WA WIC program could run out of funding in two weeks

Washington’s Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program has less than two weeks of funding left, according to the Washington Department of Health.

The funding dried up due to the federal shutdown. The WIC program helps low-income mothers in the state feed their newborns, get infant formula, and access breastfeeding support.

More than 212,000 women and children rely on WIC annually. According to The Washington State Standard , WIC helps nearly one-third of all newborn babies in Washington, and serves nearly 7 million Americans nationwide.

“We will have babies being born to low-income women who will not have any breastfeeding support, and they will have no way to get infant formula if they’re not breastfeeding,” Nicole Flateboe, the executive director of Nutrition First, the state’s WI