According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2021, North Carolina aligned 100% with its Early Care and Education (ECE) Licensing Breastfeeding Support criteria.
Now, in 2023, New Hanover County’s Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, team is pushing to teach mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding. For the first time in three years, they’re offering in-person appointments to discuss the department's supplemental nutrition program.
“So if a mom came in, and she was having some sort of problem, we would refer her out… If she's having any kind of crisis, we have someone that can help her with that. If she had a problem with, you know, food, getting more food in the household, we can help her with that. But basically, we're a nutrition education program that promotes breastfeeding," said Ann Wren, Nutrition Services Supervisor for WIC.
She notes that WIC also helps moms feed children up to five years old through their program.
"In marketing, you can see formula; so easy, all you have to do is pour water in the bottle. But you know, not everyone understands that, yes, you do just pour two things together, but formula is made for the masses. Breast milk is made for the baby that you just had. So the chemistry of your breast milk is specific for your baby. Breastfeeding is free," Wren said.
WIC is an income-based program: county residents are automatically qualified income-wise if they receive food stamps or Medicaid. If not, WIC takes the income of the entire family into account — this can help in situations where a mother makes over the income limit, but is the breadwinner for a family.
“We are here to help you we can answer almost every question that you have. If we can't, we will find out the answer for you. … If you apply and you qualify, we're going to help you any way that we can with everything: breastfeeding, eating, referrals, any services that we feel you need or that you're asking us about," Wren said.
The number of mothers that either partially or totally breastfeed their babies in New Hanover County is 33.9%, which is higher than the state average of 28.4%.
Wren attributes this to the county’s commitment to taking care of mothers, and the local support groups that help breastfeeding mothers find confidence and comfort in feeding their babies.
Some of those local support groups include organizations like the Chocolate Milk program through Port City Breastfeeding Project for African-American mothers, and La Leche League of North Carolina.
Wren also suggests breastfeeding mothers use Breastfeeding.com for more helpful resources. It also includes advice for fathers.
Wren said she wants to reassure mothers that formula feeding is not wrong: “Our priority is that all babies need to be fed. So if you can't breastfeed, and you formula feed, there's nothing wrong with that. But we're trying to help all these moms latch that baby on, learn how to nurse and learn how to feed their baby with breast milk.”
