12 week old Twins born 38 weeks, rice bottles?

[Jaxandmollymo]

Should I adjust my babies developmental age b/c they were born at 38w? I feel like they eat all the time. They weight 10.5 and 11.5 lbs. they have reflux and their Dr recommended putting rice cereal in every bottle! They still eat all the time! Are 4oz bottles enough at this age?

[jessmum46]

No, 38 weeks is full term - you don't need to adjust

at your doctor suggesting rice cereal at their age though - their gut will not be mature enough to deal with cereal and it will likely cause all sorts of gas and constipation issues.  The earliest age recommended here for any solids is 17 weeks, and the WHO recommends exclusive milk feeds until 6 months.  There are commercially available thickeners for milk which would be much better if that is what your doctor is trying to achieve with the rice cereal.  You could have a look on the reflux board here Colic, Reflux, & Crying for some good info.

The general advice for amounts in bottles is that if they are finishing the bottle, add another oz.  you want them to stop feeding because they are full, not just because the bottle is empty.  Are they growing well?  How frequently are they feeding?

[Shiv52]

Rice cereal can be a choking hazard in bottles as far as I am aware. If they are draining 4oz bottles then you should be adding an oz.  how many ozs are they taking in a day? And how often?  There is a HUGE growth spurt at 3 months so it could be they have hit that. And again at 4 months.  And it can feel like they do nothing but eat.

Is their reflux under control?  Are they on medication?  Frequent small feeds can be a sign that reflux isn't under control.

But if they are draining bottles I would add an oz. the idea is that they stop drinking when they've bad enough, not just because they have run out of milk IYKWIM?

[Shiv52]

Posted with Katherine!

[Jaxandmollymo]

Oddly enough they have regular bowel movements now that they are on cereal bottles. It's not a lot of cereal. A tsp per oz of milk. They eat every 3 hours. And since we started cereal they aren't on medicine anymore. They drink about 30oz a day

[Shiv52]

Milk be it BM or formula has many many more calories per oz than rice cereal. So it could be they are filling up on the emptier calories and therefore not going longer between feeds. I would up the bottles by an oz and see does that help but not increase the rice. Also 3 hourly feeds is totally normal at this age.

[deb]

3 months/12 weeks, give or take, is a HUGE growth spurt. Babies normally need feeding far more frequently for a few days till either mom's milk supply adjusts or their appetites level off with the new feed amounts if bottle-fed.

If this is a normal growth spurt, I'd consider not doing the rice. It makes the feed thicker so it stays down better, but agree with PP about gut development. Keep an eye open for anything unusual tummy-wise: gas, discomfort, weird bowel movements. Grain carbs are pretty complex for little tummies to process.

[*Kara*]

Just an FYI - thickeners are no longer available in the USA (where poster is).

I would be tempted to stop the rice cereal as it is far too hard on their tummies - this is very old, and very outdated advice.

Enfamil does make a thickened formula that is available in the USA anywhere you can buy formula.  Here is a link to the product on the Enfamil website.  The other concern with rice cereal, aside from choking, is that it will artificially fill baby and prevent complete and proper nutrition.

http://www.enfamil.com/app/iwp/enf12/product.do?dm=enf&id=/Consumer_Home3/FeedingSolutions/EnfamilARLIPIL2&iwpst=B2C&ls=0&csred=1&r=3547767023