Reproductive Health

Submitted by user48451 (1 year ago)

This article gives an overall summary of the situation in the US. However - the WIC of 10 or 15 years ago is not the WIC of today. Half of all infants born in the US are covered by WIC. Several years ago there was almost no budget for breastfeeding promotion, then they received $10 million dollars, which is nothing in this kind of universe. Then changes really happened and little by little they are reducing the amount of formula given out in the early months of infants lives. They need to be lauded for this. WIC people are aware of the WHO CODE and the work of lactation advocates. Women in the US would probably breastfeed if they had paid maternity leave. The US is one of the few developed countries in the world that does not give any. Women need to be supported when they go back to work with time to extract their breastmilk or feed their babies. Society as a whole has failed mothers. WIC is doing its best and improves all of the time.

Submitted by littleturtlelove (1 year ago)

Interesting article. It is sad that WIC gets put down for giving out formula, however our first priority is to feed the baby. If we didn't provide formula, mothers would be using very unsafe methods of feeding their babies, including cows milk or other types of artificial feeding. I feel bad that the article doesn't mention anything about how much WIC tries to encourage mothers to breastfeed, including the new peer program. We cannot force mothers to choose breastfeeding and for WIC to be attacked for giving out free formula is not fair, when we try our best to get mothers to breastfeed.

Submitted by grapamar (1 year ago)

I work for WIC and although I don't agree with the amount of formula the program allows parents it also does promote nutrition education for the whole family and also strongly supports and encourages breastfeeding. If these families aren't getting formula through WIC they will use their food stamps or even give their children substandard foods. In order to get more women to breastfeed we need to have an environment that will encourage and support them to breastfeed. We need to put pressure on the formula companies to follow the International Cose of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes that was eventually signed by the United States. All formula companies are in direct violation of the code but there is no penalty for them. The Code states:
1. NO advertising of breast milk substitutes directly to the public.
2. NO free samples to mothers.
3. NO promotion of products in health care facilities.
4. NO company "mothercraft" nurses to advise mothers.
5. NO gifts or personal samples to health workers.
6. NO words or pictures idealizing artificial feeding, including pictures of infants on the products.
7. Information to health workers should be scientific and factual.
8. All information on artificial feeding, including the labels, should explain the benefits of breastfeeding, and the costs and hazards associated with artificial feeding.
Unsuitable products, such as condensed milk, should not be promoted for babies.
9. All products should be of a high quality and take into account the climatic and storage conditions of the country where they are used.

Once these things start to happen we may see a shift in the number of women who choose to breastfeed and breastfeed longer.

Submitted by CB in IA (1 year ago)

Since human milk is clearly superior for all babies (barring extremely rare metabolic problems), it is best to encourage breastfeeding as much as possible. However, formula is needed when a baby does not get human milk. I think the companies who sell to the WIC program should be required to have labels which do not indicate which brand they are. Providing formula is not necessarily evil, but giving free advertising to the manufacturer is not necessary and does undermine breastfeeding.

Submitted by bmcampb (1 year ago)

This article is so annoying in its omission of class analysis. First, the new health reform legislation only began in January of this year and only gives UNPAID lactation breaks to employees of SOME companies with 60 or more employees. Who knows whether/how that legislation will be enforced. (Talk to some factory workers lately about OSHA legislation long on the books?) Breastfeeding is hard work for those of us with one job outside the home and a partner to help make it work. I can't imagine breastfeeding while raising more than one kid, working 3+ jobs in places that throw up resistance, sucking up UNPAID breaks to pump. It's shameful to shame women for choosing formula when they often do so because it will make them insane to try to breastfeed under impossible circumstances, or because it will make their families that much poorer, for not doing so. We need structural, systemic change that reaches far beyond UNPAID mandatory breaks for SOME employers.