Consequences of not breastfeeding

Freedom of choice is great good, which should be protected at all times. Still, parents have added responsibilities when their choices affect their children’s health and well-being. Infant feeding, both contents and way of delivery, is one of those not so free choices, as this will have influence on the child’s health and development. Non-breastfed children have increased risks of illness right now and later on in life. Where in the early days of breastfeeding research the protection from infection was thought to be mainly a concern in circumstances with no clean water, bad sanitary conditions and low standard healthcare, more recent research keeps endorsing again and again that in well-equipped societies children who are not breastfed will suffer more infections. Ladomenou and colleagues for instance found that exclusively breastfed infants have far less episodes of infections and the infections they do get are less severe. Bartick & Reinhold calculated that if 90% of USA children would be exclusively breastfed (as recommended by WHO, governments and many physicians associations), health care costs in the USA would drop by $13 billion a year and 911 lives, mostly children’s, would be saved annually. European breastfeeding statistics don’t that much from those in the USA, so it is valid to assume that in our country as well probably children do die for not being breastfed.
Bartick M, Reinhold A: The Burden of Suboptimal Breastfeeding in the United States: A Pediatric Cost Analysis. Pediatrics 2010 125: e1048-e1056
Ladomenou F, Moschandreas J, Kafatos A, Tselentis Y, Galanakis E: Protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding against infections during infancy: a prospective study. Arch Dis Child archdischild 2010,