Published in a supplement to The Journal of Nutrition. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was too low (<6%) to see any significant differences between WIC participants and nonparticipants, but WIC participants were significantly less likely to partially breastfeed than both were higher- and lower-income nonparticipants.

Mothers of infants 6–11.9 mo who breastfed mostly supplemented with formula and very few breastfed exclusively, regardless of WIC participation group ( Figure 3). Compared with lower-income nonparticipants, the differences were nonsignificant. Compared with higher-income nonparticipants, WIC participants were less likely to exclusively breastfeed and less likely to partially breastfeed. Thus, the overall lower prevalence of breastfeeding by WIC participants reflects lower prevalence in both exclusive breastfeeding and partial breastfeeding. Regardless of WIC participation status, mothers of infants 0–5.9 mo who breastfed were about equally likely to breastfeed exclusively as to supplement breastfeeding with formula ( Figure 3). In both cases, they may also have fed complementary foods, such as infant cereal if they were not feeding any formula, that was considered exclusive breastfeeding, regardless of what other foods and beverages were consumed. Some mothers who breastfed supplemented with formula (partial breastfeeding) and some did not (exclusive breastfeeding). To reduce the risk of spurious relations, we limited the food categories examined for differences to foods provided by WIC (e.g., baby-food fruits, vegetables) and a small number of other foods of interest (e.g., we examine consumption of all fruits to gain more insight into the role of baby-food fruits). We did, however, identify food categories for children >6 mo (the age at which WIC begins providing foods other than infant formula) with large differences in the percentage consuming between WIC and non-WIC groups and where the 95% CI for the OR does not contain the null value of 1.

Differences between higher- and lower-income nonparticipants were not assessed. Because this is an exploratory analysis (i.e., we did not start with a specific hypothesis) to assess whether consumption patterns differed between WIC and non-WIC groups, we do not present results of formal hypothesis tests (i.e., P values). The descriptive findings reflect the unadjusted prevalence of infant feeding patterns and consumption of foods by WIC and non-WIC infants and children. These data were further stratified by age range into younger infants (0–5.9 mo), older infants (6–11.9 mo), and young children (12–47.9 mo). Food consumption patterns, specifically the percentage of children in each WIC status group that consumed food from each food group, were derived from the 24-h dietary recall data.

Wic whole grains