The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS-2)/ “Feeding My Baby” Study captures data on caregivers and their children over the first 5 years of the child’s life after WIC enrollment to address a series of research questions regarding feeding practices, associations between WIC services and those practices, and the health and nutrition outcomes of children receiving WIC.
The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study 2 (WIC ITFPS 2), "Feeding My Baby Study" captures data on WIC caregivers and their children over the first 5 years of each child’s life to address a series of research questions regarding feeding practices, the effect of WIC services on those practices, and the health and nutrition outcomes of children on WIC. Additionally, the study assesses changes in behaviors and trends that may have occurred over the past 20 years by comparing findings to the WIC Infant Feeding Practices Study–1, the last major study of the diets of infants on WIC. This study will provide a series of reports. The current report focuses on breastfeeding intention, initiation and duration, and the introduction of complementary foods.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened an expert committee to review and assess the nutritional status and food and nutritional needs of the WIC-eligible population and provide recommendations based on its review and grounded in the most recently available science. The committee produced three reports as part of this task.
In 2006, FNS asked the Institute of Medicine to review the WIC food packages. The IOM proposed major changes to improve nutrition and encourage breastfeeding but also expressed the concern that changes related to partial breastfeeding may have unintended consequences. The IOM recommended that FNS conduct an impact study evaluating the birth month breastfeeding changes to the WIC food packages.