02/09/2026
Young children need nutritious food to support cognitive, social, emotional, language, and motor development during the first three years of life. Hunger in these early years can cause immediate and lifelong harms, including developmental delays, poor health, academic challenges, abnormal weight, and reduced social skills.
WIC helps prevent these outcomes by providing nutritious food, nutrition education, and health care referrals, and eligible pregnant or postpartum women, caregivers, and families with children under age five can apply through their local health department using the WIC Eligibility Tool. The link for this is in the comments.
