Predictors of WIC Participation Through 2 Years of Age

Abstract

Objective: To examine factors associated with Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participation through 2 years of age.

Design: Longitudinal data from the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2.

Setting: Eighty WIC sites.

Participants: The WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 participants interviewed through 2 years of age (n = 1,250).

Main outcome measure: WIC participation through 2 years of age.

Analysis: Multivariate logistic regression and odds ratios.

Results: Infants in households with incomes ≤100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) were more than twice as likely as those with incomes above 100% FPL to continue WIC participation through 2 years (odds ratio = 2.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.34-3.66). The odds of WIC participation through 2 years were 2.84 times higher for infants fully breastfed for 6 months or longer compared with infants breastfed for less than 6 months (95% CI, 1.43-5.66). Infants in households in which caregivers reported they made a change in how they fed their family on the basis of something they learned from WIC had 2.60 higher odds of continued WIC participation than infants in households in which caregivers did not report making a change (95% CI, 1.67-4.07).

Conclusions and implications: In addition to lower household income, longer breastfeeding duration and application of WIC nutrition education are important predictors of WIC participation through 2 years of age.

Keywords: WIC; breastfeeding; low-income; program retention.