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Sat, 17 Apr 2010 08:05:20 EDT |
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Thank you Margo and Rowena for clarifying and CORRECTING the efforts WIC
is making to support breastfeeding.
WIC is NOT the reason women chose to bottle feed. As Rowena explained, many
WIC offices are the most breastfeeding place in town. I know this is true
is some areas of my state too. They are much more breastfeeding friendly
than the local hospital or the doctor's office. There definitely some clinics
that have more work to do. However, as a national program we have
thousands people to bring on board. The National WIC Association just published and
distributed at their Breastfeeding Summit, Six Steps to Achieve
Breastfeeding Goals at WIC Clinics. We know not everyone is "there" yet, but
providing goals to help them achieve what we know are best practices is a huge
first step. I will be distributing this document again and discussing them at
the next national WIC conference in May.
How many other institutions even have a National Breastfeeding Summit? Only
one other (ABM) that I know of.
Incentive funds were just distributed by USDA to 15 states and territories
with the largest increases in breastfeeding initiation. Another huge step.
The new breastfeeding food package is designed to be an incentive for the
mother who chooses breastfeeding.
Exclusive breastfeeding it the national goal of the National WIC
Association.
In my state, Indiana, we expect all job descriptions to state supporting
breastfeeding is part of every job at WIC. And that new hires are told this
before they begin. Does any other institution do that? Not many.
Yes, we have work to do? Yes. But we know it and we are definitely moving
in the right direction. There are so many other areas where we can look that
discourage breastfeeding. Society and it's attitude toward breastfeeding
as a norm is the largest overall problem. The fact that so many babies are
supplemented in the hospital, as Kiran Saluja testified about to Congress,
all point to the fact that we ALL have so much work to do.
WIC is not perfect. But we are taking strides to change. I do not see a
lot of change in many other very large institutions.
Please do not blame WIC for every mother who asks for formula. Societal
pressures on the mother are much more overwhelming. Assuming she needs formula
"just in case" does not come from WIC. We teach breastfeeding from the
first visit. This comes from the knowledge that breastfeeding is not the norm
in the US. The belief that "no one can do this or should do this" comes
from an underlying belief system, not from just one institution.
Rather than blaming one very large governmental agency that is working
toward change, we need to all look at how we can work together to make
breastfeeding the norm.
Change must come from within all of us.
Carole Peterson MS, IBCLC
Chair National WIC Association Breastfeeding Committee
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