WIC and SNAP-Ed Lactation Counseling Collaboration

About the Program

Category: Health (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The Placer County Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Education (SNAP-Ed) Program collaborates with Women, Infants and Children (WIC) to provide lactation support for mothers who are not eligible to participate in WIC’s Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Program. Placer County WIC provides lactation assistance with a lactation consultant through its Breastfeeding Peer Counseling grant; however, due to limited funding and a restricted scope of services, only first-time mothers with babies aged newborn to six months are eligible to enroll in this program. Mothers with children older than six months, or mothers who have a second, third, etc. child, are not eligible for the Peer Counseling Program and the additional lactation consultation services that this program provides. To fill the gap and provide services to a broader population of at-risk mothers, SNAP-Ed contracts with an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) to provide lactation support to WIC mothers who are not eligible for the Peer Counselor program. Placer County SNAP-Ed is one of the first SNAP-Ed programs across the state to utilize its funds for the purposes of collaborating with WIC to provide lactation support.