(2025) Iowa WIC 2025 Breastfeeding Report, August 2025. Health and Human Services, Department of
Abstract
The Iowa Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and administered by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) Bureau of Nutrition and Physical Activity. Iowa HHS contracts with 15 community-based organizations called Collaborative Service Areas (CSAs) to provide WIC services in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. WIC services include nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, supplemental food packages, and referrals to other health care and social service programs. These services are provided to eligible families, including low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk. Iowa WIC records and maintains participant-level data, including breastfeeding data, in its Iowa WIC Data System. WIC Program and participant data are reported to the USDA FNS as a requirement for administering the WIC Program. The USDA FNS uses this data to monitor breastfeeding trends based on the number of partially and fully breastfed infants for each WIC state and local agency. This report presents the breastfeeding initiation and prevalence rates of Iowa WIC participants, as well as other programmatic measures related to the Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Program, WIC staff training, and involvement in the Iowa Breastfeeding Strategic Plan. Data in this report are from the Iowa WIC Data System from 2020 through 2024.