A new study published in Pediatrics further punctuates the health and economic importance of breast-feeding – if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies for the first six months of life nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with an estimated $13 billion in lost potential lifetime wages.

The Findings suggest that breast-feeding may help prevent illnesses such as stomach viruses, ear infections, asthma, juvenile diabetes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and even childhood leukemia. The Washington Post quotes Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard medical School as stating that the magnitude of health benefits linked to breast-feeding is vastly underappreciated and that breast-feeding is really a public health issue.

According to the Study, about 43 percent of U.S. mothers do some breast -feeding for six months, but only about 12 percent only breast-feed for the first six months.