BF 15 week old getting constant colds/coughs - thought that bfing helped protect from this?

[peggotty]

Or do I have this wrong? My ds is 15 weeks and is on his 5th cold since being born - he has also had a stomach bug and a horrendous cough !! I thought that bfing helped to prevent constant illnesses of this sort? He is in contact with lots of older children, including his older sister, so he's picking it up from them presumably. Have I got my facts wrong?

You've got your facts right as far as the 'helped to prevent' bit goes - it could well be helping to prevent worse illness as you've not way of knowing what he would have if you weren't bf (and how badly). Also the level at which bf leads to less illness is statistical over large populations. Just as the occasional smoker lives to be 90 without a day's illness and nonsmokers can still get lung cancer, bf or not doesn't determine exactly what will happen to any one individual baby.

Sorry to hear your ds isn't well. I hope he gets better soon. As Wayfarerror says though, you don't know how much more ill he would be if he wasn't bf...

peg - my ds2 - 18 weeks also has caught loads of bugs and is excl bf. his older bro brings home bugs from school. agree with wayfarerror

My BF DS had 3 vomiting bugs by 9mths and constant colds/coughs from around 6-10mths, but he seems to have really "toughened up" since 10mths (13.5mths now)

I think it was just a combination of time of year (Oct-Apr is worst time for all these illnesses), older DD bringing things home and sucking on toys at playgroups etc

DD 3yrs was the same, but now she seems to be pretty resilient and only gets mild colds etc now, so I'm still convinced the bfing helps in the long run

Hope your DS is feeling better xx