This report offers updated estimates of the population that met these criteria and was eligible for WIC benefits in each of the years 2000 through 2009. This report includes some new estimates not included in previous reports: (1) estimates of the number of eligibles and coverage rates by state; (2) updated estimates in U.S. territories; (3) confidence intervals; and (4) estimates of eligible children by single year of age.

WIC Participant and Program Characteristics summarizes the demographic characteristics of nationwide participants in April 2010. It includes information on participant income and nutrition risk characteristics, estimates breastfeeding initiation rates for WIC infants, and describes WIC members of migrant farm-worker families.

This study describes some of the choices state agencies made as they exercised the flexibility offered during the implementation and describes the resulting food packages.

While a great deal of breastfeeding promotion and support is happening in WIC at both the state and local levels, there has been no systematic effort to evaluate what might work best in the WIC setting. Within this context, FNS  contracted for a breastfeeding intervention design study with the following goals: Identify interventions to increase the incidence, duration and intensity of breastfeeding among women participating in WIC; and design an evaluation plan to examine the implementation and effectiveness of these interventions.

This publication is based on the WIC Infant Feeding Practices Study (WIC-IFPS) sponsored by FNS. The WIC-IFPS is a one-year longitudinal study, which describes the infant feeding practices over the first year of life among a nationally representative sample of approximately 900 mothers who participated in WIC while they were pregnant.