Breastfeeding question

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Hey all. Currently exclusively breastfeeding my 6mo DS. I have 2 other DC & the reason for me carrying on breastfeeding is that everyone says it passes my antibodies to the baby & protects from illnesses etc.
Don't kill me but is that actually true?
I've been breastfeeding since day one & my ds has always got a cold and catches everything. I never get colds and seem to be immune to everything that's going around. Wish my baby was the same since breastmilk is supposed to help 😬

It doesn’t make them immune but it helps. Breastfeeding can’t prevent everything

Breastmilk has thousands of components, it does all kinds of amazing things and scientists are only just beginning to understand how it all works.

Formula has the nutrients your baby needs but breastmilk has extra stuff that support your baby's gut health and immune system. It's about lifelong health as well as the immediate susceptibility to colds etc. Eg breastfeeding is linked to lower rates of obesity and other diseases.

www.medela.com/breastfeeding/mums-journey/breast-milk-composition

It's also free and doesn't take time to prep!

Everyone stops at some point, but I wouldn't stop just because your baby gets colds.

I’ve bf all of mine but my son did get eczema and asthma, anyway i don’t regret it as I actually enjoyed bf so wouldn’t have done anything different

There’s supposed to be a very small advantage to bfing but not really noticeable unless on a population level

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/parenting/3616907-Mothers-who-have-both-FF-and-BF-children

@EnidFrighten there’s a tiny benefit I wouldn’t call it ‘amazing’

It’s amazing on paper in how it works but the actual tangible benefit is really tiny

Yes it's true your milk adapts with antibodies depending on what your exposed to and in a short time frame if you have antibodies to it.

With covid a study found that mothers who had covid passed the antibodies to it through breastmilk, same with the vaccine the vaccine components don't pass through but the antibodies your body creates does. There is quite a few studies on the breastfeeding drugs network website if interested.

There was due to be a study before the vaccination came along in fact giving donated milk from mothers who had covid to the elderly in Holland I think to see if it also helped their immune system.

[quote Glassofshloer]@EnidFrighten there’s a tiny benefit I wouldn’t call it ‘amazing’

It’s amazing on paper in how it works but the actual tangible benefit is really tiny[/quote]
@glassofshloer it's not a tiny benefit, it's fine not to breastfeed if overall that suits the family better for whatever reason

It's a tricky thing to research as bf often correlates with other advantages like income and parents education, but eg

72% lower risk of hospitalisation for lower respiratory tract infection
50% lower risk of ear infection
38% lower risk of SIDS
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/the-benefits-of-breastfeeding/255206/
www.bpas.org/get-involved/campaigns/briefings/breastfeeding-and-formula-feeding/

It's not a magic ingredient that can turn your baby into a genius or save them from ever getting ill, but it does have real and significant benefits.

There are 2 main causes for antibodies to be passed through breastmilk

1. You are ill and making antibodies, your breasts pass antibodies to DC as a preventative.
2. DC gets ill, puts germs on your boob while feeding, your breasts pass antibodies to dc at a later feed (assuming they recognise the germs as such).

Neither will totally prevent your DC getting ill but they are less likely to get seriously ill and more likely to recover quickly.

It’s statistically unlikely to make a difference to individual babies in the developed world. It can help prevent some gastro infections (I think something like 24 full-time bfing mothers can prevent one gastro infection in one of their children) but when you look at sibling studies and proper longitudinal trials the differences become minimal or zero.

There’s even some evidence that longer bf duration can lead to higher incidence of food allergies. That’s not really a causal relationship though - it’s probably more to do with the likelihood of EBF mothers introducing solid food at a later age.

In the developing world the advantages over formula are often lifesaving but in the UK, not really. Have you ever been able to spot the difference between a bf and a ff child?