I, too, winced when I read:

<Does anyone else think this statement is a little inaccurate?
"Many of them are employed in jobs where they barely get bathroom
breaks," Henchy said. "They're not going to be able to pump. They're not
going to be able to breast-feed.">

The WIC moms I work with run the gamut. I believe income limits are
something like 185% of the poverty level, though I could be entirely wrong.
Having an income low enough to qualify for WIC (many of our families are
military, for instance) doesn't necessarily mean that the particular mom is
young, single, culturally deprived or uneducated, (two of my daughters and a
daughter-in-law have been participants!), working at factory, fast-food, or
bank teller jobs (we are told it is surprisingly difficult for them to
schedule pumping!)

I can remember having graduates from law school on maternity leave before
taking their bar exam, and other professionals deciding not to be employed,
or part-time employed while staying home to mother their own families, etc.
Indeed, quite a few of the mothers I see stay at home with their children.
Working outside the home is thus not the main reason that those who choose
not to breastfeed make that choice, which is still heavily influenced by the
culture of their family and friends, health care providers and the
advertising to which they are exposed!

I believe our State WIC department, in concert with the Department of
Agriculture, has been doing its budgetary utmost to rearrange expenditures
from the formula budget to buy not only high quality single pumps, but
double electric breast pumps, to be issued locally. They are issued
selectively, based on # of hours away from the child and the
employer/school's willingness to arrange pumping breaks, so that mothers can
own their own single user pump. (In addition, my 3 fulltime local WIC LC
colleagues have wonderful connections and long experience with LLL and
networking connections through our local Breastfeeding Coalition. This helps
inform mothers of all possible pump alternatives with premies or sick
babies.)

Our pumping moms are often college or high school students, women who work
in offices, restaurants, retail stores and other places where their employer
will commit in writing to arrange for privacy, electriclal connections and
adequate a.m. and p.m. pumping breaks in addition to lunch breaks. There are
other mechanisms written into the food package protocols that encourage
exclusive breastfeeding, as well as plenty of alternatives to help moms
achieve substantial partial breastfeeding if that is their decision.

All in all, I have observed continued improvement in the breastfeeding
support of the WIC program since I learned it was being established back in
the 1970's. Each state, and each local WIC project has to work out the
design breastfeeding support support services, and hire and/or train the
staff to implement the program for their own geographic area. But all in
all, I think many of the mothers I have met while volunteering with WIC
receive much better nutrition education and breastfeeding support than those
who are not on WIC. In addition, since nutrition education is the primary
focus of WIC and it is taxpayer supported, mothers who are not on WIC are
eligible for education and ongoing breastfeeding support information and
even consults for problems if needed.

Jean
***************
K. Jean Cotterman RNC, IBCLC
Dayton, OH

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