WIC vent

[mysticmomma]

DD2 will be 7 mos on Sunday. She is 16 lbs 12 oz and 25.5 inches. She was 9 13
at birth. At our first WIC appt, (3 mos old) she was 13lbs 6 oz and 23 inches. She was flagged large for GA, and at the same time flagged for inadequate growth. Yesterday she was flagged again for inadequate growth. She's gained 3 lbs and 2 inches in 3 months! Yesterday we also added "at risk for obesity" because of her high w for l percentile!

95th percentile w for l
14th l for age
32nd w for age

[GoBecGo]

I'm pregnant (can't think straight) and in the UK (unfamiliar with WIC) but does that mean they are simultaneously saying your DD is going to be obese, but isn't growing enough? Baffling...

[mysticmomma]

yup!

[GoBecGo]

Wow, that's....i don't know what that is! LOL! Sorry you have to deal with it! My DD was always starving because they couldn't get it into their heads that you could be on the 96th for height and the 50th for weight AND be "normal"...

[blessedwithboys]

WIC sucks imo. sorry you have to deal with that for some pastuerized milk and mercury-laden tuna fish. LOL i used to go through the same crap with my ds1

[mamadelbosque]

Yeah, when we were on WIC, I went in, smiled, nodded, took the free food and ignored all their advice...

[angelpie545]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Yeah, when we were on WIC, I went in, smiled, nodded, took the free food and ignored all their advice...

That's pretty much what i do, although over here WIC isn't too bad. It helps that I'm very sure of myself and know what I'm talking about. They aren't really used to that, and sometimes I even bring up information they didn't know. I have Lupus and knew more about it than the nurse on the staff did-however she's a really sweet lady and we actually had a good talk. I can already tell my new son is going to very tall and thin (just like his father) and I expect to get some flak from them about it. I'm not worried though.

[phrogger]

So I talked to a wic counselor recently and they said basically they have to almost make up stuff like that to get qualifications for payments. Basically, because wic is for "at risk" people, they have to come up with something so people qualify for the free stuff. If your kids were perfect they couldn't get any of the free stuff. Doesn't mean they are actually at risk of anything, just that a counselor had to come up with something to justify it all

[mysticmomma]

This was JUST from plugging in the numbers. It wasn't for certification... we're certified for a year. This is what the charts in their system spit out. No human involved.

[mi.birthdoula]

Are you sure we don't go to the same office?

My office told me that DS was too fat, but that I'm probably starving him because we EBF and I wouldn't give him canned baby food when I went in for recert in Jan...He was only 5 months old for pete's sake! I was also told it was illegal to leave him intact, and not vax, but that's a whole other issue. I politely told them they were "NUTS!" regarding everything they told me. I always get crap when I take the kids in. "You should give them juice, not just milk and water, one DD is underweight, the other is obese. You must be feeding them differently." Not likely. The smaller dd eats MORE than her big sis. She just has a metabolism on overdrive like dh. But when he goes in, they don't say a word about anything. Its all like, "wow it is nice to see a dad taking such good care of his kids!" Give me a break...its me taking care of the kids, and making all the meals!!! Sorry, Rant over now!

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

Originally Posted by mi.birthdoula

Are you sure we don't go to the same office?

My office told me that DS was too fat, but that I'm probably starving him because we EBF and I wouldn't give him canned baby food when I went in for recert in Jan...He was only 5 months old for pete's sake! I was also told it was illegal to leave him intact, and not vax, but that's a whole other issue. I politely told them they were "NUTS!" regarding everything they told me. I always get crap when I take the kids in. "You should give them juice, not just milk and water, one DD is underweight, the other is obese. You must be feeding them differently." Not likely. The smaller dd eats MORE than her big sis. She just has a metabolism on overdrive like dh. But when he goes in, they don't say a word about anything. Its all like, "wow it is nice to see a dad taking such good care of his kids!" Give me a break...its me taking care of the kids, and making all the meals!!! Sorry, Rant over now!

at the bolded.

[kavamamakava]

I don't know if all WIC places use the same software but it flags automatically and it's so dumb. When I took my kids in they were all flagged as obese and also for not gaining enough weight. The WIC people just rolled their eyes and laughed with me. I was like the breastfeeding guru there since I signed up for WIC when I was pregnant with #3 and tandem nursing #1 and #2.
#1 was about 36 lbs at 3 yrs old and #2 was around 30 lbs at 2 yrs old. At 4 yrs, #1 was still 36 lbs and at 3 yrs old, #2 was only 32 lbs

I also gave them tons of recipes for using the WIC food including a recipe for making fresh cheese with all the gallons of milk I got that no one drank. They also found a newspaper article that mentioned me and showed it to me from a breastfeeding event I went to. They had my picture on their wall

[Bellabaz]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque

Yeah, when we were on WIC, I went in, smiled, nodded, took the free food and ignored all their advice...

This was me too.

[KempsMama]

I've been lucky for the most part, but having gone to WIC in three different counties I've also gotten some pretty messed up advice. The worst has been since DS1 is a toddler and has become a really picky eater who won't touch a vegetable. We are working through it, but some of the things they tell me to do to get veggies in him are like Like Chef Boyardee. Oh, and when he went through a phase where the best "meal" I could get in him was a hard boiled egg and some good sharp cheddar, they told me to feed him Dominos pizza instead.

At first I would argue, but now I just say "This is what works for us right now, I'm happy with it, he's happy with it, and we are working towards better eating habits".

[boobs4milk]

crazy. they don't pull punches with me because they respect that i am THE ONLY PERSON in their office that was bf at 1 year (dd3). i'm trying to be a bf peer counselor and i'm hoping to help CHANGE things for the better for bf (and ff ) moms.

tbh, their infant foods packages are a noble effort, but come on. what kid eats that much in one month? and no way are purees better than breastmilk OR formula!

millie is my largest so far at 6 mos+ and she's still only 65% on their charts??? she's 19lbs and she was 5 weeks early, people!!!

[Kristine233]

Ugh, that sucks. I'd just ignore them and go with what you know and rely more on your pediatrictian vs WIC. We were very fortunate that our WIC was super supportive. They really encouraged breastfeeding and when I had mega issues they were far more helpful than any other local resources. You'd think they would WANT to promote breastfeeding, it would save the government a TON of money that would otherwise be spent on formula. Then they could use that money to help more famlies that need it. The whole system is kinda backwards, but at least some locations seem to have it right. I just wish more of them did!

[kavamamakava]

Originally Posted by Kristine233

Ugh, that sucks. I'd just ignore them and go with what you know and rely more on your pediatrictian vs WIC. We were very fortunate that our WIC was super supportive. They really encouraged breastfeeding and when I had mega issues they were far more helpful than any other local resources. You'd think they would WANT to promote breastfeeding, it would save the government a TON of money that would otherwise be spent on formula. Then they could use that money to help more famlies that need it. The whole system is kinda backwards, but at least some locations seem to have it right. I just wish more of them did!

WIC is there to sell food products. You may get them for free, but money changes hands. It's run by the US Department of Agriculture and is part of the system that subsidizes farm products. So when WIC vouchers are handed out and those products are "purchased" from the grocery store, that means those particular farm products are sold and accounted for and that helps fund farm subsidies for corn, wheat, dairy, etc. I guess it's a neat system of making sure that a good chunk of products are sold for at market value in order to keep the sales of those products moving. But that's why WIC exists. The people who work there are trying to work for the mission statement of WIC which is to support "healthy" families, but they only do what they are hired to do. Fundamentally, before any mission statement or supporting breastfeeding or anything like that, underlying all that is the fact that WIC is a part of the farm subsidy program and not welfare or charity or a social service for citizens. You might even call it corporate welfare.

[Kristine233]

Originally Posted by kavamamakava

WIC is there to sell food products. You may get them for free, but money changes hands. It's run by the US Department of Agriculture and is part of the system that subsidizes farm products. So when WIC vouchers are handed out and those products are "purchased" from the grocery store, that means those particular farm products are sold and accounted for and that helps fund farm subsidies for corn, wheat, dairy, etc. I guess it's a neat system of making sure that a good chunk of products are sold for at market value in order to keep the sales of those products moving. But that's why WIC exists. The people who work there are trying to work for the mission statement of WIC which is to support "healthy" families, but they only do what they are hired to do. Fundamentally, before any mission statement or supporting breastfeeding or anything like that, underlying all that is the fact that WIC is a part of the farm subsidy program and not welfare or charity or a social service for citizens. You might even call it corporate welfare.

That makes sense for a lot of the items, I just didn't see how it applied to formula.

[kavamamakava]

Originally Posted by Kristine233

That makes sense for a lot of the items, I just didn't see how it applied to formula.

Formula is a soy or dairy product.

[Peacemamalove]

WIC is crazy. They said the same thing with my girls and now they are 5 and 2 and neither are obese at all. My son who was born early was classified as failure to thrive and he is now 8 and just tall and slender!