Time for an update.. sorry I’ve been kind of slacking on the blog-front lately but you all know I’ve been stressed (I talk about it too much) and busy. Not only with the internship but with packing too. We move on Friday! An update on that later this week.

But first let’s talk about the internship.

WIC… women, infants and children. A rotation that I was not looking forward to, yet was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Maybe it was the staff or maybe I actually like mommy-baby-kid stuff after all.

A little about WIC… It’s a nutrition assistance program that provides education and counseling for pregnant women, breastfeeding and postpartum women, babies and children under the age of 5. They distribute WIC “checks” which are food vouchers for healthy, nutritious foods at all grocery store chains. They also provide breastfeeding support and education, which is good because breastfeeding is really important for healthy babies.

Nutrition educators and dietitians are the ones who do the counseling. The clients fill out questionnaires regarding their or their child’s diet that is discussed during the counseling session. There is always a goal set from the discussion to be followed up with at the next appointment, like increasing milk consumption, decreasing juice intake, breastfeeding at increased intervals, etc. Some clients are really eager for their sessions, and some know that it’s mandatory and just want to get in and out with their checks.

To be an educator, you need to have a background/degree in nutrition but not an RD. If I wanted to, I could be an educator right now. The only difference at WIC is that the dietitians see any client that is classified as a “medical status”, meaning they have some type of medical diagnosis that is nutritionally relevant, like thyroid issues, failure to thrive, food allergies, etc.

Before going to WIC and seeing it in action, I just didn’t quite understand it. I didn’t like my Public Health and Nutrition professor in my undergrad so I didn’t learn much from her regarding governmental assistance programs. Also, child nutrition was never really a strong interest of mine, and maternity stuff kind of scared me because there are a lot of different things to be cautious of during pregnancy. So WIC was never really something that I ever considered when thinking of what I could do as a dietitian.

In all honesty, I liked WIC. The atmosphere is much more relaxed than a clinical setting, and for the most part your clients want to see you. It also doesn’t hurt that you get to see a lot of cute little babies and toddlers all day… until they start screaming and crying but hey it’s a nice reminder for me to take my pill everyday. I’m not sure if it is something I see myself making a career out of, but I wouldn’t be opposed to considering it if there was ever an opening at one close to where I live. I say that because NO freaking way would I drive to the clinic I was at for work. That’s a 45 minute drive in good traffic.. an hour and a half each day in commute time? No thank you. Not to mention it’s off of the turnpike, a toll road.. so no. Plus it’s in Miami, and the drivers in Miami are terrible… I hate it.

One thing that hindered my experience was the language barrier. I mentioned that they placed me in a south Miami location, so this meant the clientele was mostly of the Hispanic population, like Cuban, Puerto Rican or Cental American. I really tried to dig deep and bring back all my knowledge of Spanish from my years of it in K-12, but it was tough, they speak so fast! Even if I found myself understanding what they were saying, my brain had a hard time keeping up with translation. Every employee was bilingual so they were helpful in translating for me, but it was still hard not knowing what was going on a lot of the time.

Overall, my two weeks at WIC were definitely a good experience for me. I must say though that I’m glad it was only two weeks because I’m really looking forward to my next rotation, the eating disorder facility. As excited as I am, I’m also pretty nervous. Many dietitians that I’ve come in contact with throughout this internship comment on how difficult it is to work with the eating disorder population. This is definitely something that I’m aware of, obviously eating disorders are incredibly complex, but it’s also always been a strong interest of mine. I need to do this rotation for myself, to know if I really want to work with eating disorders or not. So despite the nerves, my next 6 weeks will be spent at a residential eating disorder facility. Wish me luck!

Do you like babies/kids?