Throughout August, we will be sharing stories and resources on the importance of a healthy start for our children and families.
The following guest blog highlights the important work of our partner the American Academy of Pediatrics. The association is dedicated to the health and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. In honor of National Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program Breastfeeding Week, Dr. Joan Younger Meek discusses the benefits of breastfeeding and the role WIC plays in supporting mothers and newborns.
By Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, IBCLC, FAAP, Chair, American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is the most beneficial way a mother can nourish her baby. Breastfed infants have reduced risk of infections, asthma, obesity, diabetes, certain childhood cancers, and SIDS, compared with formula fed infants. In addition to its nutritional benefits, breastfeeding supports the baby’s developing immune system and helps to protect against respiratory and intestinal infections. This is especially important for babies born prematurely. Breastfeeding may be linked to lower obesity rates in adolescence and adulthood. And the benefits extend to mothers as well—breastfeeding moms have a reduced risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, heart disease, and postpartum depression compared to mothers who don't breastfeed. These are just some of the reasons why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends mothers exclusively breastfeed for about the first six months, and to continue doing so as other foods are introduced, for 1 year or longer as mutually desired by mother and infant.
One of the most powerful programs to support breastfeeding is WIC, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. In existence for 40 years, WIC serves more than 8 million pregnant women, infants and children, including more than half of all infants born in the United States. WIC provides nutritious foods, nutrition education, breastfeeding support, and referrals to health care and social services for millions of low-income women, their infants, and young children who are determined to be nutritionally at-risk.
Among the ways WIC helps promote breastfeeding is through its peer counseling program, where women receive support and counseling on how to initiate breastfeeding from trained peer counselors, many of whom were former WIC participants themselves. WIC also provides lactation consultants, classes and support groups, education materials and hotlines for questions. These support systems work; the rates of women who initiate breastfeeding in WIC have risen dramatically from 44.5% in 2000 to 67.1% in 2012, higher rates than non-WIC participants. Additionally, WIC provides breastfeeding mothers with a larger and more varied food package, and to encourage mothers to begin breastfeeding, WIC no longer routinely provides formula for the first month after birth.
As we celebrate the benefits of breastfeeding and WIC’s role encouraging breastfeeding, we must also make sure that WIC has the support it needs to continue providing children the best possible start in life. That means increasing the federal investment in the breastfeeding peer counseling program. That also means maintaining the parts of WIC that work best—its evidence-based food packages, its adjunctive eligibility with Medicaid, and its vital link with the health care system — and making improvements to strengthen its reach, like allowing states to extend eligibility through age 6 and streamlining enrollment.
As a pediatrician, I have the benefit of seeing the importance of WIC firsthand, in the new mother who is able to meet her breastfeeding goals through the support of a peer counselor or in the healthy toddler whose mother can provide more fruits and vegetables to enrich her diet. I am proud to celebrate National WIC Breastfeeding Week by recognizing the many ways WIC helps families to ensure that their babies get the healthiest possible start in life.
