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Breastfeeding initiation grew for all racial and ethnic groups; gaps between WIC participants and WIC-eligible nonparticipants narrowed, 2009–17

  • by Leslie Hodges, Joanne Guthrie, Anna Shetler and Marie Thoma
  • 10/23/2023
  • WIC Program
Line chart showing rates of breastfeeding initiation for WIC participants and WIC-eligible nonparticipants by racial and ethnic group from 2009 to 2017.

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Using birth certificate data from 24 States, researchers at USDA, Economic Research Service and the University of Maryland found rates of breastfeeding initiation increased for low-income women in all racial and ethnic groups from 2009 to 2017 and gaps in those rates narrowed between participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and eligible nonparticipants.

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