We do uncommon things.

Yesterday, I went to WIC to change my food package from the one we were getting, which gave us a few cans of formula since we were supplementing with it, to the one that gives us just a bunch of regular food since I am now exclusively breastfeeding, no supplementing anymore.

When I went to the front desk, and told them that I wanted to change my package (and I did tell them from what to what I wanted to change it), they did what is standard procedure, and sent my file back to the lactation consultant. She called me back to her office maybe five minutes later, and asked me why I wanted to change my package. I guess the front desk didn't note what I wanted to change it to. I could tell she was in that mode of thinkin "what will make this one keep nursing?". So explained to her that we had been supplementing a little formula, but that I had gotten my milk supply up to the point that we don't need to supplement anymore. She was surprised to hear that! She said, "Oh, so you want to change to the exclusively breastfeeding food package, then? OK, that's wonderful! It's uncommon to see this. It's usually the other way around, people wanting to switch to formula." I laughed. I had not thought of how uncommon it is to go from supplementing to not supplementing. Usually, supplementing is the kiss of death for breastfeeding, but we fought through the issues it gave us, and we're doing great now. It is rare, though.

After that, I just had to go back out to the lobby to wait to be called so they could load my new food package onto my card. My file had to get passed around to a few other people to sign off on the change of food package. As each one got it, they all looked out into the lobby at me and the boys (by then, Chai was nursing) and remarked on what a rare case we are. It was pretty funny!

But it got me thinking. First of all, it's great that they make you see the lactation consultant before switching food packages. That way, if you are one of the people who wants to quit breastfeeding, and there's something that would make you keep it up, then they can do that for you, and you can keep nursing. It's not like in Florida in 2003, when I quit breastfeeding Erin, and just walked into the WIC office, told them what I needed, and was issued formula vouchers, no questions asked. It was really easy to quit breastfeeding then. It is more difficult to quit when you have to actually talk about your reasons for wanting to, before you will be given formula. This works great for everybody involved. Of course breastfeeding is best for the baby, and also healthy for the mom (breastfeed for two years, reduce your risk of cancer by 50%!), but when you consider that the vast majority of formula in this country is bought by WIC, our entire society has a vested interest in supporting breastfeeding.

An exclusively formula-feeding mom gets issued 11 cans of powdered formula a month, or so I'm told by people I know who formula feed. At approximately $13 a can, this adds up to $141 every month (That is for the cheapest formula, too, not the stuff for babies with reflux or anything. That stuff costs a lot more.) That, of course, doesn't count the other stuff that she gets in her food package for herself, like milk, cheese, eggs, a small fruit and veggie allowance, and maybe a little juice, and cereal. That stuff probably adds up to about another $30-something, so a formula-feeding mom gets about $175 worth of stuff from WIC every month. An exclusively breastfeeding mom gets more foods than the formula feeding mom, but those foods don't even come close to the cost of formula! We get (and this includes the stuff we get for Orren) about $100 worth of food from WIC every month. If we only counted the stuff we get for me, on the basis that I am exclusively breastfeeding Chai, it would figure up to be about $60 a month. That is more than $100 LESS every month than the formula feeding mom is getting. Now I'm not complaining about this. I'm very thankful for all the stuff we get. It feeds our family! The point is, society has a vested interest in the breastfeeding success of women at large. Can you imagine how much money would be saved every month if breastfeeding rates rose to what they are in other countries, like Denmark with its 97% breastfeeding success rate? If one million more women breastfed, it would save the American tax payers $100 million a month, $1.2 billion a year. Those are big numbers! I think Texas is on the right track with the way they manage the changing of food packages for families who receive WIC. Hopefully our breastfeeding success rate continues to climb, and then it won't be so rare to see a mom who had to supplement for a little while, return to exclusively breastfeeding a couple months later. Our society needs this not to be a rare case.