Of the 12 million children under 5 years of age who die each year, a full 1.5 million could have been saved had they been breast-fed. Breastfeeding even has benefits for the mother's health. There has been noticed a breastfeeding hormone, oxytin that helps lower the mother's blood pressure. Studies confirmed the greater presence of this hormone in mothers who were breastfeeding. The presence of the hormone oxytin correlated directly with the mothers who had lower blood pressure.
Children also receive benefit from breastfeeding simply by avoiding cow's-milk.
In addition, intolerance to cow's milk was also linked to diarrhea, allergic rhinitis, asthma, and eczema.