Breast for the Budget is a public education campaign that focuses on the economic benefits of breastfeeding. There are many reasons families choose breastfeeding-zero environmental impact, infant bonding, simplifies feeding, the list goes on. Let's take out the fluffy stuff and get down to the bottom line-breastfeeding saves you and every taxpayer and money. Here's the how and why-
First let's consider the formula feeding family-
The most obvious costs is what parents pay at the grocery store for formula. Plan on spending about $40/wk, multiply that times 52 weeks and you get about $2000 for baby's first year of life. What about "comfort proteins" and "brain building DHA" formulas, are they worth the extra dough? Save your cash, these formulas contain synthetic compounds that mimic those found in breast milk. There is no evidence an infant's immature digestive tract can even absorb them.
Add in the miscellaneous costs like bottles, nipples and transportation costs of driving to the store to buy formula and worrying that you will run out of formula.
The real cost of feeding formula is in the increased rates of illness and
medical treatment.
As parents, we want to do everything we can to give our children the best start in life. What parent wouldn't do everything possible to keep their child from getting sick? The best way to keep your kids healthy is to breastfeed. No breasts? Encourage your partner, tell her what a great mom she is and how proud you are of her commitment to breastfeeding your comments make a world of difference to her.
Many researchers studying the data, here are a few of their conclusions:
The Economic Benefits of Breastfeeding: A Review and Analysis by Jon Weimer. ERS Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report No. 13. 20 pp, March 2001.
"A minimum of $3.6 billion would be saved if breastfeeding were increased from current levels (64 percent in-hospital, 29 percent at 6 months) to those recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General (75 and 50 percent). This figure is likely an underestimation of the total savings because it represents cost savings from the treatment of only three childhood illnesses: otitis media, gastroenteritis, and necrotizing enterocolitis. This report reviews breastfeeding trends and previous studies that assessed the economic benefits of breastfeeding."
Health Care Costs of Formula-feeding in the First Year of Life by Thomas M. Ball, MD, MPH and Anne L. Wright, PhD, published in Pediatrics Vol. 103 No. 4 April 1999, pp. 870-876.
"In the first year of life, after adjusting for confounders, there were 2033 excess office visits, 212 excess days of hospitalization, and 609 excess prescriptions for these three illnesses per 1000 never-breastfed infants compared with 1000 infants exclusively breastfed for at least 3 months. These additional health care services cost the managed care health system between $331 and $475 per never-breastfed infant during the first year of life... In addition to having more illnesses, formula-fed infants cost the health care system money. Health care plans will likely realize substantial savings, as well as providing improved care, by supporting and promoting exclusive breastfeeding."
Cost Benefits of Breastfeeding (1997) by Karen M. Zeretzke, MEd, IBCLC
"Total Annual Cost of not Breastfeeding: $1.186 to $1.301 Billion"
Study of the costs of not breastfeeding (1997) by Dr. Jan Riordan
"Breastfeeding, a valuable natural resource, promotes health, helps prevent infant and childhood disease, and saves health care costs. Additional national health care costs, incurred for treatment of four medical conditions in infants who were not breastfed were estimated. Infant diarrhea in non-breastfed infants costs $291.3 million; respiratory syncytial virus, $225 million; insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, from $9.6 to $124.8 million; and otitis media, $660 million. Thus, these four medical diagnoses alone create just over a billion dollars of extra health care costs each year."
Kaiser Permanente's Study on Breastfeeding and Health (data from 1992-1993)
"Infants who were breastfed for a minimum of 6 months experienced $1,435.00 less health care claims than formula fed infants."
Wendy Slusser, MD, MS, at the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Family and Communities, has calculated that within Los Angeles County, "if just 5% of new mothers exclusively breastfeed for six months, $4,099,400 would be saved in family health care costs and lost wages due to fewer ear infections."According to the research, each family saves thousands on health care costs like doctor visits and prescriptions and the country saves BILLIONS! It's like our own little bailout!
Cost associated with breastfeeding-
Essentially the cost of breastfeeding is purchasing the equipment to collect and store breast milk for mom's return to work. These few durable items can be purchased just one time and be reused over and over.
A Milkies Milk-Saver makes it easy for mom to collect breast milk while breastfeeding, no pumping required and cost about $25. Mom will need bags to store her milk in the freezer, these cost about $5 for 250. An inexpensive breast pump work as well as the pricey models and are available at any Wal-Mart or Target, expect to pay about $40. You will need a few bottles and nipples to feed baby while mom's working, costs about $10.
These are your costs for a breastfed infant. About $80, that's it.
