Breastfeed Durham is committed to working with our community partners to ensure that all families have access to the support they need to succeed with breastfeeding. As part of this effort, we recently had the opportunity to participate in a webinar on “How Medical Professionals Can Successfully Partner to Fully Integrate Appropriate Lactation Support into Patient Visits” by Emily Harmon, MD, IBCLC, and we learn how important it is for healthcare providers to collaborate with their local WIC offices.
During the webinar, we learned that some providers are having a hard time collaborating with the Durham WIC office and obtaining mechanical pumps for WIC participants who are returning to work/school. Providing breast pumps to WIC families who are returning to work or school is a requirement of NC WIC state policy. We believe it is important for healthcare providers to be aware of the potential issues and to advocate for their human milk feeding families.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with the WIC office and wanted to share the Durham WIC breastfeeding referral form with healthcare providers. The WIC office referral form provides a comprehensive overview of the physical condition of the mother and infant, feeding instructions, and reasons for referral. The form can help facilitate communication and collaboration between healthcare providers, clinicians, and the WIC office to promote better health outcomes for mothers and infants.
Furthermore, we have also learned that the Durham WIC office is one of the five WIC offices in North Carolina that does not receive county funding, while 95 other counties have chosen to provide county funding for their respective WIC offices. In addition, the Durham County WIC office has open staff positions. We believe that adequate funding and staffing for the WIC office is crucial to creating a functional WIC office in Durham.
We believe that this referral form can be a useful tool for healthcare providers to coordinate care with the WIC office and ensure that parents and infants receive the support they need to succeed with breastfeeding.
Additionally, we have learned in order to qualify for a pump via Medicaid, a parent must be denied by WIC. However, there is no actual “WIC denial letter” for individuals to “prove to Medicaid” they have been denied. The person just needs to let their company know they were denied by WIC. Some community advocates encourage individuals with the Medicaid Plan to go ahead and request their pump at 36 weeks and because WIC does NOT issue pumps prenatally, the client is essentially “always automatically denied a pump before delivery.” This workaround can be helpful for some families depending on their Medicaid plan.
We encourage healthcare providers to fill out the WIC office referral form (see below) and to educate their patients about how to access pumps through Medicaid during pregnancy. By working together, we can ensure that all families have access to the support and resources they need to succeed with breastfeeding.
We would like to thank the Durham WIC office for reaching out and sharing this information with us, and we look forward to continuing to work together to support our community.
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See below for the referral form mentioned above and informative resources on Medicaid Breastfeeding Support in both English and Spanish.