Pamela,
I've been a WIC Peer Support Provider for 5 years and a part time employee
for 3 years. I assure you I share your frustration with how easy it is for
Moms to stop breastfeeding when formula is too easy to get. I am as radical
a breastfeeding proponent as there is. HOWEVER, working here has been a
real eye opener. By the time we see many women in our office they have been
given free formula at the hospital. Their trusted doctor has often given
them poor breastfeeding advice, more free samples and the message that it's
quite OK to stop breastfeeding. Many stopped BFing weeks before we see
them. I've seen Moms giving their newborns homemade formula concoctions,
skim milk, lowfat milk diluted by half with water even chocolate milk mix.
Most are not interested in breastfeeding if it involves any discomfort or
work let alone dealing with  relactation. I can't *make* her BF. MY
principles don't mean anything to that baby whose being fed whatever mom
has on hand because she can afford cigarettes but not formula!
Our WIC office forbids any visable signs of formula. All pregnant women
receive indivulal BF promotion and education. Our LC gives wonderful BF
Classes. We have an incredible group of volunteer Wic Breastfeeding Peer
Support Providers. All women requesting a change to formula must speak to a
certifier to determine if there is a way to save that BF relationship. I
teach the infant feeding classes with the assumption that BF is the norm
and that bottle feeding moms have to work hard to try to mimic the BF
relationship(like holding the baby every time they feed). I don't separate
bottle and BF info. I state the BF info first as the normal, proper way of
doing things and then add how the bottle feeder will have to adjust to try
to be as much like the BFer as possible. We have an 88% BF initiation rate
and 49% of our Moms who agree to have a support provider BF a year or more!
  In a perfect world it would be 100%, but experience has shown me that
some WIC moms will not breastfeed even if they have nothing but water to
put in the bottle. sad. Laurie, Oregon WIC