Contrary to recent studies, Initially, it was thought that adding rice cereal to a baby's bottle at night would help them sleep longer without waking up to feed during the night.  Babies usually don't sleep more than 5 hrs at a time without waking up. They will instinctively wake up to feed whether they are hungry or not. So not only does adding rice cereal to a baby's bottle not keep them asleep, but it can also raise the risk of checking. Adding rice cereal to the baby bottle makes it thicker, and babies who get used to drinking thick milk like the cereals might later have difficulties telling solid foods apart from liquid foods. In addition, it can make the introduction of solid foods difficult.