I too got WIC when I was pregnant and until my child was 5. I saw nothing embarrassing about it either. I attempted to breast feed my child but all that happened for 4 months was he got collicy and belly aches and so on. Upon testing it turned out my child was allergic to milk including mine. For a while I felt like a failure to my child because WIC breast feeding consultants and peer breast feeding advocates were constantly pitching breast milk is best and so on, constantly trying to help me with try this and try that as if the problem was my holding him in the wrong position, first time mom jitters and so on. instead of addressing the fact that every time I fed my child afterwards he projectile vomited and cried. I was told for months that projectile vomiting just meant he had gas and when he does that just feed him more often in shorter breast feeding cycles. Boy was this WIC surprised when they got the results after my child landed in the hospital for breathing problems.

That WIC office and the one in this town now includes information about what to do when breast feeding does not help and information as to it IS possible for a baby to be allergic to mothers milk just like they can be allergic to cows and goat milk. Where before they stressed breastmilk and tried to convince the client to breast feed now they give information about the advantages to both breast feeding and formula feeding and let the client make thier choice.

Im not putting breast feeding down and if I ever have another child I do plan on starting out breast feeding. I just wanted people to be aware that in the end regardless of what breast feeding advocates say anywhere be it WIC, a doctors office, planned parenthood - Ive tried them all in trying to help my child - in the end if a parent chooses formula the baby will still thrive and grow, recieve the right nutricianla values and the baby is already got the benefits of the mothers immunity and so on because that stuff the child got while in the womb remains in the childs body for the first month or so and then the child has the doctor visits at which he recieves the required vacinations for the immunity stuff from the mom that is at those times lessening in levels.

With todays technology formula is now just as good a s breast milk. And there is nothing wrong with choosing formula over breast feeding. and a parent can bond with the child as well without breast feeding as they can with otherwise how come fathers are able to bond with their children by bottle feeding right.

Breastfeeding is great and so is bottle feeding. and which ever a person desides does not mean one is better than the other or the parent is a failure for not choosing breast feeding.