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CalFresh: Better Food for Better Living!
CalFresh, California's name for food stamps or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), can add to many WIC families' food budgets and help them put healthy and nutritious food on the table. WIC Can Help by encouraging WIC participants to apply for CalFresh benefits by referring them to the online and in-person resources.
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It's Never Too Late for Wellness!
This cohort study of 315,059 participants, shows that maintaining physical activity from adolescence into later adulthood was associated with 29-36% lower risk for all-cause mortality. Additionally, being inactive but increasing physical activity during midlife (40-61 years of age) may provide comparable health benefits, with 32-35% lower risk for mortality.
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Child Nutrition Re-authorization May Move Forward
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and ranking member Debbie Stabenow held a hearing last week to launch their effort to reauthorize child nutrition programs, including WIC, in this Congress. The last child nutrition re-authorization (CNR) was completed in 2010, despite being due in 2015, child nutrition programs were funded via omnibus appropriations bills. Spending on all the child nutrition programs including school meals, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, the Special Milk Program, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and the Farm to School Program and others total $30 billion in mandatory and discretionary spending per year. ACTION: Watch the hearing.
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CA Legislative Season - Full Swing!
Policy hearings are underway and CWA is supporting not only bills, but also budget proposals. The bills cover a variety of topics, including workplace breastfeeding accommodations SB 142 (Wiener), expansion of paid family leave SB 135 (Jackson), "express lane eligibility" pathways between WIC and Medi-Cal AB 526 (Petrie-Norris), and racial maternal mortality disparities SB 464 (Mitchell). With CA Breastfeeding Coalition, CWA is co-sponsoring a budget proposal to increase reimbursement for breast pumps in Medi-Cal. ACTION: Stay abreast of these and all the bills and budget proposals on our State Policy page as they move through the legislative and budget processes in coming months. We will ask for letters of support at key decision points!
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CA Moms Deserve Quality Breast Pumps!
All mothers should have access to clinically-proven breast pumps designed to initiate, build and maintain lactation.That is not the case for all moms enrolled in Medi-Cal plans. There are no substantive breast pump quality standards in policy to ensure minimum standards of performance or reliability, and nothing that addresses the variability in products, for the pumps mothers are provided. Additionally, the reimbursement rate in Medi-Cal plans for breast pumps is very low which means mothers are not always provided quality pumps. In fact, the reimbursement rate has remained the same since 1998! If mothers are being encouraged to breastfeed, they deserve access to quality breast pumps so they can effectively feed their infants. ACTION: Support CWA's state budget request to raise the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for breast pumps! Tell CA legislators to support quality pumps for moms by increasing the reimbursement rate.
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Conference Countdown - 11 Days...
Two weeks from today, CWA's 27th Annual Conference & Trade Show will be in full swing, and we are expecting to see over 800 of your smiling faces! Be sure to check the final agenda to plan which sessions you'll attend. For those of you not able to make it, accept our gratitude for keeping the doors open for WIC families back home. You can check out the materials that we'll be posting, and join our live stream Mon. and Wed. mornings. ACTION: If you haven't registered yet but would still like to attend, you can register on site starting Sunday, April 28. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook, and get ready to participate in our CWA Go! scavenger hunt and our first ever trivia night. Wear some fun beach or surf attire and be ready to learn and enjoy yourself!
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WIC Changes Linked to Decline in Obesity Among Toddlers
Obesity rates among low-income toddlers dropped after the 2009 WIC food package changes, which increased purchases of fresh produce and whole grains, and reduced juice and cheese. Researchers analyzed data on 2- to 4-year-old WIC recipients from 2000-2014, and found that obesity rates had risen about 0.23 percentage points a year before the WIC changes, and declined by 0.34 percentage points a year after. While researchers noted that another event or program happening around the time of the WIC changes could have influenced the obesity trend, they do not believe available evidence supports the Great Recession, Affordable Care Act or other health interventions as likely causes for the decline. Obesity trends varied by state but were not related to race or child poverty levels, according to the study. Authors said differences in the way WIC changes were implemented may have played a role and called for additional research.
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Families Receptive to Facts, Not Criticism, About Sugary Drinks
A new study from Columbia University suggests that giving families plain facts about the health risks of consuming sugary drinks during pregnancy and early childhood may help to reduce childhood obesity. The WIC-enrolled families interviewed were more receptive toward materials-especially images and graphic warning labels-explaining the sugar content of different beverages and the health risks they pose for children. They indicated the need to include information about culturally relevant drinks and other alternatives to plain water. In contrast, families were less responsive toward materials that advised parents what to consume without giving them facts so they could make their own informed decisions. Obesity affects approximately 18% of children in the United States, and studies show that obesity is growing fastest among young children between the ages of 2 and 5 years. Another recent study found that sugary drinks may be marketed more heavily toward low-income children and teens.
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Breast Milk Storage and preparation Guidelines
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A Conceptual Model for Quality n Home-Based Child Care
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation under the Administration of Children and Families has published a brief, A Conceptual Model for Quality in Home-Based Child Care, that describes a conceptual model offering a new, structured approach for understanding, defining, and supporting quality in home-based child care settings. The purpose of the model is to highlight features of home-based child care that are linked to outcomes for children, families, and providers. The model is intended to generate dialogue among researchers, practitioners and policymakers. Home visiting in CA has expanded the last few years and Gov. Newsom's budget proposes more funding.
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