There will be several WIC participants share their individual breastfeeding stories at this event – including a mom who nursed a failure-to-thrive infant, a mother tandem nursing a newborn and toddler, and a nursing mother of twins. It is the goal for these inspiring moms to encourage other WIC moms to continue to breastfeed for at least 12 months or longer (as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics). Izzy the Bear (a costumed theme character promoting immunizations) will be present promoting breastfeeding as the “first immunization.”

According to the 2003 data from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDC), the United States and California are far behind the Healthy People 2010’s exclusive breastfeeding goal of 50% of all postpartum women continuing to breastfeed their infants at six months of age. Currently, in California approximately16.2% of postpartum women are exclusively breastfeeding. WIC wants to promote, encourage, and support breastfeeding.