Question for those of you on WIC

We're starting to think about options for after our babies are born. I think DH is going to have to quit his job to stay home with them, cuz we can't afford day care for 4! I know we would qualify for WIC if I'm the only one working, but what does it cover?

Do you get enough formula to completely feed each baby or is it a portion? I saw on the WIC foods list that regular cereals and produce are covered, but do you get that or is it only when they get older? (I'd have the 3 babies, plus my 2 year old son).

Trying to get a handle on what our coverage might look like and how much of our food bill for the kiddos it would help. (And it is only food right?) Are there other assistance programs to look into besides food stamps and WIC? (I don't think we qualify for the food stamps... I think the income limit was REALLY low for that).

TIA!

 

Wic is only supposed to cover 75% of the needed formula per baby. But I always had extra at the end of the month and never bought any with my own money. If you breast feed at least twice a day you and formula feed the rest you qualify for the full program for both. If that made since. You get milk, cheese, peanut butter, tuna, beans, eggs, and 100% juice with the breast feeding package (or something like that). Since your son is under 5 he would also get that package. I'm not sure how much you get for the older kids because I took my son out when he turned one. But the milk and cheese alone are really worth it. I got about 5 gallons a month when I was pregnant and with the breast feeding package and two packages of cheese. We never ran out of milk.

That's how it was about a year and a half ago in my area. Hope this helps. I'm going later this week to apply for it again because I couldn't imagine buying that much formula if I can't breast feed these two. When I used it for my formula it would add up to like $150 a month for one child. Now I'll have two. That's more than we spend in groceries a month!!

O and for anyone who might be military reading this, your housing and food allowance don't count towards your income. They made some bill or something about it when they started putting into your paycheck that the wic agency couldn't count it. I'm not exactly sure I just know a lot of military doesn't know that and think they don't qualify when I know tech sergents who are on it.

 

Double check with the WIC website and with your local WIC office. My close friend works for them and I think they were changing their policy on formula. They are trying to promote breast feeding versus formula feeding and I think were only providing formula for a certain number of months. Now, I'm not sure how this pertains to multiples but I would ask, just so you know what will be covered!

Good luck and I'm glad Baby C is doing well!

 

I just went to my WIC meeting a couple days ago, there changing there breastfeeding plan not the formula one, so that if you choose to breastfeed they wont give you any formula for the first few months so that the babies will only be getting breast milk, the nutritionist said it shouldn't effect the mom's on the formula plan. For your two year old (until he's 5) and you for the first 6 months after birth each will get cereal, beans or peanut butter, eggs, cheese, juice, and a ton of Milk. The babies will each get formula till they reach the age were they take infant cereal at that point they get both cereal and formula until their off formula then they switch to the same as your son. I remember with my son they gave you a good amount of the formula you need, the nutritionist told me they cover about 75%-80% of the formula you'll need, with my son I remember having to buy a can or two a month. WIC is one of the easiest assistance programs to get on, but you may want to try to use a food stamps calculator online, Google it and it should come up, even if you only qualify for $7 its worth it because if you can get on foodstamps, you'll also be switched to a lower telephone, electric, and heating plan.

When I first had my son we were in the position of not affording daycare so we tightened our belts, went on wic and foodstamps (you have to be making nothing to get any cash benifits and my DH has always been a hard worker, thank god, but with his language barrier and the economy even with him working 50 hours a week it just doesnt cut it at times) We got a voucher for my son's daycare finally (but the waiting list is a year and a half long (you may wanna think of signing up for that too) so my son went to daycare for only $35 a week (a savings from $250 a week at kindercare) and I went back to work and got off the programs, now with twins we definatly wont be able to afford three daycare payments either and you cant add new children on to the voucher so when we found out about the twins we decided I would be home with all of them, and we'll go back on the programs untill there older or the economy gets good enough so that DH can get a better job. The cost of daycare is rediculous!

 

Does anyone on here in the military know if you can apply for food stamps being in the military?

 

QUOTE(kitkat72783 @ May 4 2009, 02:47 PM) [snapback]1299918[/snapback]
even if you only qualify for $7 its worth it because if you can get on foodstamps, you'll also be switched to a lower telephone, electric, and heating plan.



Where did u find this info and is this true for all states? We qualify for food but I have never heard anything about lower electric or heat. Any info would be great

 

QUOTE(lorin @ May 4 2009, 12:33 PM) [snapback]1300036[/snapback]
Does anyone on here in the military know if you can apply for food stamps being in the military?


It doesn't matter what job you hold so much as how much $ you make a month to apply for food stamps. My hubby is currently ARNG and when he lost his civilian job in january we qualified cause his army pay is low enough each month. Also when the twins are born, you may want to check into it again even if you dont qualify currently because the income chart changes for each household member added, so with 2 more kids, the min income is a lot higher.

 

Thanks for all the replies ladies. And especially the comment about the food stamp calculator... I thought we didn't qualify based on the income levels posted online, but that is a net income - minus some expenses, so with the calculator, it looks like we will get a decent sum each month once DH stops working. Not sure about the reduced utility stuff, but I'll definitely look into it. Here in AZ and with our badly insulated home, our electric bill is $500/month all summer. OUCH!

 

We are military with 4 kids and the hubby is an E7. We got WIC which provided 10 cans of formula per baby a month, 20 cans total. Occasionaly we had to buy a few extra cans.. Then we got cereal and juices, eggs and cheese. However Ryan got 8 cans of ALimentum, but technically it was a litle larger can, so still the same amount. Zach had soy formula which WIC covers too.

They are adding $7 of fresh fruits and veggies, this summer to our program in SC.

They are getting rid of juices, like Juicy Juice and offering frozen juice.

Now that they are 1 we get juice, milk, eggs, real cereal.

AS of now, they do not offer Soy milk only Vitamin D.

 

do they ***** qualification for WIC based on income or do a total look at your assets? I don't think we would qualify, but we are barely getting by each month as well..

 

It's mostly an income thing (for a family of 6, it's about $54K a year). if I remember correctly, they have some stipulation about what liquid type money you can have (stocks, bonds, etc.), but that might be for the food stamps. WIC is a federally run program, so shouldn't be too different (if any) from state to state. Do a google search for your state and WIC. You'll see an eligibility section with the requirements.

 

QUOTE(chicagomama @ May 4 2009, 10:03 PM) [snapback]1300556[/snapback]
do they ***** qualification for WIC based on income or do a total look at your assets? I don't think we would qualify, but we are barely getting by each month as well..



I've been on WIC for a while now, thankfully my son is lactose intolerant sorta (it bothers him so that he ends up sorta having an asthma atttack) and lactaid milk is a fortune. I have never been asked about assets, they just ask for paystubs and household size.
Foodstamps I believe asks but I also know people that own homes and still qualify for a large amount (about $600 a month) of foodstamps.
The only thing I think that really is strict about assets is cash assistance, At one point my DH had gotten stuck in Brazil when my DS was little and he was the only one working so I was stuck here with out any income, I went to try to get cash assistance for a couple months till I could get to brazil or DH could get back and I couldn't qualify because I owned a car that was 5 years old even though the book value was only like $5000. I was so pissed after sitting in the welfare office for hours watching all these people who never worked and had a troop of children walk in and out getting $$$ while I had always worked since I was 15 and DH was a hard worker and our government was keeping him in brazil to file more immigration paperwork, that I walked outside sold the car to my mother for $1 and walked back in with the bill of sale and title and said ok now are you going to help me. I ended up getting assistance for a couple months till we got down to Brazil.

 

QUOTE(nikki_0724 @ May 4 2009, 03:40 PM) [snapback]1300047[/snapback]
Where did u find this info and is this true for all states? We qualify for food but I have never heard anything about lower electric or heat. Any info would be great


I found out about it through http://www.gettingfoodstamps.org/ which is the online calculator for massachusetts, at the end it tells you all the programs offered. I would call national grid (or whatever electric/heat company you use, or better yet the foodstamps or wic office should know, sometimes I've had to call national grid a couple times to find someone who knows what I'm talking about) I know here in mass comcast doesn't offer the plan but verizon does. Its definatly worth looking into, my phone bill went from almost $50 a month to $20, and our electric bill and heat is together and I noticed it was cut al;most in half once we got on the program.