title: WIC infant food package issuance data are a valid measure of infant feeding practices.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multiple datasets collect breastfeeding data in the United States (US), but a coordinated monitoring and surveillance system does not currently exist. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) reaches over 50% of all infants in the US and provides a potential wealth of administrative data about the breastfeeding practices of low-income women.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this research was to assess whether WIC administrative data are a valid source of information about breastfeeding practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  A phone survey of 2015 postpartum WIC mothers in Southern California was conducted to assess the feeding practices of mothers with infants 2-12 months old. Survey data were linked with WIC administrative records from the same month in order to assess the percent agreement between feeding behavior as reported by survey methods and as documented in WIC administrative records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The unweighted κ test statistic was used to test the agreement between survey responses and WIC administrative data. Substantial to almost perfect agreement was found between the two measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  WIC administrative data are a valid source of information about breastfeeding. With appropriate funding support, WIC administrative data should be considered for use in nationwide breastfeeding surveillance and monitoring systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Research and Evaluation, Public Health Foundation Enterprises WIC Program, Irwindale, CA 91706, USA. Shannon@phfewic.org
authors.forename: Shannon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Whaley
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koleilat
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D041943:Infant Formula / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009749:Nutrition Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011632:Public Assistance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States