Fayette County Health Department 

 WIC   WOMEN    INFANTS   CHILDREN

      BUILDING A BETTER FUTURE 
      FOR AMERICA'S CHILDREN

• Quality nutrition education and services.
  
• Breastfeeding promotion and education.
  
• A monthly food prescription package.
  
• Access to maternal, prenatal and pediatric health-care services.

WIC helps to assure normal childhood growth, reduces early childhood anemia, increases immunization rates, and improves access to pediatric health care.  WIC improves consumption of key nutrients essential to growth and development, such as iron, protein, calcium, and Vitamins A and C.

Studies have shown that pregnant women who participate in WIC have longer pregnancies leading to fewer premature births, have fewer low and very low birth-weight babies, experience fewer fetal and infant deaths, seek prenatal care earlier in pregnancy, and consume more of such key nutrients as iron, protein, calcium, and Vitamin C.

Four and five year olds whose mothers participated in WIC during pregnancy had better vocabulary test scores than children whose mothers had not received WIC benefits.

Children who participated in WIC after their first birthday had better digit memory scores than children who did not participate in WIC.

The average WIC food benefit is $48 per month.

WIC Promotes Breastfeeding

Breast milk is the healthiest and best source of nutrition for infants. Breastfeeding helps mothers feel close to their baby, and the breast milk contains all the nutrients infants need to grow and develop.  Breastfed infants receive antibodies from the breast milk that protect them against infection.