Introduction
The public health benefits of breastfeeding are well-documented [1–3]. Most medical and public health organizations, including the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists [4], the American Academy of Pediatrics [1] and the World Health Organization [5], recommend breastfeeding for all infants, with 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding as a goal. From an economic perspective, the incentives to encourage breastfeeding are strong: if 90% of US women breastfed exclusively for 6 months, the US would save an estimated $13 billion annually on pediatric health care costs attributable to diseases whose risk is decreased by exclusive breastfeeding [6].