Is It Safe to Add Rice Cereal to Baby Formula?

Does adding rice cereal to baby formula at night really help a baby sleep longer? Is adding rice cereal to formula safe?

—Dewey user

Adding rice cereal to bottles before bed does not lead to longer sleep. This is an area where we have randomized trial evidence. A 1989 paper randomized 106 infants into either rice cereal added to their bottle before bed or not. Babies were followed from 4 to 21 weeks, with detailed data collected on sleep one night per week. The authors found no evidence that the cereal group slept better than the non-cereal group.

A more recent JAMA article does argue that earlier introduction of solids in general might improve sleep, but this is about more than cereal in the bottle at night, so is less relevant. Bottom line: It is not recommended that you add rice cereal to the bottle at night, and there isn’t evidence for improved sleep.

In terms of safety … in cases of severe reflux, doctors will sometimes consider “thickened feeds” as a solution — thickening breast milk or formula with oat cereal (not usually rice). This isn’t a first-line defense, but there is some evidence that it can help, with limited safety issues. However: this isn’t something you’d do without consultation with your doctor, and it is not in the service of better sleep.