Do Thickened Feeds Help Reflux?

Thickened feeds — Thickening formula or expressed breast milk may help to reduce the frequency of acid reflux and is a reasonable approach to reducing symptoms in a healthy infant who is gaining weight normally.

Why does thickened formula help reflux?

Your doctor may recommend adding one to two teaspoons of rice cereal to the formula if your infant has mild, recurring episodes of acid reflux. The thickened formula will make the stomach contents heavier and harder to regurgitate, which means they're less likely to come back up.

Does bottle cereal help reflux?

Bottom line: Adding cereal to your baby's bottle is unlikely to fix their reflux. But as I tell my patients, however, it's worth a shot at 1 teaspoon per ounce of formula (any more than that they'll suck like the dickens to get the formula from the nipple and swallow lots of air).