The United States' Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
also known as WIC supplies almost fifty percent of the infant formula used in the US at no
charge to the families. This has raised a red flag for concern because it is well-known that
feeding with infant formula results in poorer health outcomes for infants than breastfeeding. Why
should WIC offer any formula at all to its clients when breast milk is free, and it is known to be
more beneficial for infants than formula? The evidence that is available implies that the WIC
program promotes the use of infant formula, consequently placing infants at higher health risk.
Feeding a baby is an indispensable duty of a parent. Part of that duty includes making
sure that the baby receives a healthful and nutritious diet. Unfortunately, it’s not always obvious
what healthful and nutritious means. What we do know is breast milk not only contains the
perfect amount of nutrients but also contains high levels of nutrients needed for healthy
developmental growth that is easily digested resulting in less gas, diarrhea and constipation.
Whereas formula feed infants nutritional content depends on correct preparation and some
infants have trouble tolerating certain nutrients. For parents who have experienced a colic baby
know how essential this is to a new born baby and the difference it makes to breastfeed. The
breast milk is more gentle to a newborns digestive system. Formula promotes to help reduce the
colic but only relieves minuscule amounts of gas pains. Breast milk is the only natural, complete
and complex nutrition for infants and strengthens their immune systems. It has scientifically been
proven that breast milk benefits ev...
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...cushion for families
who run into financial difficulties will give parents the opportunity to seriously consider how
they will feed their newborn child knowing there is no WIC program to be influenced by after
their child is born. Reducing WIC to only medically necessary participants will give
breastfeeding a fair shot as an opponent to formula and will elevate a large portion of this
financially economic burden bestowed upon hardworking taxpayers.
Works Cited
"How Much Does Baby Formula And Other Baby Supplies Cost?" The Labor of Love.com.
2005.Web.www.thelaboroflove.com. 5 April 2011
Kramer, F. "The Secrets of Breastfeeding and Weight Loss." Breast Feeding.com.
2009.Web.www.breastfeeding.com. 4 April 2011.
Oliveira, Victor. "Sharing the Economic Burden." Amber Waves. May 2004.
Web.www.ers.usda.gov. 5 April 2011.
Women, Infants and Children (WIC) was established “ To safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.” In this paper one will weigh the pros and cons, review the information given and come to an overall opinion of the program.
What is WIC? Where does WIC originate from? WIC originally started as Special Supplemental Nutritional Program to protect the health of low-income woman, infants, and children up to the age of 5 who are at risk for poor nutrition. WIC was created as a two year program in 1972 by an amendment to the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The program was geared to improve the health of pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, infants and children in response to growing concerns over malnutrition among many poverty-stricken mothers and young children. In 1974 WIC was functioning in 45 States, the first location was opened in Kentucky in January 1974. In 1975 WIC was established as a permanent program by legislation P.L. 94-105. The eligibility was also extended to non-breastfeeding women and children up to the age 5, before this extension WIC was providing services to breastfeeding mothers and children up to the age of 4. In 1978 legislation added new elements to the program: nutrition education must be provided, the supplemental foods should contain nutrients found lacking in the target population, and have relatively low levels of fat, sugar, and salt, and states needed to coordinate referrals to social services including immunization, alcohol and drug abuse prevention, child abuse counseling, and family planning. In 1992 WIC introduced an enhanced food package just for breastfeeding mothers to further promote breastfeeding. WIC had also created two programs from “Loving Sup...
for the baby. Ye are to tell the world there isn’t a scrap of food
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is a federally funded program administered by the Food and Nutrition Service under the United States Department of Agriculture. Each state receives a grant to pay for WIC foods, administrative costs, nutrition education, and breastfeeding promotion and support. In 2009 WIC served approximately 9.3 million people per month. WIC services are available for nutritionally at risk, income qualified pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five. The WIC program provides nutrient-dense supplemental foods, nutrition education, and health care referrals to those who qualify. The mission of WIC is “To safeguard the health of low-income women, infants, and children up to age five who at nutrition risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating, and referrals to health care.” (USDA)
When the child was first born (his name is Lionel), one of the first major decisions we made was determining what type of food we should give to him. I never leaned toward either one of the options more than the other, so I decided to feed him by giving him both breast milk and formula. This was a good decision in my opinion, because he got the nutrients and antibodies from the breast milk, as well as the ability to eat
Supplemental feedings and replacement milks include commercial formula and animal milks prepared with sugar, water, and other nutrients. Some mothers choose to combine the commercial formula with the milk mixture to stretch their supplies of each. Because HIV is spread through contact with infected body fluids, the child that is fed with supplemental feedings is at a lower risk of becoming infected than a child that comes in contact with the HIV-positive mother’s breastmilk. Common replacement milk recipes that were studied by Papathakis & Rollins in 2004 included 39g of full cream powdered milk (PM), 30g of sugar, and 450ml of water, and 300 ml full cream milk (FM), 30g of sugar, and 150 ml water.
“Commercially prepared infant formulas are a nourishing alternative to breast milk, and even contains vitamins and nutrients that breastfed infants need to get from supplements (Pearl, E., 2015). Breastfeeding is proven to strengthen the immune system for children of all ages. While a mother nurses the infant, the mother passes down nutrients and antibodies from the milk the babies drink while nursing. Like immunizations building invulnerabilities for people destructive illnesses, breast milk gives additional antibodies to infants to help them. Nursing sessions are less demanding to retain and process the formula since it contains living development elements, hormones, and chemicals which help an infant to effectively process all healthy intake from each feeding (The Office on Women’s Health, 2012). Further, in creating nations, scientists found that for newborn children who were not breastfed have danger of dying from irresistible infections, in the primary month is six times more prominent than babies who were breastfed (Chen and Rogan, 2004). Children that are breastfed have less problems with digestive systems due to the breast milk, a standout amongst the most essential advantages of breast milk is the containing living parts, for example, contamination battling antibodies, white platelets, red platelets, and hostile to viral components (Taylor, 2013). All which are essential to the growth of a newborn's digestive system that formula does not
Lactation consultants are a vital part of the healthcare system. Together with the rest of the healthcare team they make sure that mother and baby's care as a breastfeeding pair is complete. The International Board Certified Lactation Consultant represents the "gold standard" in lactation consultant credentialing. Lactation consultants who carry the credentials IBCLC behind their names are specially trained and qualified to assist with every aspect of breastfeeding. I chose the topic of lactation consulting because I feel strongly about being a breastfeeding advocate. I believe that those in the healthcare field, especially the people involved in woman’s health and pediatrics should be knowledgeable in this area. After all it has been found that breastmilk is the best source of nutrition for infants.
Mulder, P. J. (2006,). A concept analysis of effective breastfeeding. JOGNN: Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing, 35, 332-339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2006.00050.x
Breastfeeding is a highly debated topic amongst mothers across the world. Every mother has the choice to breastfeed or bottle fed their infant. Although everyone is entitled to their own opinion and choice, it is scientifically proven that breast milk is more beneficial for the infant’s health and development and the mother. Breast milk contains extremely beneficial vitamins and nutrients and also has the ability to change according to the infant’s growth and development. Formula companies try to mock breast milk to the best they can, although it cannot be completely composed the same. “Breastfeeding offers immunological and allergy protection to the infant, is economical and convenient as it is always fresh and the right temperature, and provides a great opportunity for the mother and infant to bond” (p. 1052, Potter & Perry, 2011). Research has proven that breast milk is the most
Breastfeeding rates are continually increasing. The nutritional benefit of breast over formula is a long established fact. “According to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breastfeeding rates improved nationwide in 2000-2008, and some of the greatest improvement was among black women. However, only about 59 percent of black mothers breastfed in 2008, compared to 80 percent of Hispanic mothers and about 75 percent of white mothers. For 2008 rates of breastfeeding at a baby’s first birthday, the number was about 23 percent overall but only 12.5 percent for black mothers. That low rate still marks a near doubling of rates among black mothers compared to the year 2000” (Currie, 2013).It is the recommended method of feeding an infant for at least the first six months of life. Breastfeeding has benefits to both mothers and their babies. The baby receives immunity to protect it from disease. Financially, breastfeeding can significantly reduce the burden of having a new child. Many mothers initiate breastfeeding in the hospital; however, the number of women who breastfeed until six months is very low (Guyer, Millward, & Berger, 2012). Breastfeeding is highly favored over bottle feeding. Yet, mothers still do not choose to continually breastfeed their infants. Do mothers who breastfeed during hospitalization have limitations or no desire to continue versus mothers who breastfeed for the recommended six months or longer at home?
By remaining exclusive to human milk, the premature infant has an increase in benefits and outcomes. This change in recommendation is due to the benefits of human milk which include “decreased rates of late-onset of sepsis, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy, sudden infant death syndrome, fewer re-hospitalizations in the first year of life, and improved neurodevelopmental outcomes.” (Underwood, M. A.). Due to an underdeveloped gastrointestinal tract, it is shown that preterm infants require smaller amounts of human milk than a full-term baby. It is crucial to teach mothers of preterm infants, that the colostrum or milk they produce is sufficient. If the mother does not produce enough milk, she should be directed to a donor human milk bank or talk to a lactation consultant. Nevertheless, it is crucial nurses emphasize the importance of reducing formula feeding and implement exclusive
Rear Admiral Galson, S. K. (July 2008). Mothers and Children Benefit from Breastfeeding. American Dietic Association Vol 108 Issue 7 , p 1106.
Human Breast Milk is touted as the perfected food for infants. There is extreme pressure placed on new mothers to nurse or feed expressed breast milk (EB) elusively for the first six months of life. The extreme of this can be defined by a group called La Lache League International.
Evaluation –This mother did have some experience with breastfeeding her daughter and did so for a short time. The mother had some trouble with latching the infant on but did not have any issues with the correct positioning after teaching was provided. Each feeding was recorded and the mother did wake the infant before each feeding. On the first day the mother offered the breast every 2-3 hours and the infant ate for an adequate time on each breast. The infant seemed to be doing fine on the first day but not as well on the second day. On the second day the infant ate more frequently and was spending less time on each breast. He seemed unsatisfied after each feeding