Is there any difference between FF & BF babies in your opinion?

[eblue]

I FF my first but now thinking about BF for my second. I wonder though from people's experiences on here, what difference in any did you see in a FF vs BF baby?

I'm not wanting to start a controversial thread, fed is best and I don't judge anybody for how they decide to feed their child. I just want opinions.

I wish my 3 year old was like that. FF from birth and is the shittest sleep ever, has been from day one!

There's obviously going to be lots of FF baby who are shit sleepers and BF babies who sleep 12 hours a night.

I'm talking about general trends

Sod all difference - I've done both.

In my opinion, decide best on which best suits you and your lifestyle. I actually sweat by combi feeding.

Do you have a source for that breastfed babies are more likely to get milk allergy. I've read its FF babies who are more likely to get it.

Its common knowledge that its down to the baby and genetics

@Alloveragain3 my breastfed son has slept through the night since 12 weeks and now 21 months and still does between 10 and 12 hours

My eldest was ff 100%, my second 100% breastfed.

My eldest is my healthiest. My second had asthma, eczema, hayfever, allergies and much more.

@blackpanth

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30267891/

www.healio.com/news/allergy-asthma/20230106/early-sustained-introduction-to-cows-milk-formula-inhibits-igemediated-allergy

I have a vested interest as my firstborn is anaphylactic to cow's milk and was ebf.
Currentlt trying to avoid the same for DC2!

My health visitor told me she formula fed her first and breastfed her second and they both live on chicken nuggets now

I BF both of mine, one was always ill and the other wasn't! One very sporty and the other academic. My experience from family and friends was that ff babies bulked up quicker but my smallest was ff initially due to low weight and remains forever skinny, oldest was a chunk and never touched formula. Neither gained anywhere near the weight of babies I know who were ff but they're all still under 11 so I can't say I've noticed any difference long term. I found ff a huge faf if I'm honest and would avoid if I had another but friends and family who did ff were able to leave their kids from a very young age even overnight with family so they preferred that, I never left mine as it wasn't my preference and if I had would have expressed but it didn't bother me as it wasn't my intention anyway but its something to consider if you do intend to leave baby for long periods from a young age as I think ff probably makes that easier. Mine could be left for 4 hours from quite young when needed so I managed to escape when needed for appointments etc just to give you an idea. Mine both slept terribly but I have friends who have had similar with ff and all night sleepers on bf so I have no idea what works best for sleep!

I think ff babies sleep better and for longer, and it’s easier for the mother. In terms of health, no. And I’m sure studies have now shown max you get is maybe they are saved from an ear infection or something.

i also don’t think there is a difference in comfort or closeness, feeding is feeding.

@blackpanth

I disagree that it's common knowledge, and would put forward that many people feel FF babies sleep longer.

As I say, it's purely my opinion based on anecdotes.

I'd be interested to see any studies, not sure if they've been done

My experience from parents I knew was those who knew that there was a possibility of milk allergies because they/their older dc had a milk allergy were more likely to breastfeed as the dairy free formula was pretty horrible.
I also knew a couple who successfully returned to breastfeeding having changed to formula and then discovered the allergy.

That might well skew the statistics.

Thats your opinion but it is. Some babies like sleep. Some don't. They're all different. It's not how they're fed to how well they sleep

I’m not sure that’s true, a full tummy helps a baby sleep longer, v waking up hungry,

It is not just anecdotal that breastfed babies wake more frequently than formula fed, it is fact. The hormones in breast milk are different at night than in the day, and it is a protective factor that breastfed babies wake more frequently, it reduces SIDS.

Having said that I don't believe there are magical health benefits, all three of mine were breasted until at least 18 months and never had formula. 1 is now a teenager and has never once been to a doctor for illness, never needed antibiotics, amazing immune system, average academically. But I don't put it down to being breastfed. The next two had cows milk allergies, picked up every illness, one had chicken pox at 6 months while still EBF, every virus going, one had eczema and asthma. None of them slept through until I stopped breastfeeding and it happened within days of stopping each time.

I was EBF and I have endometriosis and I'm skinny. My baby is FF and hasn't had any breast milk apart from colostrum. I don't feel bad for FF.

It's really not. It is down to the baba. My son is breastfed and loves his sleep. 😊

#1 - FF
#2 - exclusively BF for about 300 years (or so it felt)
#3 - BF with top up formula

#1 was the highest achieving academically, has ASD and was always ill. Still often ill, I believe this is due to severely restricted diet (zero fruit/veg. Completely beige diet). Overweight. By far the worst sleeper, didn’t sleep through the night for the first time until 4 years old.

#2 rarely ill but has oral allergy syndrome and is allergic to almost everything. Normal weight. Amazing sleeper.

#3 Never ill as a child but has been suffering from Long Covid for the past two years. Always been very skinny. Good sleeper.

All have eczema/asthma/hayfever.

I was completely FF and whilst I was and am small I still thrived. It also allowed my DF to feed me. I was rarely sick and very clever. I was also a great sleeper.

My DS was BF up to 6 months and he too has been rarely sick and is very clever. He was a shocking sleeper and it was compared to an adult trying to sleep when their favorite meal is JUST THERE! He went onto FF and then cows milk and it was difficult to get him off the bottle.

You could give it a go and see how you feel?

@Alloveragain3 parentingscience.com/baby-sleep-patterns/#:~:text=Baby%20sleep%20patterns%20are%20shaped,%3B%20Touchette%20et%20al%202013).

@blackpanth

In this article, it literally says:

For example, babies who are breastfed tend to experience more frequent arousals than babies who are formula-fed. Researchers suspect this is one reason why breastfed infants have lower rates of SIDS (Horne et al 2004b; Franco et al 2000

Also, when it says a mix of genetic and environmental factors playing a role, one of the environmental factors will be how the baby is fed

So this article that you sent backs up my opinion that FF babies sleep better

@Reugny what’s the socio economic and ethnic background connection?

Purely anecdotal but mine have been tongue tied so I’ve had to get private divisions and I can see that being cost prohibitive for people on lower incomes, but then they say bf is cheaper?

curious about the ethnic connection, my husband is south Asian and from all the women in his family (and there are many) none who’ve had their kids in the UK have bf

Exactly.

I've never had a hungry, crying baby waiting for a bottle, I've also never had to 'faff' with going downstairs in the night constantly either which some people also seem to believe always happens because I had a prep machine upstairs.

He also had a feeding schedule from early on and would feed every 3 hours during the day like clockwork so it was easy to be sure a bottle was ready for 10am, 1pm etc.

My dentist says she can tell if a patient has been FF or BF - something to do with the jaw development.

OP - for every study that shows breastfeeding is 'best' there will be another that shows the same about bottle feeding.

Fwiw, I was involved in a project a few years ago reviewing only controlled / gold standard studies on feeding babies. This excluded poorly designed studies (e.g. those utilising shoddy research methods, poor sample size etc.) The conclusion was that there are some small health-related benefits for some breastfed babies, but probably not enough to justify deciding to breastfeed if a mother didn't want to/it didn't fit with her lifestyle. Also, those fairly minor health-related benefits dropped away fairly rapidly, and there was no evidence of long-term differences in health, or any other variable.

I breastfed both my babies and loved it, primarily because I was lucky enough that it was relatively easy for me. However, having seen the proper evidence base I'd have formula-fed in a heartbeat if breastfeeding hadn't been straightforward.

As many others have said, the most important thing for your baby is a happy mum, so do what works for you and your family. Good luck!