Do you find your babies catch more bugs if formula fed?

[Thumbelina 3]

im getting to the point of wanting to swap from breast feeding to formula feeding. My son is 6 weeks. He was a big baby and just like his older sister did he feeds constantly and I find it very hard particularly as only sleeping for a maximum of 2 hours a night. My daughter was exactly the same and at this point i started combi feeding and did that until 4 months. Now I'd love to do that again now as find I'm always low of milk and just don't think I produce enough.

The only reason I'm breastfeeding is to boost his immune system in the hope he won't get all the bugs his sister brings back from pre school every week. I'm worried if I stop breastfeeding or combine formula aswel he will be ill all the time and be too little to cope with it. Saying that he's had 2 bad colds and a cough already

So do mums that formula feed find that their babies get lots of bugs?and maybe more so than their breast fed friends babies?

 

[modified]

My formula fed daughter, a tiny baby through the Scottish winter, has been sick twice with a very common respiratory infection. No ear infections, throat infections etc. Nothing like that at all.

 

[Elljo3]

All of mine have been ok really

 

[Thumbelina 3]

Thankyou for your replies that good to know

 

[mommie2be]

my son was formula fed starting around 3 weeks and he's only been sick twice in his 3 years !

 

[Indi84]

My son had breast milk his first month, formula after that, he gets sick no more or less then other children we know x

 

[justplay91]

My son was breastfed for 2 weeks and combi-fed until he was 2 months and then I switched exclusively to formula. He has been sick exactly one time when he was 2-3 months old. He caught a cold from me, and was sick for about half the time i was! My husband was also formula feed and I've seen him with a tiny cold maybe twice since we've been together. Whereas every year I get about 3 colds, and I was exclusively breastfed as a baby. It's a crapshoot, basically.

 

[bdb84]

My FF son has had less colds and ear infections than his BF (for 2.5 years!) little sister. He even managed to skip the flu that she came down with this past winter as well.

 

[BabyHopes1974]

I have bottle fed both my 6-month old girls since birth. They have only been sick once with a cold, which lasted a few days. This was at three months old.

 

[felix555]

My son never gets sick, he's had about 3 mild colds (actually maybe 2) in 26 months. People kept saying wait until he goes to nursery he will get sick all the time ... he's been there a month and hasn't got sick at all. Formula fed from about 3 days old

 

[Starry Night]

A lot of it is down to genetics, I think. All of my nephews and nieces (both sides of the family) were BF'd and my FF'd kids have not been sick any more times than any of them. When my DD was a newborn she seemed to be the one to NOT get sick in our family when a bug would go around. She just doesn't seem to get very sick even when she does get a bug. My oldest gets sick a little more often and worse but he has autism which often affects the immune system as well. Even so, he's generally very healthy and has to be quite sick before it slows him down. I mean, my DD was BF'd for 3 weeks before I switched and my son I switched only after a week and he was already being suplemented with formula. So, don't know if that made a difference. He didn't get his first cold until 3 months when another kid coughed in his face.