How to Use WIC

WIC provides you with health services. These services include nutrition education, breastfeeding promotion and support, eWIC cards to buy nutritious foods, immunization screening and referrals, and health and social services referrals.

WIC nurses and dietitians meet with you to assess your diet and health history, provide nutrition counseling, and determine what foods are right for you and where you should shop.

• Infants - Breastfeeding is very important for growing babies. If a mom is not able to breastfeed, then iron-fortified formula is provided for the baby. When your baby is old enough, baby foods and plain cereal will be available.
• Children 1-5 years old – These children can receive foods such as milk, yogurt, juice, cereal, eggs, peanut butter or dried/canned beans, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables.

Breastfeeding moms - Moms who feed their babies by breastfeeding can receive foods such as milk, cheese, juice cereal, eggs, peanut butter and/or dried/canned beans, tuna or salmon (if exclusively breastfeeding) whole grains, and fruits and vegetables.

WIC promotes and supports breastfeeding.

The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) makes the decision as to what food packages WIC participants get to have based on vitamin and nutrient recommendations.

Congress established this program to provide fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables to eligible WIC participants.  Contact your local WIC agency for more information.

Iowa Department of Agriculture WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program

The programs are administered by different state agencies with different guidelines determining what produce is eligible. To simplify the shopping experience, the three agencies administering the programs have worked together to create the “Produce Quick Reference Guide." The guide is specific to fresh produce. 

The eWIC cards can not be used at Farmers' Markets. Only the Farmer's Market Nutrition Program checks can be used at the Farmer's Market. 

If you have questions related to other program guidelines, refer to the agency identified on the chart as “Administered by."

2025 Quick Reference Produce Reference Guide (PDF)

• MyPlate Kitchen
• Healthy, Thrifty Holiday Menus
• SNAP-Ed Recipes - short list of ingredients and easy to make
• Spend Smart. Eat Smart.

The Iowa WIC Program wants to know about any issues you have using your eWIC card. Email the WIC Office if you have had a problem with your eWIC Card or want to make a complaint.

A WIC vendor is a grocery store or pharmacy that is approved by the state WIC office to accept eWIC cards. All WIC-approved vendors are listed in the "WIC Approved Vendors" document below:

• WIC Approved Vendors (Updated July 2022)

All approved foods are listed on the "WIC Approved Foods List" document below:

• WIC Approved Food List (Updated January 2025)

For tips on how to clean, prepare, and store various fresh fruits and vegetables that you can purchase with your WIC Benefits check out Produce Basics at Iowa State University's Outreach and Extension Spend Smart. Eat Smart. site.

Text4baby is a service for pregnant women and moms with infants under the age of one. There is no cost to sign up for this texting service from the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. Even if you do not have a text messaging plan, you can receive these messages for free.

You can now use Text4Baby to set up a text reminder for your next WIC appointment using these simple steps:

If you are already a text4baby participant, text the word “WIC” to 511411.

To set up the appointment reminder text the word “REMIND” (or “CITA” for Spanish) to 511411.

When prompted, enter the appointment date (e.g., 10/02/20) and a short description of the appointment (examples: “with WIC at Front St. office/bring proof of address/get lab results”).

You will receive the following automated text message: “Your reminder is set for your appointment on 10/02/20. We will send you a reminder three days before.”

Wichealth.org is your resource for nutrition education online! It only takes a minute to create an account and you will only need your WIC family ID number. If you do not know your ID number you Local Agency can provide this number to you. Need help creating an account? Check out this video to help walk you through the process.

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Spanish

In Iowa, the WIC program welcomes fathers and stepfathers to take active roles when participating in the WIC program. 

WIC knows the importance of your roles in your partner's and children’s lives and encourages you to attend your child's or partner's appointments. Here are some resources to help you in adjusting to the roles of fatherhood.

• Fatherville is an online resource for fathers, by fathers, and about fathers. Fatherville provides articles, essays, and resources, and encourages the exchange of stories and ideas among fathers.
• The National Center for Fathering provides information to inspire and equip fathers (and father figures) to be actively engaged in the life of every child. Visit their website for more information, articles, program information and education options.

This website calls itself the baby manual for fathers and is a resource offering a collection of videos around the "New Dad Manual." Visit their website for videos on car seat installation, diapering, bathing and more!

Contact your local WIC clinic if you have difficulty understanding or reading English for help translating resources. If you have a language barrier, there is free language assistance or other aids and services available upon request at your local WIC clinic. Relay Iowa is a telephone relay service that links people who are hearing, deaf, hard of hearing or have speech difficulties with one another for communication over the telephone.

Relay Iowa

Main: 711 | English: 800-735-2942 | Spanish: 800-264-7190

Relay Iowa Customer Service

English: 888-516-4692 | Spanish: 866-744-7471