Hi Pam,  I am replying to your question about WIC programs that really do
nothing.  This is a pet peeve of mine.  It seems to depend on who the
coordinator is and how they choose to spend the WIC funds.  I spent over 12
years with the Baltimore County WIC program.  In the late  80's the
coordinator was very pro-breasstfeeding and peer counseling.  I was sent to
take  one of the first LLL peer counselor  trainings and I set up a LLL peer
counselor program at our WIC agency.  It ran very smoothly for  6 or 7 years
until there was an adminstrative change in the health department.  Suddenly
the emphasis became  on #'s enrolled and there wasn't any staff time for
"special projects",  so I had to be in clinic enrolling people all the time
and the peer counselor  program  fell apart.
 Yes, staff are trained in breatfeeding.  Goodness knows the states all
spend a lot of money training staff, but it's not the staff who  talk with
moms who have problems.  I was considered the BF person becasue I had been a
LLL leader and was the peer counselor coordinator. If I wasn't there that
day a women didn't get anything but lip service if she needed help.   Infact
most staff spend all their time certifying, printing and issusing vouchers.
Their main goal is to get people in and out.  Lip service is given to
promoting breastfeeding - everyone knows it is best, but If a women is
having a problem breastfeeding the solution is always to just give her more
formula.   I was constantly having staff complain that I took too long
certifylng a breastfeeding mother.  If a mom had questions and needed
answers  I always tried to help, and that usually took more than the
10minutes that was alloted for certifying/counseling.   At one point I
actually got "written up" (disciplinary action) by a supervisor  for
spending too much time with a new breastfeeding mom. She thought I was
"impeding the flow of the clinic".  Funny, I always thought that promoting
and supporting  breastfeeding was my job but I actually was not allowed to
do my job on our WIC program.  Shortly after that the frustration got so
great that I quit.  My experience was that WIC just wanted its numbers to
look good.  They didn't really care if we made a difference with people or
not.  One nutrionists firmly believed that women had already made up their
minds before they came to WIC anyway so that we shouldn't waste our time
trying to talk them into breastfeeding. The old don't make them feel guilty
thing. Anyway, I guess you can tell from this rant that I found WIC to be a
frustrating experience.
Peg Merrill, Bs, IBCLC, (former LLLL), (former WIC Nutrionist - BF lady)

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