Mums have come under fire after revealing they feed their babies 'knock-out bottles' to get them to sleep through the night.
The shocking trend sees mothers filling their baby's bottle with a concoction of milk with cereal, rice and in some cases even medicine .
The craze first came to light back in December 2019, when an American mum posted a picture of her baby's night time bottle which appeared to be filled with rice or cereal.
Shockingly the woman also admitted the concoction 'works every time, especially when (you) add some Tylenol (paracetamol)".
Following this, other women have posted pictures on social media of their baby's bottles filled with similar heavy mixes - prompting fears of choking.
The NHS's advice on bottle feeding is clear; absolutely nothing other than milk should go into a bottle.
They also advise that up to six months, babies are fed only breast milk or formula.
The website says: "Babies do not need baby rice to help them move to solid foods or sleep better.
"When using a bottle, do not put anything (such as sugar or cereals) in it other than breast milk or infant formula.
"Starting solid foods will not make your baby any more likely to sleep through the night."
Child nutritionist Charlotte Stirling-Reed told Mirror Online that parents shouldn't be using the bottles as a means of getting their babies to sleep.
"Knock-out bottles put babies at risk of choking," she said.
"It’s not ideal and not recommended to offer babies solid foods from bottles.
"The action of drinking milk is very different to the action of swallowing solid foods, and therefore this could potentially put babies at risk of choking.
"Additionally, formula milks need to be made using very specific measurements and so it’s not ideal to alter the proportions of milk/water in a baby's bottle."
Parents slammed the craze, some even claiming it can result in cot death.
One said: "Don’t do it... it’s extremely dangerous on their tummy and food in the bottle can cause SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)."
Another added: "This can actually choke babies. You’re not supposed to put that much food in there if you put any food in it at all. Just like adults they swallow different when it’s liquid verses food."
Another said: "People are just so ready for their kids to go to sleep they do stuff like this without even realising how dangerous it is."
