Third child - always ill?

[nearlythree]

I've been told to expect that our ds will always be ill as he has two sisters close in age to him. They have had some stonking illnesses this year and I think that they woudl be too much for a tiny baby to cope with. Is it true that third babies get ill all the time?

[gingernut]

Well, my ds1 seemed to be ill all the time as a toddler (not so much as a baby) but ds2 has actually seemed to catch fewer bugs despite being exposed to plenty of them via his brother and other friends. Am touching wood now because we are going away next week!

[nearlythree]

gingernut, did you bfeed or bottlefeed?

[coppertop]

Dd is a 3rd child. She's only 5mths old but hasn't been ill at all - not even a cold.

[Jimjams2]

ds3 (touch wood) 19 months been ill once (chickenpox). Maybe some other minor stuff, not sure. He's bottlefed as well - from fairly early on- 4 months or so (other 2 were bfed for 13 months in ds1's case, and over 2 in ds2's case).

[nearlythree]

Poor ds is only 3 mo and has had two colds plus CP. Dd2 is my sickly one and she was bfed until 22 months. Dd1 was and ds is bottlefed.

Thanks for all the replies!

[gingernut]

They were both mixed fed for a few weeks then bottlefed.

[nearlythree]

Thanks, gingernut. Ds got a week's worth of milk before I had to stop. I'm not sure bf makes a great deal of difference.