How Much Cereal Should be Added to Formula?
New parents are often told by well-meaning friends and relatives that they should add infant cereal to their baby’s bottle, usually to get a baby to sleep through the night. But adding cereal to formula is not safe and should only be done on a pediatrician’s recommendation for babies who suffer from acid reflux (see “References” below). Is Adding Cereal to Formula Safe? Infants who do not have the ability to eat solid foods do not have the ability to swallow cereal mixed with formula, even if it is in a bottle. In some cases, infants under 4 months have aspirated or choked on baby cereal (see “References” below). Adding infant cereal to formula also can delay developmental milestones for an infant to begin eating solid foods. Does Adding Cereal to Formula Help an Infant Sleep Longer? The Cleveland Clinic Foundation has issued a report stating, “There was no statistically significant trend or a consistent tendency of one group to have a higher proportion of sleepers than the other. Ther
