WIC

 

East Boston's Women, Infants, and Children nutrition program celebrated World Breastfeeding Week on August 31 with a party for nursing mothers and their babies. More than twenty mothers and their children joined WIC nutritionists and staff to share their stories of how they learned to breastfeed their babies and continued nursing even after returning to work and school.

“WIC made all the difference,” says Evelyn Jimenez, with eleven-month-old Christopher at her knee. “I wanted to nurse my baby, but I knew only one other person who was breastfeeding. It seemed as if everyone else discouraged me, especially because I would be working part-time. But in Guatemala, where my parents are from, everyone breastfeeds. I didn’t see why I couldn’t do it, too.”

Jimenez came to WIC when her baby was five months old, after struggling to learn to nurse on her own. “They helped me figure out if he was ready for solid food, and how to continue breastfeeding him while working,” she says. “It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one.”

Rena Oudan, nutritionist at WIC, agrees. “Most new moms just need information and support to breastfeed successfully,” she says. WIC provides vouchers for supplemental nutritious foods to qualified participants, as well as nutrition education and counseling, screening, and referrals to other health, welfare, and social services. At the WIC center in East Boston, a prenatal class about breastfeeding is taught once a week to help pregnant women learn what to expect after their babies are born. “Ten to twelve women attend each week,” says Oudan. “We tell them about the health benefits of breastfeeding for both them and their babies, as well as the economic advantages. Breastmilk is free, while formula can be very expensive.”

Working mothers who wish to continue breastfeeding can avoid using formula by expressing their milk and saving it for their babies to have while they’re at work. “We teach them how to use a breast pump and safely store their milk,” says Oudan. The East Boston WIC helps mothers with health insurance rent electric breast pumps and loans pumps to those without insurance.

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated in 120 countries in honor of the signing of an international declaration in 1981 to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding. The East Boston celebration included healthy snacks for mothers and children, stories, face painting, a grab bag of gifts for toddlers and older children, and a raffle for mothers that featured gift baskets and a professionally installed car seat. Certificates were awarded to every mother who attended, recognizing their success in breastfeeding their babies.