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Encouraging breastfeeding can save money during the first year of an infant’s life as well as lower the costs associated with maternal breast cancer, a new study shows. The analysis focused on diseases with the strongest evidence supporting breastfeeding: gastrointestinal (GI) and lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI); acute otitis media (AOM) in infants; necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) in pre-term babies; and breast cancer in mothers. It is estimated that the NHS spends £75.5m a year treating GI infections, LRTI and AOM, as well as £13.5m managing NEC in pre-term babies. The lifetime cost of treating breast cancer in parous women is estimated to be £960m.

Cost savings

Against this background, increasing the proportion of women who breastfeed exclusively for four months from the current rate of 7 per cent to 21 per cent would save £1.2m a year in hospital costs for GI infections alone. Increasing the rate to 45 or 65 per cent would save an estimated £3.2m and £5m a year respectively. Including primary care cost increases, the potential savings are between £1.34m and £5.54m a year. Overall, supporting mothers to breastfeed exclusively for four months could save at least £11m a year by reducing the incidence of GI infections, LRTI and AOM. Increasing feeding with breast milk in neonatal units from the current 35 per cent to 50 and 75 per cent could save £2.3m and £6.1m a year respectively by reducing NEC. And if the 32 per cent of parous women who never breastfeed did so for up to six months during their lifetime, savings in treatment costs for breast cancer would reach around £15.3m. (Archives of Disease in Childhood DOI: 10.1136/ archdischild-2014-306701)