I know that this was really out of my hands- you can't make a baby nurse when they are ready to give it up. And I know that every baby is different- some BF babies are sick from the beginning and some FF babies rarely get sick. But man, I wish Sophie would have kept nursing even once a day for a little longer! She has been sick with one illness after another since she weaned in September. The exact same thing happened to Gavin. Within 3 mos of him weaning, he had his first round of pneumonia and from then on, every single runny nose ended in breathing treatments for a month or more. That went on for over a year. I've already determined that we won't be waiting so long for ear tubes w/ Sophie (not that those would have stopped HFM this time). She's had 3 ear infections so far since September. I plan to ask the Dr today if we can go ahead and call the ENT before we end up w/ something worse. I swear, if we have another baby (and that's a big IF), I will do my darndest to keep nursing as long as possible.
Re: My BF regret
If it makes you feel any better, BF didn't help either of my boys. Bailey got tons of different sicknesses (swine flu, stomach virus and ear infections) before I quit BF and Bryce did better but he still has gotten sick a lot.
On the tubes, Bryce got 3 ear infections and he got tubes. I told my pedi I wasn't waiting especially with Bailey's delay of speech due to chronic ear infections. I would definitely push to get up inot the ENT. Our ENT didn't even hestitate putting tubes in Bryce with our family history and I'm very happy about that
I could have written this verbatim. Marlowe self-weaned at 9 months and got pneumonia a month later plus she had at least 1 ear infection a month until we got tubes in August. I actually just said to my husband this morning that I wonder if the doctors will give the new baby ear tubes right after birth. I was half kidding of course, but we definitely won't wait as long as we did with Marlowe.
I EBF for 13 months and Ava got tubes 2 months after stopping. If they are going to get sick, they are just going to get sick no matter how hard we try. I know it sucks but like others said don't beat yourself up as there are many other factors that go into illnesses.
I wish I could have breast feed so I understand the regret. I will say both my kids were ff and neither has ever had an ear infection (they are hardly ever sick). I am convinced it's because my son loves to touch everything and put it in his mouth. I think all the germs the kid comes in contact with boosts his immune system...just kidding. My poor niece was constantly sick, was breast fed, and is a very healthy eater. I think some kids just get sick easier than others. I am sure one day soon my kids luck will run out and we will have the year of sickness. It seems to happen at some point to everyone I know.