I agree and have said so many times, I don't think WIC participants should be able to get artificial stuff AT LEAST for 6 weeks.  We are a supplemental program after all.  Then I met the mom who was newly from the Dominican Republic and was afraid to apply for WIC because she was illegally here.  She had not eaten anything in 2 days because she had spent her last $5 on a can of that stuff.  She was living in a room with another family and her milk supply was almost non-existant.  Why?  Who knows--I came into the game very late and didn't see her from the beginning.  But I will tell you that she had been nursing that 8 month old baby on an empty breast for days.  (We bought her lunch and gave her WIC checks)  How about the single mom who is a waitress full time, never gets a break to pump-or eat-at work, absolutely MUST work, since she is technically married and therefore cannot get PA until they locate her husband and can garnish his salary.  She breastfeeds when she is home but feels she can't ask for a pumping break.  If it is a choice between ABM and food for herself, she'll go without food.  Then there was the Russian man who said he "wasn't hungry" at dinner time so that the food would go further and they could buy "baby milk".  He thought it was the right thing to do.  
It's great for all of us to pass our judgement on how these moms feed their babies, but I surely have not walked a mile in their mocassins.
I can't tell you how many moms come in and say they aren't breastfeeding just so that they can get more of the other stuff.  There are a number of reasons--one, because they can "trade" it for something else in the bodega (I know it is illegal, but it is done) or they give it to their sister who does not qualify for WIC, or they send it home to their country of origin.  Do I like this?  No I HATE it!!  It drives me crazy.  But I love it when a 15 yr old who never considered breastfeeding until she met me comes in with her breastfed baby.  Or the mom of 5 who is breastfeeding the last one because I treated her with respect and listened to her concerns.  
Yes, lots of women "stretch" the formula, or feed their babies anything white.
But it is still our responsibility to respect a mothers informed choice.  I would have been incensed if, when I had my babies, someone had attempted to convince me to bottle feed.  That 's how these mom's feel.  We are NOT speaking to the converted (as I did in private practice!).  We are inching along, a little at a time.  We are promoting breastfeeding in the trenches.  We can give them the best information we have(over and over again) and then respect their choices.  
Stepping down off my soapbox now........;-}
Barbara Leshin-Zucker, IBCLC
Breastfeeding Coordinator
Morrisania WIC, Bronx, NY

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