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WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Study: Phase II Follow Up Implementation Report

This study updates a 2010 survey of WIC State Agencies’ Peer Counseling Practices for three reasons: 1) funding for the Loving Support Peer Counseling Program increased from $15 million in FY 2008 to $80 million in FY 2010 and subsequently declined to $60 million in FY 2014, 2) FNS made changes in the WIC food packages, in part to promote breastfeeding among WIC participants, and 3) there has been an evolution of best practices to support breastfeeding which have been adapted by many State and local WIC agencies more generally as well as specifically for Loving Support Peer Counseling. In the spring of 2014, a web-based survey was administered to the 50 State WIC agencies and the District of Columbia to gather information about how State agencies used the Loving Support Peer Counseling funding and supported the implementation of the program.


Breastfeeding Outcomes in Washington State: Determining the Effect of Loving Support Peer Counseling Program and Characteristics of Participants at WIC

The peer support counseling intervention improved breastfeeding duation and initation in the two trial clinics in Washington State. "The likelihood that women enrolled in WIC would initiate BF at Public Health Seattle and King County Clinics increased by 3%, whereas those in Catholic Health Initatives Franciscan Medical Group clinics increased by 6.8%. Women receiving services in smaller PHSKC clinics (n < 60 women) were likely to breastfeed their infants at >1 week."