WIC and Nutrition: A Cautionary Tale

This weeks blog isn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows. I’ve just come back from the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) office, and now that I’m over my initial shock, I’ve got a few things to say. Please note that these will not all be positive things.

 For those not in ‘the know’, WIC is a supplemental nutrition program for pregnant woman, infants, and children up to age 5. It was put in place to provide states with federal grants, in order to make sure that the children of low income families were getting help receiving the proper nutrition, and that not being able to afford things like formula, fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, milk, eggs, cheese, ect. is not the reason kids are malnourished. It’s a fantastic program for people like me who are poor and want to feed my kids healthy stuff, because let’s face it, the crap food is a lot cheaper most of the time, especially on a food stamp budget.

Today, we had our 3 month certification, in order to get our coupons for the next 3 months for Kaleb, Amelia, and myself. I will soon be cut off because I’ll be 6 months post-partum and am not nursing, which is not a big deal to me. Kaleb and Amelia will be able to continue receiving their benefits until age 5 should we remain poor. I generally don’t complain about these appointments, because I like to see how well my kids are doing physically and developmentally. I know they’re ok, they were just at the pediatrician too, but I like the validation that I’m doing things well. Amelia was the only one who had to be weighed and measured today, because she’s going to turn 6 months old before her next WIC appointment. She’s great. She’s 19 lbs 6 oz and 26 inches long. She’s growing right along the growth curve just splendidly. Her hemoglobin is fine. 

After that portion of the show, we were sent back to the room with a nutritionist to assess our ‘risk factors’. They usually ask questions about how much they’re eating, sleeping, pooping, peeing, ect. They want to know what kinds of foods or formula you’re offering. Usually, this is no big deal. But now that WIC provides vouchers for store-bought baby food, they have to ask questions about the baby (duh). The nutritionist started asking about her bottle habits, sleeping habits, diapers, ect. Standard stuff, no big deal. Then she asked about baby food, if we’d started that yet. I replied no. She asked about baby cereal, and I again replied no. “You will need to start that, as she’s old enough and healthy enough to begin weaning. Do you know about weaning? She needs the baby cereal because it’s iron-fortified, and she will need the iron for brain development as you decrease her formula feedings.” I calmly explained she wasn’t ready to be off of formula yet. She replied, “Ok, no problem. She’s not quite 6 months yet. But sooner the better.” Then she asked about what she’s been eating. I replied, “Oh lots of things, she’s been trying carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, turkey, chicken, beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, tortillas, pita…” to which she cut me off, gasping, “I thought you said you hadn’t started weaning her yet?! We’ll get you set up with babyfood as soon as possible. You’re at the current time making your own baby food?” “No,” I replied, “I’m giving her steamed veggies, raw fruits, and bits off of my plate. It’s called Baby Led Weaning. Is there any way we can get more fresh fruits and veggies vouchers instead?” …Silence. Then: “No. She can’t possibly be getting enough nutrition from that. Has she seen the pediatrician? Does she know what you’re doing?” I was baffled for a minute, and then got up the nerve to ask her what exactly she thought I was doing? She told me that babies need to learn to eat purees first, that just because they can manage bigger food doesn’t mean they should have it. The example she gave was, “Some women come in here and are all excited, ‘OMG, my baby never crawled, they just stood up and started walking!’, not knowing that it’s bad for their brain development to do that. Babies need to start with crawling first, because it helps their brains develop properly. If they don’t, it causes developmental delays. This is the same concept. We are funded by the American Academy of Pediatrics, so we have to go by their guidelines. Their guildelines say they need to be weaned completely by 14 months, so the earlier you start with purees, the better.” 

I just sat there, baffled and seething. I took a big breath, composed myself, and calmly replied, “I’m sorry you feel that way. But my pediatrican says what we are doing is just fine, and not harmful at all to my children. In fact, she says starting foods too early can lead to reflux and other gastrointestinal issues, because their bodies aren’t ready to handle food, even in pureed form. Also, the process used to prepare commercial baby food requires pasteurization and preservatives, which decreases the amount of nutritional value of those foods. And the 2nd ingredient on the jar is water. There is no nutritional value to water. She will get the nutrition she needs from formula, and when she’s ready, she will get it from whole foods, not watered down versions. By the way, Baby Led Weaning is ALSO promoted by the American Academy of Pediatrics, as another alternative to feeding babies proper nutrition. You may want to look into that.” I smiled, sat back, and silently patted myself on the back for being so educated. This woman sat there, confused for a moment, then without missing a beat, “I can see we’re not going to agree. So I’ll go ahead and send your coupons up to be printed. I’ll just hold the baby food ones, and if you change your mind about feeding her properly, let us know.”



…*insert shock, awe, confusion, and bewilderment here*...



So yeah, I got my coupons. WITH decreased amounts of formula, because baby should be eating 3 meals a day and only having bottles in between meals, according to WIC. No extra fruit or vegetable coupons, and the stink of being basically called and thought to be a bad mother still lingering on me. I will continue to participate in this program, because it IS voluntary, and I do appreciate the things I do receive. But it still makes me so mad! How dare you treat anyone that poorly?? For that matter, how dare you act superior even when shown the facts, and treat people like they’re causing great harm to their kids by feeding them real food instead of commercial food?? How dare you talk down to someone who is trying to do the very best for their children’s health and nutrition, just because you’re too ignorant to accept that there are many styles of parenting, and no one way is correct?? Shame on you, WIC Program. For shame.