Does your breastfed child ever get unwell?

[brilliantdances]

DS is almost 4 and never had sickness bug - He has just never been sick.

He didn't get a cold until well over 18 months?! But what sticks out for me the most is him never catching any vomiting bugs before

He was breastfed until age 3.5.

I'm pregnant again and really don't want to breastfeed again.

I'm wondering, is it far more likely new baby will be ill more often? I heard all types of horror stories about them picking stuff up from nursery but DS never has for some reason and I can only imagine it's breastfeeding

Thank you!

I think it’s luck, possibly helped by a good diet. I know breastfed babies that are always sick with some bug or another. I do think breastfeeding helped to comfort my babies when they had colds when little but that’s it

You can’t predict this for an individual. It might be more likely they get ill earlier simply due to having an older sibling. There’ll be plenty of anecdotal evidence either way if you look for it but will it be helpful?

There’s a bit more chance of certain illnesses when you look at the population as a whole but I think you are better basing your decision on how you personally feel about breastfeeding.

Genetics has a lot to do with how well equipped your immune system is, but yes, scientifically breastfeeding does reduce infection rates in children on a population wide basis.

I’m sure you’ll have multiple people come on to share anecdotal “evidence”, but this won’t be factually correct.

It’s unusual to have bf one child for that amount of time, to then not wish to bf at all, do you mind if I ask why?

I bf-d both of mine well over a year. Dc1 is very healthy, very few ailments, rarely gets sick. Dc2 gets everything, all the time, plus he has eczema, hay-fever and he's a much fussier eater. I think it's totally individual! I know plenty of ff kids who are never ill too.

I’ve read a lot that breastfeeding help protect against some illnesses (I guess passed on immunity).

However o think there are big variances in different people too. My son and daughter were both breastfed but my son is ill much more generally with sickness bugs. My husband has quite a weak immune system in the sense that he picks up everything and gets it much worse than I do.

Mine was exclusively breastfed until 10 months and was in and out of hospital with asthma and severe eczema as a baby whilst I breastfed. Thankfully she grew out of it. My son went on formula aged 4 months and was never sick as baby (fingers crossed it remains that way as he's only 2 now). I think you lucked out OP !

Lol, first child formula fed & never sick.
Second child breastfed until 3yr 3mo & has been so poorly! Monthly colds, sickness bugs, terrible UTIs, A&E so many times! Poor little mite.
Third child breastfed so far for 3 months & has had 2 bad colds & a stomach bug resulting in bad nappies for a week or so.

I think it’s first children who are less sick as the bugs come with the older children!

My 20 month old is still breastfed. He had bronchiolitis when he was 1 month old which required antibiotics and a hospital stay. Since then he has been pretty healthy with just 1 cold this winter. He has never vomited. I put it down to his childcare setting though as he attends a childminder with only 3 others in a wholly oudoor setting. Those in nurseries seem to get the most bugs.

DD1 was terrible and she was bottle fed for the first couple of months and then BF. We always kind of blamed it on a terrible birth

But they definitely all got sick. Actually I have thread going on about giving paracetamol to my BF DC3

Both of mine were breastfed. DS1 for 10 months, he was croupy and generally prone to chest infections, although a big strong chap. Weedy DS2 was breastfed for 2.5yrs and has never ailed a thing (adult now). Literally never threw up in his life until he discovered alcohol . He’s always been fascinated with doctors because he’s hardly ever been near one in a professional capacity 🤣.
Appreciate this is totally anecdotal evidence! However one thing that crosses my mind is that DS1 was 7 when DS2 was born so he got exposed to all the bugs from school which may have boosted his immune response. He’s also a redhead and I have lots of theories about them

DD and DS both fully FF after the first couple of days. Neither of them have ever had a sickness bug of any kind. DD gets ear infections occasionally, and had CMPA as a baby. DS had eczema once when he was little, and has had a chest infection. Both of them get the normal colds and coughs every so often. Other than that they are extremely healthy kids!

My sister breastfed her two and they are always ill with bugs and viruses. My other sister bottle fed and smoked through pregnancy has an 11 year old that's very very rarely ill and has never had a sick bug. I don't think it's anything to do with how they're fed.

Both mine were bottlefed and are very rarely ill. DD is 11 and I think has has 2 episodes of sickness in her life. Both have never had that green nose snotty colds that young kids get. Both their dad and I are rarely I'll too so maybe passed down from us

I was entirely FF nearly 50 years ago and I'm never ill. It's a mixture of genetics, looking after myself and god luck.

Both my children were breastfed until age 14 months (exclusively until they were weaned at 6 months).
They had a fair share of vomiting bugs, colds, tonsillitis etc.

My first son was breastfed for 14 months. He was hospitalised several times due to extremely high fevers and wheezing.

Luck of the draw I believe. My son now is 10 weeks and he's not been sick once x

Mine did but only because I got it and it made it easier for me to transmit it to him. On the other hand, he recovers very easily from it.

I just stopped BF my son at almost two and he always got every cold going at nursery.

Has your 4 ye old been to nursery? I think that makes a big decision in how often they get ill.
But it's either now or at school so 🤷

I breastfed DS for 18 months and he was always picking things up. I do like to think it helped him avoid some bugs but I'll never know.

Like, BF-ing doesn't mean your child will not get sick

If you don't want to BF, don't. I hated BFing bit persevered however now I am pregnant again I really don't think I want to this time around.

My formula fed baby has never been ill, but several friends who breastfed their babies said they were constantly coming down with coughs and colds during the baby years. Go figure!

DD is nearly 3, bf til 2y4m and I can count on one hand the times she's run a temperature. A few colds yes and a sickness bug just after she started preschool at 2y9m. That's it, touch wood, thank God. She did have food allergies though and eczema.

Thanks all that commented!

Doesn't seem to be much difference either way then! Obviously just lucked out for 3.5 years with DS

I breastfed for 4 years and DC got endless colds and tummy bugs.

Yep! More so than bottle fed older sibling who is literally NEVER ill and has an iron constitution.

I’d still breast feed if I was to do it again because less washing up etc but honestly in my very small experiment with 2 samples there was no benefit at all re health