Baby rice to thicken formula?

I can’t help with info regarding the baby rice but have you tried Thix OD? It’s a different type of thickening agent, just an idea!

How is baby reacting to the carobel? I find it’s kind of about choosing the lesser of two evils. So my little one can get trapped wind and suffer with that in the evenings using the carobel. But the alternative is he has constant reflux and vomiting, and can’t lay down comfortably. Baby rice in the bottle is a huge choking risk so im not sure many would recommend it. I don’t think there are any other thickeners in the UK licensed to use for babies. I know there’s magic mix and thick n easy but I don’t think a GP will usually prescribe these.

I’ve recently started putting a teaspoon of baby rice in my daughter’s formula throughout the day but more for hunger reasons. My ( 5 week old at the time) baby was easily downing 6-7oz every 45mins and was constantly fussy as though she was never fully satisfied. MIL told me about baby rice and I was skeptical at first but as soon as we tried it she took 5oz and then slept for 3 hours straight. She has had issues with mild reflux and I’ll be honest this did seem to help. The only thing we had to do was make the teat hole a bit wider as it wasn’t coming out at first x

I totally understand the desperation as my baby has bad reflux too, and it’s horrible to see them struggle, but please don’t resort to the baby rice as it’s such a choking hazard. Have you spoken to the GP again about a different option for thickening the milk? And I presume you’ve tried a smaller teat size to slow the flow of the milk? It’s so difficult but I’ve heard reflux massively improves once babies are ready to be weaned onto solids so there is hope on the horizon!

Definitely not, speak to the GP

@Maddie oh no I haven’t heard of it! Il have a look thank you! X

@Ayesha so he has explosive mucousy poos constantly and really painful tummy with excessive wind and in pain after feeding. I’ve tried magic mix and he still threw up a lot of his bottle constantly after feeding 😩 thank you though x

@Jules yeah I do worry but some say 4+ months on them so since he’s almost 4 months I thought I could try as surely they can’t label that in shops if it’s such a danger to babies?? And all older people keep telling me they used it at like 8 weeks back in the day and never had issues so just wanted to question it! But yeah tried smaller teat, didn’t work! And GP said there’s nothing else they can prescribe unfortunately 😩 thank you though! X

@Emily thank you for replying! So from 5 weeks you used just one teaspoon per bottle? I just think surely it can’t be much different to the thickners some people use like thick n easy? I’m part of CMPA group and people have had thick and easy prescribed for them and it’s for 3+ years so makes you wonder! Xx

It’s putting it into the milk specifically that makes it such a risk though so I still would say absolutely not to do it. Also the GP would have advised to try it if it was safe or beneficial x

Have u used caribol my little one was exactly the same and thats a milk thickener! Don’t use baby rice at all especially not that young hun and what milk do u use? Theres 21 different types of milk & it is all a hit & miss u literally need to try different ones i know i tried 7/8 before i found the one if u wanna message me on here i can help u because im was exactly the same i’d cry myself to sleep

I wouldn't put baby rice into milk, it's a massive choking hazard and also a digestive risk as their stomachs aren't fully developed. Ok they say well it's what I did with so & so and they are ok, but there wasn't the research back then. Maybe a stupid question but how do you know the milk is ok if still have issues?

@Ikraa yeah he’s reacting to it unfortunately which is so frustrating as it keeps milk down completely 😩x

No definitely don't do this, I'd speak to the GP instead. There's loads of things they did "back in the day" that are absolutely not safe to do now, well they never were safe!

Does your baby definitely need the CMPA milk? We are using Cow & Gate anti reflux milk (it’s super thick) and he’s barely sick now. Before he was constantly sick! My first had really bad reflux too and we tried absolutely everything but nothing worked other than age and growing out of it unfortunately. But with this baby the cow and gate formula has worked a treat x