Do you find your baby gets more bugs and illness 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?

 

[MrsT&Ben]

I can't compare as I've only bf my babies for the first couple of days but neither of my children have been particularly 'sickly' children. Just the odd cough and cold. Which no amount of bf will protect them from. Alot of it is down to genetics!

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

Nope! My daughter will be 2 this month, and has had a 24 hour random fever... that's it. No colds, no ear infections, no bugs, zip. She was exclusively formula fed and I didn't breastfeed her once (by choice). Most of the women I know breastfeed, and their little ones are always sick with something - especially this past winter.

Each baby is so different!

I hope you make the choice that works best for you and your baby. Congrats on your son.

 

[minties]

My son was breastfed until 18 months and has only had 2 colds in his life, the second one being in the last couple if weeks.

Sophie was also breastfed, until 11 months, and she has had a few illnesses - probably 6 or 7 bad colds. She has one right now.

It's normal for preschool aged kids to get 6-12 colds per year, and I expect at least half of those would be passed onto your baby regardless if how you choose to feed. Don't give it a second thought.

 

[krissie328]

Nope, my son has been almost exclusively bottle fed since 2 weeks and has been sick once. My friend who breastfed all three of hers always has sick kids, probably 2-3 major illnesses a year with several more colds.

 

[Googiepie]

Nope, my daughter is 18 months old and has only really been sick once..didn't last more than a day or so. She was formula fed.

 

[misspriss]

I don't have experience with FF, but my BF son has only had a few colds in his life, most of which he got after I got pregnant and had a lot less or no milk.

 

[Vicky_92]

I BF my son for 6 weeks, he developed reflux, they tried me expressing and putting a thicker in it, but it didn't work and he was moved to SMA staydown. Even tho he was BF at the start he caught every cold, bugs etc there was.

 

[Thumbelina 3]

Thanks so much for the replies makes me feel a lot better. I feel under a lot of pressure to keep on breastfeeding because of all the benefits it gives them but just find it really hard and not sure it's working for me.

 

[krissie328]

Thanks so much for the replies makes me feel a lot better. I feel under a lot of pressure to keep on breastfeeding because of all the benefits it gives them but just find it really hard and not sure it's working for me.

It is a hard choice. I couldn't breastfeed because I had no supply. I was pretty well encourage to switch to formula by my doctor and reluctantly I did. After all the guilt wore off it was really the best choice for us and I will happily do it for #2.

 

[Kitteh_Kat]

Thanks so much for the replies makes me feel a lot better. I feel under a lot of pressure to keep on breastfeeding because of all the benefits it gives them but just find it really hard and not sure it's working for me.

There was a study done that looked at siblings where one was breastfed and the other formula fed, and basically both kids measured the same in all but one of the areas they were looking at. Try not to beat yourself up over it, there are so many other benefits you can still provide to your baby, such as a happier momma.

https://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/sibbreast.htm

 

[StranjeGirl]

No. A study that was done on siblings where one was formula fed and one was breast fed showed that there was absolutely no difference in amount of sickness and a bunch of other stuff. This study tried to remove all things that could make a bias one way or another (like one kid went to day care and the other was at home with a parent etc.) As for my personal experience- My first was almost 100% formula fed as I made barely any milk and she refused to even feed at all from the breast by 7 weeks. She got her first minor cold when she started preschool at almost age 3. She was at home with me and not around too many kids in general. My second had more breast milk as I did make a bit more with her and she was a better sport about it and at least tried to eat from the breast. I finally lost my supply at 3 months and stopped. DD2 got some congestion 7 weeks old, and now has congestion again(I'm guessing these are minor colds since that is the only symptom and she doesnt seem bothered at all) at 4.5 months old. My guess is that she is around dd1 who probably spreads the germs that go around her school even if she doesn't get them herself- or that she is around a babysitter a couple times a week who works with other kids. DD1 was usually around adults who were not around other children. That or maybe dd1 just has an amazing immune system for whatever reason, but whatever the case it certainly was not formula vs breast because dd2 got way more breast milk and at 4.5 months old has already been sick as much as dd1 who is over 3 years old!

 

[Thumbelina 3]

That's so good to know. You've all made me feel abit better

 

[SoupDragon]

I combi feed expressed bm and formula, and she is on her 3rd cold at 7 months of age. We go to a lot of baby groups though, and I myself have never been ill with colds etc as often as I have the past 7 months! I haven't seen a pattern myself - most of the mums I know ff, and their babies are generally no sicker than the bf babies I know.

Yes, there are benefits to breastmilk (I wouldn't still be pumping if I didn't think that) but your baby needs a happy relaxed Mummy most of all. Breastmilk isn't magic, it can only offer so much protection against infections, and they're going to catch bugs anyway...they're a lot more resilient than we think they are!

 

[AP]

My prem, i expressed and we used formula and then full time FF - was never ill. She was discharged in september and i was dreading the winter, but nothing!
My exclusively breastfed baby got ill quite a bit!

 

[Tattoo]

I was breastfed as a baby, and I caught every cough, cold and bug going as a child! I still do!
My DD was breastfed for 13 months and she gets a lot of the snotty nose type illnesses. She's only been really poorly twice.
We also both have eczema.
So, in short, I think it's pretty much entirely down to genetics and luck!

 

[Thumbelina 3]

Thanks everyone if I stop I will be combi feeding for as long as I can. Soup dragon with expressing and bottle feeding when did you start that?how often do you express?is it. 50/50 between the 2?do you feed formula at a particular time?i.e formula at night and expressed in the day?

 

[MindUtopia]

On a population level, yes, babies who are breastfed tend to do a bit better immunologically than formula fed babies, but that's just on average. Babies are individuals and there are way too many factors involved to say what it will mean to your LO, though as there is an older sibling bringing lots of bugs home anyway, it's likely to be fairly inevitable either way with only a marginal difference. My daughter was BF for 10 weeks and FF after that. She didn't get her first cold until she was 9 months old and started nursery. She does tend to have a cold or at least a lingering cough from the last cold all winter (from about October until still now), that's been the same for the past two years. She is in nursery 4 full days a week and the kids are always sick so she's always coming home with something, but obviously we had an easy first 9 months, when she was largely FF, when we didn't have a single cold. In my experience, my two closest friends, whose babies are both BF and are still BF at 2, have had the same experience with their LO being sick all winter and actually the two of them have had much more severe illnesses, including needing to be on the paediatric ward for observation, than my daughter has. So it's very individual and I think it has a lot more to do with just how much exposure your LO has to bugs, which will probably be a lot anyway with an older sibling. Of course, BF has lots more benefits than just the immunological ones, but you have to do what feels right for you.

 

[caitlyn2009]

My DD was breastfed until she was 6 weeks old and then we switched to formula feeding. She started daycare when she was 5 weeks old.. full time and was NEVEr sick. Still at almost 4 she very rarely even has a stuffy nose. My DS was exclusively breastfed for 4 months and now at almost 7 months he is breastfed while i have him and takes formula while with the sitter, hubby, my mom, etc. He started daycare at 8 weeks old...full time. He has had a cold constantly since he started. He clears up for a week or two and then right back to being sick. I really think it depends on the child. I know there is some correlation with breastmilk decreasing illness, but that has not been my experience.

 

[laura109]

my daughters 11 weeks old and had a cold at 3 weeks. her cousin is breastfed and always has colds!

im a strong believer in every person is different.

me and my sis were bottle fed and i never get ill. my sister is ill more...