Hi all

Linda writes:
>
>Our WIC Director is interested in starting an incentive program for the WIC
>Breastfeeding mothers.

A few years ago (1992??) I was priviledged to be part of an advisory
committee for a USDA-funded WIC Breastfeeding Incentive Development Project
at Southside Healthcare in the Atlanta, GA area. This was quite an elaborate
incentive program, and all encompassing. Basically, and understand that I've
forgotten a lot of details!, moms would earn points for doing anything
remotely connected to bf and raising healthy babies. This included going for
prenatal checks, well baby checks, WIC appointments, attending BF support
groups, and months of BF. Even moms who ultimately chose to formula feed
could earn points, but not enough to get the good "stuff" offered for higher
point totals. The staff was trained in recognizing and acknowledging points
earned and was made to feel a part of the big picture.

Points could be exchanged for an incredible variety of items, some baby
related, some not. One of the tasks of the advisory committee was to come up
with sources for donations that could be used for incentives. Some of the
choices included breast pumps, car seats, weekend getaways at fancy hotels,
bibs and other clothing, Braves (baseball) paraphernalia, etc. Some of the
items came from large corporate donors, others came from small cottage
industries. The incentive list changed from week to week, according to
availability at the time.

Moms got excited about the program, and as I recall, the bf rates went up
significantly, largely due to the energy and dedication of the Director,
Laverne Montgomery, and the Coodinator, Debra Luster.

This was one of something like 9 USDA grants given for this purpose and it
was selected as one of two (I think) finalists to be presented at the WIC
meeting in Denver that year.

The grant ended and I moved and I don't have "the rest of the story"
although one of the goals of the project was that the program would become
self-sufficient. The last time I talked with Laverne (94??) it was still
going strong.

Southside sells copies of its manual with samples of everything they use, as
well as detailed instructions for how to set this thing up and running. I
believe it is written with the realization that not every WIC program would
be able to tackle something that size so it offers suggestions for starting
on a scaled back version.

I had a ball with this group of folks. The advisory committee included
representatives from Southside (RNs, RDs, MDs) as well as folks from United
Way, the State WIC BF coordinator, a local medical school, LLL (that was my
role), etc. They recognized the need to make bf part of the culture and so
would involve the community whenever possible.

We struggled with some of the Baby Friendly obstacles so prevalent as well.
For example, the OB nurses insisted on giving out copies of the Mead Johnson
Breastfeeding video to all pregnant moms. I was asked to review it and, not
too surprisingly, found it to be lacking in some areas.... We couldn't
convince them not to give out the video, but decided instead to create a
simple booklet (penned by yours truly) that would be given out with the
video. They were selling those as well. (I do not receive anything for this,
so hopefully I'm not violating any Lactnet rules!!)

If any of you are interested, I would be happy to give you the address and
phone number that you can contact Southside directly. The profits for these
sales get put back into the project to keep it going.

Melissa Vickers, IBCLC
Huntingdon, Tennessee, where we successfully avoided the tornados this
weekend, and where the sun is FINALLY shining again!
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