Kids are often not mature enough to make the correct decisions. That’s part of being human. They understand the consequences; but it doesn’t change the fact that a baby is on the way. And it doesn’t change the fact that the baby is going to need nutritional and/or financial assistance, whether it’s from the parents or the community. I’m constantly amazed that people bring this argument into the conversation. We’re talking two issues here: convincing teenagers to abstain from sex (which doesn’t always work…you can get pregnant without penetration) and supporting children’s needs. The “abstinence” approach to birth control has been beaten to death. It doesn’t work. Let’s move on! Birth control (including abortion) is the only realistic approach to reducing pregnancies. When people can’t or won’t take advantage of those options, we have no other choice but to provide support. It’s really that simple. The only other approach is Chinese-style reproductive control, and well… that’s not working out so good. Tell me…what realistic option can you bring to the table?
The number on the far left is the number of people in your household, not the number of children. I have a friend who’s married with 2 kids and one on the way. They are certainly below the $44k income margin, and they’ve got a house, two cars, they both work, etc. Hell, looking at those numbers, I might qualify now that I’m pregnant again!
That’s impossible since there could not be a ‘1’. Unless the infant/child lives all by his lonesome and crawls to the WIC center to get his voucher.
Please look at the link above to get an idea of the formula availability.
This is taken from that page.
WIC has specific guidelines on issuing RTU or RTF formulas when more than one type of a formula is available (for example, if available in Powder, Concentrate and Ready-to-Use forms).
Sarahfeena did you ever see if you qualified?
You’re right, it isn’t realistic. I think the RTF in the individual-serving bottles is more like twice the price of the powder. All I can say is that I’ve seen it with my own eyes time and time again.
I agree, that doesn’t make sense…unless women who are not mothers can get on WIC? That doesn’t sound right, but it is called “Women, Infants and Children.” Does anyone know anything about that?
I’ve been reading this thread, every post, and trying not to get even more angry each time I read a new post. The unmitigated gall of so many of the posters here is just mind-boggling! The idea that because you pay taxes you are somehow entitled to dictate the life and actions of people whom you have no contact with or affect over, who doesn’t affect your life in any way, is the most laughable one I’ve heard in a long, long time.
I receive WIC. Right now. As we speak, I have four checks for four gallons of milk and assorted other things. I have also received food stamps in the past, but we finally “incomed out” of that program.
Want to know a secret? I pay taxes too. Just as much of my own money goes to pay for my federal assistance as yours. Do you know what that means, my entitled friends? I have just as much say in what I buy as you do. Making more money than I do does not somehow make your opinion count for more. In fact, since it’s my family I’m buying for, I’d say that makes your opinion worth about jack.
Where I live, the WIC program doesn’t work the way you describe. There’s no “cash value” to these checks at all. You get prescribed amounts, to be used for prescribed items, no substitutions unless the item listed in unavailable, (for example, you can’t substitute sliced cheese for block cheese unless there IS no block cheese in the store). The WIC office TELLS you what kind of formula you buy. You don’t get to pick and choose. If they say “use the RTF” then you do. I’m fortunate enough to never have fed my child a drop of formula… we breastfed for 17 months. But had I been forced to use it, I would have used what the gubmint tole me too.
That “$2” whatserface has been obsessing over? Wouldn’t happen. You don’t get to pick and choose on my program, or supplement your checks. Now, the checks will never cover the entire amount of the formula you need, so anything beyond that comes out of pocket.
Here’s a real-life example that comes from a friend. She has twins, and receives 18 cans a month for her babies. 9 cans a piece. She goes through a can a day feeding them.
You do the math on how much she has to buy to finish out the month. And babies aren’t like dogs… you can’t just switch their formula and expect them to not have problems. She has to buy the same expensive, name-brand formula she was prescribed for them every time. If it were RTF formula? That’s what she’d buy.
My food stamps? Always went to buy one steak dinner per month. Why? Because you get SICK to DEATH of chicken. You get tired of hamburgers and hot dogs. I spent the other $260 on healthy, nutritious food, why the heck can’t I spend $15 on a nice set of steaks? Newsflash: High quality meats ARE nutritious. A t-bone is healthier than a hot dog.
Oh wait, I forgot, poor people aren’t permitted to have things that other people don’t, because it’s not fair. I’ll tell you what’s not fair. Having to endure the condescending looks as you use your food stamps to pay for your groceries. The getting your phone cut off because you had to pay the power bill. Lightning striking your stove and not being able to buy a new one, so you make do with a toaster oven and an electric eye that trips your breaker if you use them both at the same time. Putting off going to the emergency room because you know you can’t afford the bill, so you wind up with a more serious condition (and more hospital time) than you would have otherwise.
That’s what’s not fair. So I think you can take your poor, unfair life, and stuff it up your nose. You poor thing eating ramen noodles and not being able to have a little convenience once in a while. Somehow, I’m not sympathetic.
Tell you what. You send me your home address, and I’ll send you the $.002 you contributed to my food stamps last year. I’ll be nice, and round it up to the next penny. That way, you can stop bitching about how other people live their lives with “your” tax money, and start looking to your own life for once.
Me.
It doesn’t say what the guidelines are, though.
This is so confusing, because some posters are saying that you get “money” to buy the formula, some say they picked it up at a drop spot, and this link implies that the options are limited as to what forms you can get. Very inconsistent, and now I’m very unclear on how this all works. Different from state to state, maybe?
Oh, I know I wouldn’t, income-wise, and it doesn’t matter…I wouldn’t think to apply for it considering my situation. I’m not rich or anything, but we do OK…my understanding is that there are a limited # of families who can be on WIC and I would never take up a spot that someone else could use more than I could.
Interesting…they tell which formulas are allowed and what format they come in, but they don’t actually say what you can or cannot order.
Well, I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m saying it anyway 
When I received WIC it was “common knowledge” that the formula companies had worked out a deal with the state to provide formula. It was always my understanding (although, again, I can’t cite this) that we received the most expensive stuff because it benefited the formula companies. In other words, when you said WIC is primarily responsible for keeping the RTF industry alive, you might be right.
Maybe our ire would be better directed at the formula companies and the bureaucrats who arrange these deals, rather than the WIC users.
In my state I’ve heard ads that WIC is also for pregnant women, so if you lived alone and are pregnant . . .
If I rememner correctly one of my neighbors a long time ago got WIC when pregnant.
I believe it is for pre- and post-natal nutrition.
So true. That’s not what helping people is all about.
Pregnant women qualify. It’s like pre-natal care.
ETA: I mean, consider it a part of pre-natal care.
Yes, it varies from state to state. I live near a state border. I had a pick up point, but my friend (who lived over the line) had a certain grocery store she had to go to. Her decisions were made for her too, though, much like RedheadDragynLady explained.
And, RedheadDragynLady, thank you for telling us about your experiences. I understand how frustrated you must feel. I think a lot of people here just cannot conceive of what it is like to live like this.
I never thought of that, but it makes a lot of sense.
By the way, one of the people who told me this was my pediatrician. The people at the WIC office mentioned it too. I’m not saying that makes it true; it doesn’t, but I heard it from people who would know, presumably.
One really stupid aspect of Nebraska’s WIC is that if the voucher says “2 gallons milk” it has to be 2-1gallon jugs regardless of the fact that the store might have two half gallons on sale that week at< the cost of the gallon container.
I’ve seen people who were actually trying to save the government a little money told that they had to buy the gallon container or pay for the" non-conforming containers" out of their own pockets.
Such gross bureaucratic stupidity!!
I want to send apologies out to anyone I offended because they use WIC. I really have no beef with the program or with those who use it, as I have already said. I think it’s a great program, and I support it. I think I am just a little frustrated with life right now. I’m working full-time, have a 6 month old who is still not sleeping through the night, and I am really tired and cranky. Plus my three-year-old and I have had the flu for about the last 4 days, and it sure is a lot tougher to be sick when you have to take care of a sick kid as well. I also have been feeling bad because I wanted to nurse and pump exclusively and not even GIVE my kids formula, but I am a low milk producer, and have been very frustrated with the fact that I just can’t pump nearly as much as the baby needs (it’s worse with this one than my first one…this kid’s an eating machine…probably why he’s not sleeping all night, as well). I’m not begrudging anyone anything…it just would be nice to be able to have the convenient formula without feeling guilty about how much it costs.
miss elizabeth: Lactivist that I am, it would not surprise me one bit. Formula companies work very hard to get their product into as many hands as possible. If you want to receive a lot of actual formula samples, coupons and checks? Sign up to their mailing lists as a breastfeeding mother. They want you. Oh yes, they want you.
I would not be one iota surprised if they do. Ostensibly, WIC is a nutritional education program that is supposed to promote breastfeeding. In practice, they don’t. Some areas are better than others, naturally, such as offering free electric breast pumps to nursing moms, having peer breastfeeding counselors and the like… but my area doesn’t. In fact, the nutritionist LOVES me when I come in, because I’m such a staunch breastfeeding advocate, and breastfeeding rates are abysmal here. In the grocery store where I shop, most of the cashiers have never even seen the kinds of vouchers I would bring in that provided tuna and carrots to breastfeeding moms.
You want to see WIC stop paying for formula? Start promoting breastfeeding. Teach people to use the better, normal means of feeding a baby. Give breastfeeding mothers the support they so desperately need to continue nursing, and fight to normalize an act that has become so stigmatized that breastfeeding mothers get forcibly removed from public places (often against the law) for having the gall to feed their children.