Alice’s Story

Facing the challenges of isolation while learning how to be a parent

Alice was a new mom of a medically fragile one-month old who was struggling to breastfeed and suffering from failure to thrive. She could not afford a costly private lactation consultation and did not qualify for hospital or WIC-based* care. So, when she heard that our abcProgram offers our county’s only no-cost, universal access professional breastfeeding support, she began coming in for safe in-person consults every week.

With her husband working as a long haul truck driver, the recent passing of her mother, and the ongoing pandemic, Alice found herself isolated without functional or emotional support at home. As a result, our staff identified her as high-risk for postpartum depression and were able to provide her a postpartum doula to come to her home at no cost and provide extra concrete support. Working with the abcProgram, Alice not only resolved her feeding challenges but also addressed her most concerning risk factors and helped stabilize the baby’s health. Now, mom and baby are a happy, healthy pair who can’t wait to keep growing together!

*Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.