Would KGA or somebody else with a background in research care to comment on the
Kaiser study?  I know this was intended to show the need for lactation support
in the HMO and not intended as scientific research, but does it really show that
breastfeeding saves all that money?  Unless other factors were controlled for,
I'm not sure that it does.  Just two factors that come to my mind are smoking
status of the parents and use of daycare.  A high proportion of the babies I see
hospitalized with respiratory infections come from a household where parents
smoke.  Do smokers and non-smokers choose breastfeeding in equal proportions?
If more smokers choose to bottlefeed, the smoking may be more of an influence on
respiratory infections than the feeding method.  Same goes for daycare--we know
kids that are in daycare tend to be sick more often and going back to work is
often a reason to switch to the bottle or never start breastfeeding.  So, are
more bottlefeeding babies sick because they're bottlefeeding or because more
bottlefeeding babies are in daycare?

I have no doubt that breastfeeding saves healthcare $$$.  However, I've been
reluctant to use this study as "proof" because I'm not sure it really shows what
we think it shows.  Would anyone else care to comment?

Becky Krumwiede, RN, IBCLC
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