Is there any grown (over 23) adult out there who was breastfed and has suffered any type of illness in life?

Question

Chronic or acute? I was breastfed, and I had bordeline hypertension until I went on a sans-junk diet and on a extreme whole foods and heatlh kick. I also have problems concentrating, but have not been diagnosed with ADD. I had an intestinal virus twice since I've been here on Earth, as well about 10-15 colds, never had the flu, but I have also been plagued by miscellaneous maladies as a child like chickenpox, ringworm, and sinus infections...oh, yeah, and one nasty ear infection as a baby. I am now 26 years old. My mom breastfed me just under a year.

Answer 1

Nope, just the opposite. I was bottle fed (as was my brother) and we have both been the healthiest kids. I am 31 and my brother 33. I got the flu for the first time in college and once again when I was 29. I never get sick.

Answer 2

It sounds like you have been relatively healthy. I get about 4 colds a year and you have had less than one. I have full blown hypertension and problems concentrating - which probably will be diagnosed as ADD. I had the flu several times and a severe case of bronchitis when I was 7. I had chicken pox and many, many bouts of strep and sinus infections. I'm overweight and at risk for diabetes.
I was not breastfed.
Breastfeeding will only give your child a CHANCE being able to fight illness not a guarantee. Which means, that the breastfed child might still get sick but have the ability to fight it off more quickly.
Genetics, diet and environment have a lot to do with it. When I was sick with so many of those sinus infections and (oh yeah, forgot one) tonsilitis we later learned that the apartment we were living in was infested with mold. Before that we lived in a very draughty apartment which can make colds worse and may have caused one to settle in my chest causing the bronchitis.
Hypertention and diabetes are hereditary and dietary related. ADD is heriditary.
I'm 38.
BTW - me and my breastfed son are now fighting off colds.

Answer 3

While breastfeeding is protective, and people who were breastfed as children enjoy reduced risk of illness as they grow older, it certainly doesn't prevent a person from getting ill--ever. Also, breastfed babies who were never fed formula enjoy more benefits than those that were combo-fed who enjoy more benefits than those who were exclusively formula-fed.

To assume that breastfeeding during infancy will prevent a person from ever getting ill would be a misunderstanding of what the clinical evidence suggests. As a reminder, clinical evidence suggest reduced rates of certain illnesses, not freedom from all illnesses.

We can take a better look at your particular illnesses though:

ADD: I am unfamiliar with any study linking a reduced risk of developing ADD among persons who had been breastfed.

Colds: The average adult person suffers 2 - 3 colds a year, while the average child suffers 8 colds a year. So if you've only suffered 10-15 colds, you've actually suffered less than the average person your age which would be about 100 -150. Also, then benefit of breastfeeding and reduction in communicable disease like colds only lasts for as long as breastfeeding lasts because that's when a mother passes antibodies through her breastmilk to her child.

Chickenpox: This is caused by a virus, and no clinical evidence indicates that breastfeeding protects against chicken pox.

Ringworm: This is a contagious fungus, and no clinical evidence indicates that breastfeeding would prevent you from developing a fungus like ringworm.

Ear Infection: Again, breastfeeding doesn't protect completely against developing an ear infection, but studies show that infants breastfed (not combo-fed) for at least four months experience a 40% reduction in ear infections. Perhaps you would have had more than one infection had you not been breastfed.

Clinical evidence suggests that breastfeeding does help to reduce the risk of several illnesses, or rather that formula feeding increases the risk of several illnesses.

These diseases include but are not limited to: autoimmune thyroid disease, breast cancer, necrotizing enterocolitis, Crohn's disease, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, allergies, asthma, diahrrea, bacterial meningitis, respiratory infection, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, Hodgkin's disease, ulcerative colitis and many other illnesses.

So, the short answer to your question is that every person regardless of what they were fed as an infant will get ill at some point in their life.

Essentially, while breastfeeding reduces the risk of certain illnesses, it does not prevent them.

Answer 4

I was breastfed. Had the chicken pox at 6, chronic ear problems til i was 10 (fixed by two seperate operations), have a good bit of food allergies, had a deviated septum repaired in high school (which left me with little to no sense of smell), and have Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (hereditary, but from my father's side). I'm also staring down the barrel of rhumatoid arthritis and gallbladder problems. I have a series of joint problems (arthritis in my shoulder, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, and back), had to undergo a spinal tap, and had surgery on my shoulder 1 1/2 years ago. But I'm from a coal mining town, so that probably didn't help matters much. I turned 24 this year.

Answer 5

Yes. Breastmilk is not a magic elixer that keeps you from getting sick. It does, however, give you immunities and helps you reach your health potential. However there are so many other factors that contribute to your health that it is impossible to say that someone is healthy because they were breastfed or sickly because they were formula fed.

My husband, for example, was breasfed for 18 months. He has many chronic problems such as GI diseases and asthma. Some of those are inherited, some are due to external factors that we can trace. Some we have no idea why he has those illnesses.

But my brother was also breastfed for 18 months. He is in perfect health and I don't remember him ever being sick.

Anecdotal experiences with people who were breastfed as infants (or formula fed) is just that- anecdotal. You have to look at groups as a whole because there are going to be extremes in both groups. It is the averages that count, not the individuals, at least in studies anyway.

Answer 6

I was breastfed for almost two years, and I suffered all the ailments of childhood, too. I had ear infections and chicken pox, and yeah, I get colds too! But, I was, have always been a relatively healthy person--as much as my bottlefed friends. It's a choice, and I think what the person said in her upteen paragraphs is right on!

Answer 7

Yes. None of these things have to do with you being breastfed! Do some research, eh?