Reasearchers said lives of almost 900 babies would be saved each year, together with 13 billion dollars, if the percentage of U.S. mothers who breastfeed their infants increase to 90 percent.
　　Breast-feeding may help prevent hundreds of deaths and many more costly illnesses, according to a study in the online Pediatrics Journal on Monday.
　　Health benefits linked to breastfeeding are vastly underappreciated, said lead author Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Experts advise women to breastfeed infants exclusively for six months, but only 12 percent of mothers in U.S. do so.
　　Bottle fed babies are 15 times more likely to be hospitalized in their first four months of life than breast fed babies, Kathy Cable, a lactation consultant at Luther Midelfort, said.
　　Previous studies have shown breast milk can also stimulate brain growth and increase a baby's IQ, according to Cable.“It's just the perfect food for baby. Breast milk is liquid gold.”