Yes, it is definitely not recommended to try the cereal in bottles, so I don't know if I would do that. It takes patience to get them to learn to eat from a spoon, so hang in there. As for adding stuff to the cereal, I never did that, as I wanted to keep my daughter away from sweet tasting stuff as long aspossible, so she wouldn't develop a preference for it. However, every baby and every situation is different, so you just need to do what feels right for you.