Each year FNS announces the WIC Breastfeeding Award of Excellence program awardees.
The 2026 application period opens on Dec. 1, 2025 and closes on Feb. 2, 2026.
Research has shown that the WIC program has been playing an important role in improving birth outcomes and containing health care costs.
The Child Nutrition Act, established a new reporting requirement for the WIC program. USDA is now mandated to compile and publish annually, breastfeeding performance measurements based on program participant data on the number of partially and fully breastfed infants for each WIC state and local agency.
In the event of a Presidential Disaster Declaration, FNS can procure and provide an emergency supply of infant formula and food to supplement a state’s or FEMA's disaster feeding efforts.
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.