Food Assistance Research Brief-WIC and Breastfeeding Rates

by Victor Oliveira

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) promotes breastfeeding as the preferred method for feeding infants. The breastfeeding rates among women participating in WIC, although improving, continue to be significantly lower than the Healthy People 2010 target. Healthy People 2010, established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a set of health objectives for the Nation to achieve over the first decade of the new century. It recommends that at least 75 percent of women initiate breastfeeding and at least 50 percent continue breastfeeding for at least 6 months.

Keywords: WIC, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, food assistance programs, nutrition, food security, child nutrition, breastfeeding, poor families

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