OKay, here's the math for our local WIC
A FFing mom receives: 10 cans of 12.9 powdered ozs. Each can makes 94 fluid ounces. NOw, most peds recommend solids be started when you reach 32 oz. of consumption (From my experience). That's 960 oz. a month. WIC provides 940 oz. a month. Thats a difference of approximately 20 ounces. So 1 extra can would get them through. NOw in the first couple months, they may not be using the entire amount, meaning they've got a few leftover cans, and at 4 months, they start doing solids and cereal to reduce formula consumption. So, in essence, WIC can cover nearly all of a child's monthly FF needs. In addition, a FF mom gets 6 months of milk, cheese, and eggs, etc. THe big difference in BFIng is an additional check that gave me 1(maybe 2 ) bottles of juice, 4 cans of tuna, 2 lbs. of carrots, 1 lb. of beans and a dz. eggs. This stops for FFIng moms at 6 months, and goes on for BFIng moms until 12 months. IF a mom switches from BFing to FFing, she gets 6 months of the semi-reduced checks after switching.
However, I have been given a starter SNS for free. I was never offered a hand pump, and they don't have enough hospital grades so I couldn';t borrow one when I was working with DS. NOw tell me, does the system seem a bit off to you? Because it does to me. That means that for a breastfeeding mother they provide (based on 2 bottles of juice, not 1) an additional 3813 calories per month during the first 6 months. Going based on the idea that a breastfeeding mother needs approximately an additional 500 calories a day, that is less than 8 days worth of nutritional needs, compared to 29 days worht of nutritional needs for an average FF baby PLUS some of the moms nutritional needs. Maybe when I go in next month going back to exclusive BFIng (We are trialing elemental formulas for DD"s sake) and they don't have to give me 9 cans at 36-38/can, they'll realize just how blessed they are to have moms like us and maybe someday will advocate to change this system. BUt yes, OP, I too agreee that there needs to be more cost in FF. If people are gonig to feed their kids substandard things like watered down formula or milk, then we need to deal with that, but not by making it free and easy. Why should the government foot the entire bill in order to prevent them from bad parenting (Not FF< but substandards like cow's milk)? I could make the argument that if parents had more free money they would be less stressed and less likely to abuse their children. SO should we give every parent X amount of money each month in order to keep them from abusing or should we expect that there should be some personal accountability for our choices and actions.
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