make a very very runny consistency.  It didn't work at all for her.  For my niece?  All the difference in the world.  She started mostly keeping her milk down and gaining weight normally.  My daughter eventually had to go on Prevacid.

It may or may not be something you want to try, but it's not totally crazy unusual advice.

[Subhuti]

It sounds really old school.

For what it's worth, my first DD would spit up/regurgitate 30% of what she nursed ... until she was ... gees, I can't remember, I think she was standing / walking when it stopped.  We were told to bulk her up with formula (not w/rice mixed in) to get her weight up.  I wasn't into that at all.  Also, they offered pump inhibitors (pepsid?) ... which we declined.  

She did not, however, have it coming out of her nose -- I imagine that's more problemmatic.

GL with your little one.

[lovelylisa]

I had heard of the rice before...but not this young. My mil said she used to give it to my husband to get him sleep through the  night when he was older.

II also wonder if the spitting up thing is because shes so young. she was born at 35w 6days.

[Bokonon]

That's horrible advice and potentially very harmful.

Spitting up is usually a laundry problem and not a medical one.  Giving a newborn anything but breastmilk (or formula) can cause medical problems.

My kids were both epic spitters as infants.  It passed.  We went through a lot of burp cloths and laundry, but they gained weight beautifully and stopped spitting up by around 6 months.  My mother tells me that I spit up regularly until about a year, so obviously well after I was started on solids.

Is it possible that you have a forceful letdown?

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by lovelylisa 

I had heard of the rice before...but not this young. My mil said she used to give it to my husband to get him sleep through the  night when he was older.

II also wonder if the spitting up thing is because shes so young. she was born at 35w 6days.

OMG, your ped. is recommending rice cereal for a baby who hasn't even reached its due date yet???  Run, don't walk, away from this ped.

FWIW my babies both started spitting up while still in the NICU, and the nurses and neonatologists didn't even bat an eye.  It just wasn't a problem or a concern.

[MeredithA]

I agree with others who have said get a new ped -- immediately! What bad advice your doctor gave you! I had a very forceful letdown with my ds and he had some nose leakage as well. It didn't last long. By maybe 3-4 months he spit up a lot less, and it didn't come out his nose.

Maybe the new ped can take a look to make sure there isn't any issue with the velum (soft palate). Everything is probably just fine. Keep breastfeeding...maybe invest in a few extra burp cloths :-) 

[Adaline'sMama]

I would get a new ped asap.

I personally would never recommend feeding rice cereal, but if you are going to do I dont think its even recommended by most peds until 4 months. In fact, most rice cereal says on the packaging not to feed it to newborns.

[lovelylisa]

Originally Posted by Bokonon 

That's horrible advice and potentially very harmful.

Spitting up is usually a laundry problem and not a medical one.  Giving a newborn anything but breastmilk (or formula) can cause medical problems.

My kids were both epic spitters as infants.  It passed.  We went through a lot of burp cloths and laundry, but they gained weight beautifully and stopped spitting up by around 6 months.  My mother tells me that I spit up regularly until about a year, so obviously well after I was started on solids.

Is it possible that you have a forceful letdown?

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/fast-letdown.html

Wow, that kellymom link really sounds like what's been going on with us! I have an appointment next week  with a LC, so I will bring that up to her.
 

Edited by lovelylisa - 7/9/11 at 5:08pm

[BubblingBrooks]

Humans do not have the enzymes needed to absorb and digest grains until around the age of 2 or 3.
And on top of that, your baby still has an open gut, and feeding anything other then milk will cause damage.
 

In traditional cultures parents would feed grains to older babies, only after chewing it them first. The Amylase enzyme would be mixed into the grain from the saliva, and allow the baby to properly digest it.

[Alenushka]

I would see the pedi and ask her about possibility of Acid reflux. giving rice will do nothing for spit up and cause constupation at this age.

Originally Posted by lovelylisa 

So, my little baby is a spitter upper and when she spits up, it comes out her nose sometimes. That kind of freaks me out. So I called our new pediatrician today, and she recommended a formula with Rice cereal  already added. Or, (since we BF) to mix a couple of tsp of cereal or oatmeal. per oz of pumped milk that I give her.

She's 3 weeks old. That sounds a little crazy to me, to be giving her rice cereal or oatmeal already. I think she should be nursing as much as possible.

Anyone else heard of their Ped. recommending this so soon? This doesn't sound right to me.

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by BubblingBrooks 

Humans do not have the enzymes needed to absorb and digest grains until around the age of 2 or 3.
And on top of that, your baby still has an open gut, and feeding anything other then milk will cause damage.
 

In traditional cultures parents would feed grains to older babies, only after chewing it them first. The Amylase enzyme would be mixed into the grain from the saliva, and allow the baby to properly digest it.

We have been over this time and time again. Provide proof of this "open gut" woo-ness.

[Bokonon]

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 






We have been over this time and time again. Provide proof of this "open gut" woo-ness.

How is it "woo-ness"?

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Bokonon 

That's horrible advice and potentially very harmful.

On top of over active let down and massive over supply that caused "refluxiness" in my baby, it turned out (after dealing with the breastfeeding issues and also a dairy sensitivity he had) that he also had severe reflux. The acid-makes-his-vocal-cords-clamp-shut-so-baby-can't-breath kind of reflux. Not once did his specialists suggest rice cereal. In fact, one was so happy that he was exclusively breastfed, as breastfeeding helps with reflux.

So even if your baby had severe reflux, rice cereal is no longer recommended as a treatment (at least not by doctors who are up to date on the latest research it seems.) It's really "old school" as a PP said.

I too would be looking for a new doctor for my baby if I were given that advice! (We have a family doctor who we love.)

[macandcheese]

OMG. No, no, no. Is your ped. 85 years old? 

I agree with the others: get out of there! Either the spit up is normal newborn pukiness, or there's perhaps a reflux issue going on. Either way, rice cereal is not the answer!

[lovelylisa]

I didn't love this Ped to begin with (I loved our last Ped but we moved) so you all basically confirmed what I was feeling anyway.  Thanks :) I'm going to talk to the LC about the letdown thing, and maybe that'll help some of the spitting uppiness. Especially sometimes she flails about like she's getting a huge mouthful so that makes sense. 

My son was way into spitting up, so  I wasn't alarmed till I saw milk comng out heir nose.

[Marissamom]

my guess would be that the spit-up out the nose will go away with a little age (though once you find a better ped you should get her soft palate checked). is she laying when the spit comes out the nose? if so you can try having her on an incline or upright when she's likely to spit up and it's less likely to go out the nose.

[aikigypsy]

My baby had some reflux, and this was discussed as a treatment, but we never tried it. He gained well and wasn't miserable, so I didn't think there was any need to actively treat the reflux, especially not with drugs. I would have tried rice cereal before the drugs, though. His digestion seemed to improve slightly after introducing (homemade) rice cereal at 4 months adjusted age (5.5 months after his birth) but at 10 months he still spits up occasionally.

The advice to try rice cereal or oatmeal wouldn't make me drop the doctor, but if you have other issued with this pediatrician, it might add to the points against him/her. Our ped has given us much worse advice (to wean before 12 months?!?).

[maryeliz]

My baby has reflux and we tried rice when she was still in the NICU.  Like one of the pp said, our doc told us that rice works for some babies and doesn't work for others.  One other problem for breastfed babies is that breastmilk breaks down the rice reducing potential effectiveness (this was what the docs told us).  We tried the rice in breastmilk anyway, but unfortunately it did nothing.  I know a lot of people are horrified by the idea of giving young babies rice, but for me, in terms of trying to do no harm to a baby, I would rather use rice than medication.  Our docs put off using meds as long as possible because they said there are no good studies of the longterm effects of many of these meds-and some turn out to be scary,Reglan, for example, used to be widely prescribed but is now recognized to have serious potential side effects- which can potentially be a lot worse for babies than rice.  If my baby had shown any signs of having gut issues, or if we had a family history of allergies I might have said no to the rice.

All that said, after we tried the rice and it didn't work, we moved to zantac, which also didn't work.  My lo has now been taking prevacid for six months and it works really well for her.

ETA: It looks like there is a discussion in Breastfeeding Challenges that might be useful to you about figuring out whether a baby is having reflux issues or a hindmilk/foremilk issue.

Edited by maryeliz - 7/10/11 at 9:29am