Karleen Gribble writes :

"But Jean I've got a study here somewhere that found that women who
participated in WIC were less likely yo breastfeed than women who were
eligible for WIC but did not participate.....that indicates a big problem
doesn't it?"

Its not as simple as that, if you think about it.  It might not be that
women who participate in WIC are more likely to formula feed, as it is that
women who decide to formula feed are more likely to participate in WIC.
They self select themselves.


I work for WIC, and I can't count the times a new participant to our program
is only coming to us because breastfeeding failed for whatever reason, and
now they are finding out formula is expensive. I feel badly as an IBCLC that
I didn't get to talk to them before the train wreck happened.

I also can't count the number of times a prenatal had initially decided to
formula feed, but after the breastfeeding education and exposure and time we
spent talking to women, changed her mind and decided to breastfeed afterall.

The studies are also showing that the rate of breastfeeding, although lower
in WIC participants is increasing faster among WIC participants then the
general population.

There was also another thread I didn't get a chance to respond to about
working women and nursing part time. Its also been my frequent observation
that many many women "do" breastfeed very successfully part time, while
working full time and giving sometimes alot of formula.  (I have a coworker
who nursed her son once a day for three years, and the once a day started
about 8 months old...)

Although I do feel exclusive breastfeeding the first few weeks helps
perpetuate the ability to part time nurse later, I don't think the
introduction of formula neccesarily is a death toll bell for the
breastfeeding relationship.  And furthermore, from my observations, I'm
convinced that part time breastfeeding offers babies a lot of health
benefits, particularly immunologically.
I do believe that there are less risks when mothers exclusively breastfeed,
I do want to be clear and I don't encourage my mothers to use formula, but I
also support her in breastfeeding as much as possible.

I think we are all colored by our work experiences.  I work with children
and families for years, and I see more than the short term outcomes.  I
think many lactation specialists only work with younger babies, and don't
get to see the fruits of their labors, and often don't realize that they may
have had more succuss then they knew.

I also think that certain cultures are more likely to maintain this part
time relationship. Cultures that value closeness and "babying" children (I
don't mean that in a negative way), are more likely to be successful than
women from cultures that are centered around fostering a child's sense of
independence.

Someone else talked about how many WIC women are not-working professionals,
and do have the chance to BF and pump, and about the image of WIC
participants being fastfood workers and not getitng to pump  is often not
true.

I have to say, well that depends on which community you're talking about!
In the community I work in, the city is very poor, and our women are mostly
very poorly paid, often factory workers, fast food workers,  immigrants,
sometimes illegal and working without papers under the table.  They really
"can't" pump at work. I know that an immigrant woman who doesn't speak the
same language as her supervisor working in a sweat shop isn't likely to end
up pumping at work, and for that matter they often don't have access to a
pump at all. (we have some, but 20 electric pumps to go with 1500 babies,
doen'st go very far, we triage them according to need)....I encourage those
woman to get off to as good a start as possible, and that they don't have to
start formula on day one to get the baby "used to it".  And they can
breastfeed long term, and how they can maintain that and keep or increase a
supply. (they often don't know breastfeeding is suppy and demand.) I want
breastfeeding to be a good experience for them, because every woman who
breastfeeds successfully (in her own mind), is an ambassador of
breastfeeding for other woman.

June Eastman, B.S., M.Ed. IBCLC

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