Breastfeeding could save mums’ lives too – by reducing risk of breast and ovarian cancer and heart attack
Failing to breastfeed up to a year was linked to more than 3,340 early deaths, Harvard scientists found
Breast is best - when it comes to feeding your baby.
But, it seems opting to breastfeed your little one for up to a year could also protect a mum's health.
New research shows mums can be protected against early death and serious disease - including cancer and heart attack.
Health experts recommend that breastfeeding- if it is possible - is the best way to feed a baby, exclusively for six months and up to a year, as solids and bottles are introduced.
Studies have shown it boosts a baby's immune system, protecting them against leukaemia, Crohn's disease, obesity and other serious illnesses.
But, the new findings show how beneficial it can be for mothers too.
Breastfeeding is far more beneficial in preventing disease and reducing costs than previously estimated
Dr Melissa Bartick, Harvard Medical School
"Breastfeeding is far more beneficial in preventing disease and reducing costs than previously estimated," said lead author of the study, Dr Melissa Bartick, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
"The results should compel all hospitals to develop programmes aimed at helping new mums learn to breastfeed their babies."
The researchers analysed two groups of mums, as part of their investigations.
One was an "optimal" group - in which the majority breastfed as recommended.
They were compared with a second group, in which mums breastfed at the current rates in the US, less than the recommended guidelines.
They estimated the rates and health costs of treating diseases that breastfeeding is known to reduce, along with the rates and costs of early deaths from those diseases.
The children's disease, researchers focused on, were acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, ear infections, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, gastrointestinal infections, lower respiratory tract infections, obesity, necrotising enterocolitis, and sudden infant death syndrome.
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And for mums the researchers looked at breast cancer, pre-menopausal ovarian cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart attacks.
The team found that breastfeeding less than is advised was linked to more than 3,340 early deaths in the US each year, costing the nation $3 billion in medical costs, $1.3 billion in indirect costs and $14.2 billion in costs related to premature deaths.
The majority of the excess death and medical costs -- nearly 80 per cent -- were maternal.
"Breastfeeding has long been framed as a child health issue, however it is clearly a women's health issue as well," said study co-author Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, professor of medicine at UC Davis Health System.
"Breastfeeding helps prevent cancer, diabetes and heart disease, yet many women have no idea breastfeeding has any of these benefits."