No Milk for You! Does WIC discourage nursing past one year? 7
WIC doesn’t give moms the breastfeeding package after one year. Instead, they give the 1 year old baby a children’s food package. This package varies a bit from state to state, but will look similar to this package that Tennessee offers:
- 36 oz cereal
- (1) 12-16 oz whole wheat bread or other whole grain such as brown rice, oatmeal, barley, soft corn tortillas, whole wheat tortillas
- (2) 64 oz containers of WIC approved juice
- $6 cash value voucher for fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables
- 3 gallons whole milk
- 1 qt buttermilk or 1 can evaporated milk
- 16 oz cheese
- 1 dozen eggs
- 16 oz dried beans/peas
The only problem I have with this list is the 3 gallons of whole milk. I’d like to show you some information from Kellymom.com (which is an excellent resource for breastfeeding information):
Many nursing moms are told that they must introduce cow’s milk at a year. Your nursing toddler is already getting the best milk he can get – mother’s milk! Breast milk has a higher fat content than whole cow’s milk (needed for baby’s brain growth), and all the nutrients of human milk are significantly more bioavailable than those of cow’s milk because it is species specific (not to mention all the components of mother’s milk that are not present in cow’s milk).
There is no need to add cow’s milk to your toddler’s diet (or the equivalent nutrients from other milks or foods) as long as your baby is nursing at least 3-4 times per day. Cow’s milk is really just a convenient source of calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. – it’s not required. There are many people in many parts of the world who do not drink milk and still manage to get all the calcium, protein, fats, vitamin D, etc. that they need.
At 12 months old, a baby who is still nursing would be much better off health-wise continuing to nurse than consuming 3 gallons of cow’s milk per month. Cow’s milk is okay for your baby, but breast milk is better. Even the formula companies are starting to catch on that cow’s milk may not be the best choice for 12-24 month olds, so they’re eager to convince the formula feeding moms to keep giving formula instead of switching to cow’s milk.
If a mom is ready to wean her child at 1 year old, giving them whole milk is probably a reasonable choice. But if the mom is planning to continue nursing her toddler on demand, there could be a better package for the family than one that encourages replacing breast milk with cow’s milk or giving a child so much cow’s milk that they don’t have room to drink breast milk or eat other healthy foods as much.
I would love to see WIC offer an option for a nursing toddler to receive 0-2 gallons of whole milk (depending on how often they’re nursing), and provide additional fruit and veggie vouchers instead.
I love your idea of being abloe to get something other than cow’s milk. I did sign up up for soy milk for myself, when I was pregnant with my 2nd. But I got too much of that too.
Right now, I get 3 and 1/4 gallons of milk right now for my 4 y/o (baby is still getting mostly formula), and that’s about how much we use per month as a household. But my 4 y/o was exclusively breastfed (didn’t wean til she was 2), and when she turned 1, I started giving her a little bit of rice milk. But she was definately still nursing at least 2 or 3 times a day.
I actually lean towards the idea that cows milk is really meant for cows and not quite as healthy as America is lead to believe. We still drink it but I’m in no hurry to try and replace breastmilk with cows milk for my 12 month old!
I just haven’t actively weaned my son. He’s 14 months and I’m prety sure will nurse until he’s atleast 2. He won’t eat much else and will only drink water. I don’t really think they need to have the wmilk on ther as there are other ways to get calcium or Vitamin D.
im still nursing my 13 mth old daughter on demand and i think she will recieve way more nutrition from me continuing to breastfeed than from giving her some steamed veggies, (that are a choking hazard since she only three little tooth nubs) so shes still on boob and baby food with oatmeal cereal. i definitely wish they still gave moms packages instead of babies if nursing after 1 yr.
As far as the milk goes if you are still nursing why not consume it yourself? That way your child will benefit from it indirectly via breastmilk? If they want eat the other stuff. no reason why mom cannot to supplement her diet? I feel that children should be introduced to table foods around 6 months or so. By a year old they should be eating more of it.. not less.
First off I am jealous that you get buttermilk and cheese in the child package. I got cheese on the breastfeeding package but my son is now turing one- but he wont get cheese or the buttermilk. Our office is super supportive of breastfeeding past one and have always been in favor of moms keeping bf’ing as long as possible. But like other states, they do switch the package at one year. My son wont drink as much whole milk as they are going to give me- but honestly we have a whole family to feed here. I get that you are supposed to qualify for wic if you need better nutrition and are low income- but I dont feel like that should mean that only my infant and toddler should be able to drink milk and get the wic goodies and tell my 6 and 7 yr old to pi** off. I definatly think that at just one year milk from a cow isnt best so I will continue to breastfeed. But I will gladly take the WIC package for my two little ones because we are currently in a financial situation where our whole family can use any help that is offered.
I agree that WIC could do a better job of educating nursing moms on the continued benefits of nursing after 1 year, as the points you mention Lynn are very correct. However, I feel it is up to the mom to ultimately decide if she is going to use her toddlers WIC checks to purchase the full amount of milk allotted on the food package or opt for purchasing less milk (this is assuming that the State the mom is redeeming the WIC check in doesn’t require her to purchase everything on her check).
Also @ Amanda WIC has it limits, hence the age cut-off and unfortunately since your older children (6 & 7 yrs. old) are school age they can qualify for reduced/free lunch and breakfast and get milk while at school. The WIC program is not telling your older kids to “pi** off.” The WIC checks you get for your younger children do benefit the entire family and that means less total milk & other food staples you have to purchase with your on resources, so please try to be less sour towards a supplemental program.