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ARTICLES:
Alan S. Ryan and Wenjun Zhou
Lower Breastfeeding Rates Persist Among the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children Participants, 1978–2003
Pediatrics 2006; 117: 1136-1146 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read eLetters] ?Institutional Bias at WIC Administration
Avrum L. Katcher   (10 May 2006)

?Institutional Bias at WIC Administration 10 May 2006
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Avrum L. Katcher,
Retired Pediatrician
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

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Re: ?Institutional Bias at WIC Administration

stellave{at}earthlink.net Avrum L. Katcher

Breastfeeding rates among WIC participants have been low since inception of this program. I am aware of this because I attended the initial presentation before an AAP meeting of the Director of the WIC program. This person talked about their benefits, and how program worked, in order to stimulate pediatricians to encourage parents to apply. He explained that the program consisted entirely of formula and spoon foods for the infant. When I rose in the question session to ask why There was no package specially designed for mothers who were breastfeeding, and why there was no counselling for them to help with the breastfeeding, he had no answer, but said, in good beaurocratic fashion, that he "would look into it." The text of the article by Ryan and Zhou suggests that attitudes at the WIC administrative offices are unchanged.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared