Facts about the many benefits of breastfeeding:

Government recommendations can result in better health for infants and achieve substantial savings in health costs. The Economic Research Service found that a minimum of $3.6 billion could be saved if current breastfeeding levels were increased to the recommendations of the U.S. Surgeon General: a 75% initiation rate and a 50% rate at 6 months. The result is a decrease in infant infection rates which would benefit managed health care plans in cost containment.


Exclusive breastfeeding in the early months has been found to significantly reduce the onset of asthma in young children. Mother’s milk provides protective factors that bolster the infant’s immune system. Studies show that the introduction of milk other than human milk prior to four months of age is a risk factor for asthma at the age of six years. The beneficial effect of breastfeeding appears to be stronger with increased duration.


Human milk provides many important health benefits extending well beyond infancy. Infants exclusively breastfed during the critical window in the early stages of brain growth may have long term and probably permanent, positive effects on learning abilities. Several studies have shown that shorter periods of breastfeeding have also been associated with higher risk of leukemia, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diabetes mellitus, celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease, and even higher blood pressure readings.


Promotion of breastfeeding in the United States could dramatically reduce the rising prevalence of obesity in later childhood and adolescence. In the recent Growing Up Today Study, a sample of 15,341 children and their mothers answered questionnaires related to their physical activity and early feeding practices. In both boys and girls, the mean body mass index (BMI) and the risk of being overweight were lowest in children who had received only breast milk, and no formula, in the first six months of life, even when adjustments were made to the children’s calorie intake and physical activity. One part of this study estimated that for every additional three months of breastfeeding there was an 8 percent decrease in the risk of being overweight.