Not seeing any health benefits from ebf. Is breast really best?

[SpoonfulOfJam]

My LO is nearly 5 months old and on his 5th cold. Each one worse than the last and lasting about 2 weeks. So he's been under the weather for approximately half his life. Yeas, he's a winter baby, but also ebf. I thought my milk was meant to keep him healthy and give him a better start to life than formula.

Looking at ff family members who are strong, healthy and rarely ill, I am seriously questioning whether breast is actually any different to ff in terms of the child's health. Is the only benefits really that there is no sterilising involved (and that it's immediate and can be done half asleep - which is why I don't intend to move to ff).

So I guess I'm asking if anyone knows why we are encouraged to bf, why I keep hearing breast is best when in fact my LO is always poorly.

Dd was ff from birth and never had colds etc and no allergies. Extremely healthy touch wood....

I used to worry that it would harm her in some way if I didn't bf. wish I hadn't worried at all.

I know how you feel. My DD is 10 months, EBF and on her third bout of tonsilitis. Although the GP has said that there is no scientific relationship, all three bouts have occurred as she's cut new teeth. It is really frustrating but when I tried to give her formula (refusing boob when Ill) her reaction was so strong that although she has become unwell, she knows she prefers breast milk so I've taken some comfort in that. Good luck and I hope your baby gets well soon

DS was EBF and still BFed at two. He was always ill with colds and tummy bugs and has allergies.

It turns out he has an immune system deficiency so breastfeeding him was the absolute best thing I could have done for him. He's much better now he's older and rarely ill

A friend EBFed her two well into toddlerhood - DC1 until around 3, and DC2 still going strong at past 2. They seem to have shocking immune systems - all three of them (not sure if Dad manages to escape the illnesses) have had a very bad time with ear infections and other things, my friend herself has had at least one very nasty case of flu in that time as well.

I EBFed DS up until 16m. He was prem as well, so supposedly his immune system might have been weaker as a result. He has barely been ill in two years - a stomach bug maybe three times, a mild bout of croup, a few viruses, but nothing major. I think he just happens to have a very strong constitution.

So there you go - in my sample of two, it apparently makes jeff all difference! Or BF provided benefits in both cases, but as you have no way of knowing what it would have been like if they had been FF instead, how can you tell? The health statistics are on a population basis, and can't really be applied specifically to individuals. BF is a great thing, but it doesn't offer any guarantees!

In the seven months I breastfed DD we both had three colds and two vomiting bugs. In the 18 months since she's had one cold and one UTI. I'm never ill (until I got cancer ho ho!) so I think the breastfeeding wore me down much my immune system was fucked.

My FF son has had one cold in 7 months. Hardly scientific research of course. Just my experience.

I just want to draw attention to what Pooka said. Breastmilk is the biological norm, not a miracle food that will turn your baby into super baby.

The health benefits of breastfeed are long term, mostly.

Of breastfeeding

I think it just depends. 2 of the sickliest kids I know were EBF for over a year. However I also know a sickly FF kid.

Don't think breast is any better than formula, but if you can do it and it works for you then fine!

MissWimpeyDimple I whole heartedly agree with your post. My children have all been formula fed, no health problems. Had I feed them myself I am sure they would have inherited my health problems.

I know many breast fed children who were sickly babes, many who now have major problems.

Breastfeeding does not pass on a mother's 'health problems', apart from HIV.I am assuming you did not mean that, though, dances.

In contexts where health care is good, like ours in the UK, you cannot ever be certain that breastfeeding/formula feeding makes a measurable difference in an individual baby.

It's only when research is done on large cohorts that the difference is clear. This is why the strongest evidence for bf and health is in the short term, not the long term. It's not a huge leap to suggest that there are long term effects as well, but they are more difficult to show because other variables can be hard to control for. Nevertheless, with good research, long term benefits do emerge....you do need good studies though.

I took pregnacare bf while bf. DD didnt have a cold for about 9m.
I do think what you eat / vitamin deficiencies you have are important, you need a strong immune sysrem to fight off the viruses to make antibodies to put in the milk.
It probably does make a difference how much you go out, where to and whether they are in nursery or siblings.
.

My FF child has been pretty much fine

My BF child has had quite a lot of health problems.

A friends FF child has been very poorly, and another friends BF kid is the picture of health.

I go with the saying "Breast is best, if it is working for both of the people involved"

As I understand it the immune benefits of breastfeeding are pretty clear, at least on a population level. I do wonder though when people take a 'breast milk or nothing' kind of attitude whether this is still the case and whether combination feeding might give the best of both worlds when there is a supply issue. (I had massive supply problems, my milk didn't come in properly for 8-9 days, and I've ended up combination feeding.) I think it would be interesting to see more studies around this, as there don't seem to be many.

There are some studies which compare full bf with no bf with partial bf (otherwise known as combined feeding). Check out the UK's Millennium Cohort study. Partial bf does bring some immune benefits - less than full bf, but still measurable.

tiktok does partial BF include those who got all their colostrum but then switched to FF from an early stage, or is it combination feeding for a longer time? Just wondering if the benefits of a baby at least getting this is measurable.

I don't know any studies which have compared babies who have had colostrum and who have gone on to solely ff after that, with babies who have bf for longer. We do know that colostrum has anti-infective properties, and logic would suggest that babies are protected by it.

I think it's more to do with winter babies and an increase in RSV which spreads like wildfire. Dd1 was a spring baby, ebf and was never unwell. She has severe allergies. Dd2 was a winter baby, ebf and had cold after cold, bad coughs and bronchiolitis. She has no allergies so far.

So, you see it's hard to say. However, I believe that dd would have been far more unwell when has bronchiolitis has she not been bf. She comfort fed her way through it and wasn't as poorly as my friend's babies.

But then this is all anecdotal. Studies time and time again have shown the risks associated with not bf. Plus for me it just feels like the most natural thing in the world. Human baby. Human milk.

And dances you don't inherit health problems if you bf?

Hi. OP here (nc a while back when I couldn't log in).

Really interesting posts, especially talking about my own diet and possible vitamin deficiency.

LO is nearly 10 months, still breast fed and slowly taking to solids.

Amazingly he has been healthy for pretty much the last 5 months. When we started weaning I discovered he has a number of allergies/ intolerances. I've cut out the allergens from my diet and we are doing BLW so we are all eating the same food. I really believe that in my LO's case, all his problems- the colds and eczema, were down to my diet; too much egg and dairy for him to cope with.

It's a funny one, turns out ff was never going to be possible for us, but at the same time it was my breast milk that was giving him problems. (All of this is speculation and mother's instinct- we are getting absolutely nowhere with the NHS). I really regret that I didn't persue the allergy idea earlier on, I spoke to HV who told me not to bother cutting out dairy and I listened to her.

I think the most important thing I've learned over the last 10 months, is to trust my instinct. And also that MN is a hugely informative and supportive resource!

Yes, dairy can cause snottiness and so on. So pleased you've got an answer and have seen an improvement in his health. Lovely update.