Ilene,
I'm thrilled that WIC Peer Counselors have such a wonderful reputation that
women serving teen, low-income, and first-time moms would want to be Peer
Counselors to support them.

Different states use different programs.  The LLLI Peer Counselor program
places counselors in WIC clinics, as well as those trained through WIC.

In Texas, we don't have a rule about how long a woman has to have nursed -
only that she had a positive experience and wants to pass on accurate
information to other mothers.  We do insist, however that she be a WIC
participant, or has been one in the past.  The reason is that we want moms to
know they are speaking to someone who is also a WIC participant, not someone
with any kind of authority over them.

I think what these women want to do is be excellent support people for new
moms.  They can do that with many different kinds of trainings.

We had several hospital volunteers go through our Peer Counselor training with
WIC moms so the volunteers could do a better job on postpartum.  We didn't
call them Peer Counselors, and they are excellent Breastfeeding Educators.
One of them was a 70-ish mother of 6 who never breastfed.  She came to our PC
meetings for years and is well loved by the nursing staff.

Last night, in Pedschat, we had a discussion about Peer Counselors.  It was
wonderful to have several Docs from different countries interested in the WIC
program and in Peer Counselors.  It's a terrific way to increase breastfeeding
rates.

Good luck with your training, Ilene,
Jeanne Mitchell
Austin, TX