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Article: Sharing the Economic Burden: Who Pays for WIC's Infant Formula?
- Article from:
- Amber Waves
- Article date:
- September 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Superintendent of Documents Sep 2004. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Proper nutrition during an infant's first year is essential for long-term growth and development. Although breastfeeding is the best nutritional method of feeding most babies, not all mothers breastfeed their infants. For these infants, infant formula is a key, or even sole, source of nutrition during their first months of life. Each month, USDA's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, commonly known as WIC, provides infant formula at no cost to almost 2 million nutritionally at-risk infants in low-income households. In fact, over half of all infant formula sold in the United States is obtained through WIC. But while WIC's infant formula is free to WIC ...