Thanks to Carole and Marsha who responded to my post.  I have heard that IBCLCs are coming to WIC, but we are in the south, in a county in Tennessee squished right into the Mississippi/Arkansas borders.  This area has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the country among WIC participants---around 27% initiation.  Needless to say, only a very few moms reach the 6 month mark, with almost none of the mothers exclusively breastfeeding.  We have about a dozen WIC clinics in our county with just 5 (new) CLCs and 2 (brand new) peer counselors.  Until last year, we didn't even have any CLCs, and just 1 peer counselor.  With such limited resources for breastfeeding support, but about 25 IBCLCs in this area, it makes sense to try to connect the two groups to help the moms that ARE breastfeeding.

Our other problem is that there is only one computer in each clinic!  So the CLCs that are there have extremely limited access to any kind of electronic communication.  Mostly the computer is used by the clerk who is scheduling the clients.  I had to call the specific staff I needed to talk to, and am using their home email addresses to get them to fill out a questionnaire.  So I am glad to know about all the wonderful things coming down the pike for WIC, however, in the meantime, we are trying to "save" what little breastfeeding we see with whatever resources we have.

Ginger Carney, RD, LDN, IBCLC, RLC, FILCA St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Memphis, TN



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