Central California Alliance for Health | Living Healthy | December 2018

HEALTHY 2 Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a public health nutrition program that helps families to eat well and stay healthy. Participants must meet income guidelines and be: ●  ● A pregnant woman ●  ● A woman breastfeeding a baby under 1 year of age ●  ● A woman who had a baby in the past 6 months ●  ● The parent or primary caregiver of an infant(s) up to their first birthday ●  ● The parent or primary caregiver of a child(ren) up to their fifth birthday, including guardians or foster parents Have you used the WIC Mobile website yet? The WIC Mobile website makes it easy for participants to get information they need about WIC right from their smartphones. Visit m.wic.ca.gov to learn more! The WIC Mobile website is simple and easy to use. It can help you: ●  ● Find a market near you that accepts WIC food checks ●  ● Look up the date of your next WIC appointment ●  ● Know which food checks have been issued to you ●  ● Take online education classes ●  ● Search for approved food items ●  ● Try out the WIC eligibility calculator to find out if you are eligible If you are pregnant, you can protect your baby against whooping cough before your little one is even born. With each pregnancy, make sure you and your unborn baby are protected by getting the whooping cough vaccine, also known as the pertussis or Tdap vaccine. When is the best time to get the whooping cough vaccine? When pregnant women get the vaccine in their third trimester (27 to 36 weeks) of pregnancy, they pass on the protection to their unborn baby. If you are not sure, ask your doctor if you had the whooping cough vaccine during this pregnancy. Why is the whooping cough vaccine important? A baby without this protection could be in danger of catching whooping cough. In some cases, whooping cough is a serious disease that can be deadly for babies if they are unprotected. If you have recently given birth and did not get the whooping cough vaccine during your pregnancy, visit your doctor today to get it. It is also important to have your family members get the vaccine. A mild case of whooping cough in an adult could be deadly to an infant, especially if the infant did not receive protection during pregnancy. An infant does not get the first dose of pertussis vaccine until 2 months of age. This is a long time to be without any protection. Protect your baby now! WIC services at your fingertips! Alliance members automatically qualify CONTACT YOUR LOCAL WIC PROGRAM at m.wic.ca.gov or call them at: Merced County 209-723-4565 Monterey County 831-796-2888 Santa Cruz County 831-722-7121 Get the whooping cough vaccine while you are pregnant