loving support makes breastfeeding work

USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, popularly known as WIC, is once again celebrating World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7. This year’s theme is Sustaining Breastfeeding Together, emphasizing the importance of family and community support for breastfeeding women.

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated around the world each year during the first week of August to promote breastfeeding and highlight its importance to the health of mothers and babies.

This year’s theme is “Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development.”  USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) joins the celebration as WIC promotes breastfeeding all year long as the optimal choice for moms who are medically able.  We support breastfeeding WIC moms through counseling and educational materials, peer counselors, a specially-tailored food package, and breastfeeding aids like breast pumps.  USDA’s successful national breastfeeding promotion campaign, Loving Support Makes Breastfeeding Work, serves as the foundation of our breastfeeding activities.  It emphasizes the importance of support from family and friends, from the health care system, and from the community. All have key roles to play in providing the support a breastfeeding mother needs.

WIC works.  But don’t just take it from us.  For more than four decades, WIC has helped produce better pregnancy results, such as increased birth weights and fewer premature births for our nation’s most vulnerable.  And it’s these critical outcomes at the start of life that shape a healthier future for millions of the program’s beneficiaries.

Officially known as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, WIC continues to serve as the nation’s most successful, cost-effective and important nutrition intervention program. It provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to health care and social services for millions of low-income families.  And extensive research confirms its success.  Studies find that participating in WIC leads to healthier babies, more nutritious diets and better health care for children.  Participation has even been linked to higher academic achievement for students!

Birthdays are truly special occasions, celebrating a milestone of achievement. This week, USDA’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (better known as WIC) celebrates the program’s 40^th anniversary, highlighting four decades of helping improve the lives of millions of infants and children across America.

Since the first WIC clinic opened in Pineville, Ky., back in 1974, the program now provides services through almost 1,900 local agencies in all 50 states, 34 Tribal Organizations, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

To highlight the importance of a healthy start in life, more than 170 countries celebrated World Breastfeeding Week earlier this month.  Themed “Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life,” the recognition encourages the practice to improve the health of babies around the globe.  The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) takes it a step further, recognizing the entire month of August as “National Breastfeeding Month.”

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service shares this commitment.  In fact, its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (better known as WIC) promotes breastfeeding as the optimal infant feeding choice.  We support breastfeeding among WIC moms by providing counseling and educational materials, offering healthy food packages, and giving out breastfeeding aids, like breast pumps.