Infant feeding mode predicts the costs of healthcare services in one region of Canada: a data linkage pilot study.

Overall $315,235 was spent on healthcare service use for the sample of infants during their first year of life. When compared to exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding and exclusive formula feeding were found to be significant predictors of total healthcare service use costs (p < 0.05), driven by costs of hospital admissions. Due to the human and economic burden associated with not breastfeeding, policies and programs that support and encourage breastfeeding should be priority.