Welcoming a new baby should be a time of joy and celebration. Yet food-insecure mothers experience burdens and stressors that affect their physical and emotional health, create challenges with breastfeeding, make it harder to follow health guidelines for feeding their babies, and increase financial strain.
That’s why I Can for Kids (iCAN) now offers support to moms and babies through new partnerships with three Primary Care Alberta Public Health programs:
Postpartum
Community Services
For families with infants up to 2 months old in Calgary
Best
Beginning
For pregnant teens and mothers with low incomes in Calgary
Pregnancy
and Beyond
Group for new mothers with infants up to 18 months old in and near Airdrie
Our first collaboration with public healthcare
This is a significant milestone as it’s the first time we are collaborating with the public healthcare system.
“These partnerships enable families facing food insecurity to access grocery gift cards directly through healthcare touchpoints such as prenatal and postpartum programs,” says Bobbi Turko, iCAN’s co-founder and Executive Director.
“Our collaboration with Primary Care Alberta strengthens evaluation outcomes, cross-sector knowledge sharing, and the ability to measure health impacts. It also demonstrates the potential for our model as an effective and evidence-based public health intervention. This work validates how our model can integrate seamlessly into existing health infrastructure.”
This is also the first time iCAN is specifically targeting new mothers and infants during a critical period of development, expanding the reach of our grocery gift card program to additional at-risk populations. “We’re grateful for the opportunity to help babies thrive from conception through the first year or more in their lives,” says Bobbi.
How food insecurity affects moms with infants
Research shows that food insecurity has serious negative impacts for new mothers and young babies:
- Maternal health and infant care: Food insecurity significantly impacts postnatal outcomes, particularly affecting maternal mental health and infant care practices. In an Ontario study, women with moderate or severe food insecurity had nearly double the risk of postpartum mental health disorders compared to food-secure women. And, infants born to food-insecure mothers needed more emergency department treatment in their first year of life.
- Breastfeeding challenges: Although food-insecure mothers intend to breastfeed at similar rates as food-secure mothers, they face greater challenges in sustaining exclusive breastfeeding due to financial and social pressures, and concerns about the amount and quality of their breastmilk.
- Financial burden of infant feeding: Families unable to breastfeed exclusively face high costs for infant formula, and many traditional food charities across Canada cannot provide free infant formula in a consistent manner. Even exclusive breastfeeding incurs additional food costs – with rising grocery prices, the costs to support adequate lactation may be only marginally lower than buying formula.
Pilot project helped babies get a healthy start
In early 2025, the Airdrie Pregnancy and Beyond program piloted the grocery gift card model.
More than half of the group’s participants experience financial strain and food insecurity. In the 20-week trial, they provided grocery gift cards to new mothers who struggled to pay for all their basic needs. Most were breastfeeding and following recommended feeding practices for their baby’s age and stage of development.
- 4 out of 5 mothers used the cards for immediate urgent needs, reducing their overall worry and stress levels over food, and freeing up money for rent and other bills.
- Mothers used the cards to improve their diets and support their baby’s nutritional needs – they bought more fruit and vegetables, foods to test for allergies, more food to ensure adequate breast milk production, iron-rich solid foods, and better-tolerated infant formulas.
- They preferred grocery gift cards over food hampers because the cards were easy to use and granted them the freedom to buy what they needed most.
Here’s what two moms shared:
“The grocery gift cards have been a great help to my family during a challenging time. They allowed us to buy fresh food and essential items without worrying about stretching our budget too thin. It brought a sense of relief and stability, knowing that we always had enough to eat. I am deeply grateful for the generosity of the donors who make this possible, your support truly makes a difference in our daily lives.”
—Mother with infant, Pregnancy and Beyond group participant
“My husband and I used the cards to buy healthier and higher quality foods as our daughter eats more and more solids. In particular, we could afford milk, other dairy, and meat to increase her protein and iron intake. We are trying to diversify her exposure to new foods as well.”
—Mother with infant, Pregnancy and Beyond group participant
Families with newborns will benefit
Based on the success of the Pregnancy and Beyond pilot, it was an easy decision to establish ongoing partnerships with Primary Care Alberta Public Health to support food-insecure families expecting or raising newborns. Here’s what our partners have to say:
“Welcoming a new baby should be a time of joy and celebration. However, during this transition families are more likely to experience financial stress and food insecurity. Our partnership with I Can for Kids enables our patients to access nutritious foods, which is essential for new parents who are faced with increased stress, sleepless nights, and learning new skills. Families with newborns tell us repeatedly that when they have access to food through the grocery gift card program, they can focus on parenting, bonding, rest, and recovery, without the worry of where their next meal might come from.”
—April G. & Crystal B., Social Workers, Postpartum Community Services, Public Health, Primary Care Alberta
“During pregnancy, access to nutritious food is essential in helping to grow a healthy baby. Without sufficient food and nutrients, there is a higher risk of having a low-birth-weight baby and experiencing pre-term birth and complications. Having increased access to nutritious food through iCAN’s grocery gift card program can promote healthy birth outcomes for both mother and baby.”
—Carolyn C., Area Manager, Prenatal and At-Risk Programs, Public Health, Primary Care Alberta
More information:
References:
- Maternal Food Insecurity is Positively Associated with Postpartum Mental Disorders in Ontario, Canada (Journal of Nutrition, 2020)
- Breastfeeding and maternal physical and mental health among food insecure families with infants in Canada (The FASEB Journal, 2016 April 1)
- Household food insecurity is prevalent in a cohort of postpartum women who registered in the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program in Toronto (Public Health Nutrition, 26(7), 2023 July)
- Relation between household food insecurity and breastfeeding in Canada (Canadian Medical Association Journal, 190(11) 2018 March 19)
- Systematic Review of Interventions Addressing Food Insecurity in Pregnant Women and New Mothers (Current Nutrition Reports, 11(3), 2022 Sept)
- Vulnerable mothers’ experiences breastfeeding with an enhanced community lactation support program (Maternal & Child Nutrition, 16(3), 2020 July)
- Household food insecurity is negatively associated with achievement of prenatal intentions to feed only breast milk in the first six months postpartum (Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 2024)
- Finding formula: community-based organizational responses to infant formula needs due to household food insecurity (Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, 5(1), 2018)
- The cost and affordability of growing and feeding a baby in Nova Scotia (Canadian Journal of Public Health, 111, 2020 Mar 11)
- “I’m Doing the Best that I Can”: Mothers’ Lived Experience with Food Insecurity, Coping Strategies, and Mental Health Implications (Current Developments in Nutrition, 8(4), 2024)
