FY 2010 Breastfeeding Data Local Agency Report

Breastfeeding promotion and support is a priority in the WIC Program. Over the years, WIC has achieved many accomplishments in this area, and we continue to build upon these successes through various breastfeeding efforts. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (the Act), Public Law 111-296, established a new reporting requirement for the WIC Program. The Department of Agriculture is now mandated to compile and publish annually, breastfeeding performance measurements based on program participant data on the number of partially and fully breastfed infants for each WIC State and local agency.

The collection and publication of breastfeeding performance measurements is one of several provisions in the Act that strengthens the WIC Program’s emphasis on breastfeeding promotion and support and underscores the importance of exclusive, continued breastfeeding to the health of WIC participants. This new reporting requirement provides an exciting opportunity to help further the efforts of WIC State and local agencies by highlighting agencies that demonstrate success in breastfeeding through high breastfeeding rates and by motivating other agencies to strengthen their breastfeeding promotion and support services with the goal of increasing their breastfeeding rates. The collection of this data also allows WIC to track breastfeeding data trends in the WIC Program. Additionally, the breastfeeding performance measurements will be used in the process to determine awardees for initiatives that recognize the exemplary performance of WIC State and local agencies in breastfeeding; the WIC Breastfeeding Performance Bonuses and the WIC Local Agency Recognition Program.

Breastfeeding promotion and support is a core component of the services the WIC Program provides to safeguard the health of low-income women, infants and children. Through the constant efforts of State and local agencies, we continue to move forward in highlighting the importance of breastfeeding to the mission of the WIC Program and improving the WIC breastfeeding services critical to helping participants initiate and continue breastfeeding.