Alicia,
Jan Riordan has just sent me her press release, as follows:
Headline:  Breastfeeding Saves Health Care Costs

Breastfeeding prevents disease in babies and children and saves health care
costs according to Dr. Jan Riordan, Associate Professor in the School of
Nursing, Witchita State University.  Riordan analyzed health care cost savings
from breastfeeding in four medical diagnoses (DRGs):  Infant diarrhea, $630.
million; respiratory syncytial virus, $31. million; insulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus, $72. million; and otitis media, $660. million.  Results showed that
breastfeeding saves $1.4 billion in health care costs for only four medical
diagnoses.  Since it's known that breastfeeding infants have less health
problems in at least 12 DRGs, this figure can be multiplied by four times to
estimate total savings if women breastfeed.  Breastfeeding also improves
intellectual development of children according to new medical research
studies.  The benefits of more intelligent children on society is enormous
even though it cannot be directly measured in terms of dollars.
Janice Riordan, EdD, ARNP, FAAN

Jan gave us permission to quote her, but as this research has been very time
intensive and is not yet published, she requests that such quotes be
attributed.
Pretty cool, huh?
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC