Have you ever thought about what a Breastfeeding Peer Councelor does at WIC? I have to admit, that before Representative Virginia Foxx proposed getting rid of the program, I hadn’t thought about it much either. A breastfeeding peer counselor is someone who is or has been on WIC, who successfully breastfed their own child(ren) and who has take a course which enables them to help other mothers who want to breastfeed or who are having difficulties breastfeeding. This person is available to meet, one-on-one, with mothers and mothers-to-be. WIC rolled out this support program in 2000 as a pilot – and it was so successful – that they have since implemented it across the country.
Representative Foxx doesn’t think that women need this support – and apparently would rather see more money sent to large pharma to buy formula than support moms who want to breastfeed. Luckily – she did not get her way – and this proposal was voted down yesterday. If you would like to see how your representative voted here. And if you don’t know who your representative is, please look here.
I encourage you to read this post on The Leaky B@@b which was written by a breastfeeding peer counselor. It is an amazing post!
And after you read it, please contact your representative and tell them how happy or unhappy you are with their vote. And then please share this story with your friends and colleagues. A little bit can go a long way. Thank you for doing your part to support breastfeeding moms!
