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When Can I Add My Newborn to Food Stamps?

When Can I Add My Newborn to Food Stamps?

If you’re wondering when you can add your newborn to food stamps, we’ve got great news! Your newborn can be added immediately. Your baby counts as a SNAP household member at birth!

However, there are some important things you need to know before you add your child to your food stamps case. Otherwise, you may find that you lose those extra benefits in just a few months.

You should add your newborn to food stamps ASAP.

Don’t wait to add your newborn to food stamps! Do it as soon as possible to maximize your potential benefits. Otherwise, you’ll be leaving money on the table.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, your child’s benefits will not be backdated to their birth date. Their benefits will begin on the date that their birth is reported to the Department. If you wait, you’ll get less food benefits.

Since pregnant women do not get extra EBT benefits, you’re literally losing money every day that you wait to report your child’s birth to the food stamps office. Babies are expensive and you’ll need all the benefits you can get!

I did not find anything in any regulations that indicated that you have to wait to report the birth of your child. All of the information I found indicated that you can add them to your food stamps case immediately after birth.

It’s easy to add a newborn to food stamps.

Typically, all you need to do is provide a verbal or written report of the child’s birth date in order to add the newborn to food stamps. In Massachusetts, those reports can be made in writing or over the phone.

The office will ask you for the child’s Social Security Number, which you will most likely not have available if you are reporting the birth immediately. That’s okay; the child will be presumed eligible for the first six months while you gather that needed documentation.

You need to report the child’s SSN within six months.

In order to receive benefits, each household member must provide a Social Security Number. It takes time for newborns to be issued a number from the Social Security Administration and you don’t want to miss out on any needed benefits, so you can add your child right away and they will be presumed eligible for the first six months after birth.

You will need to apply for and submit the child’s Social Security Number in order to continue receiving benefits for that child after six months. You can also submit your Application for a Social Security Number to show that you are trying to comply with these rules.

However, if you don’t submit this paperwork, your newborn will be removed from your case and the amount you receive will be reduced accordingly. Make sure you get that paperwork in during the six-month presumptive period!

You can buy baby formula and food with food stamps.

If you have a newborn, there are are a few things you need to know about this program. You can use food stamps to purchase baby formula, baby food, and other edible baby products.

You cannot use food stamps to purchase other essentials, like diapers. However, there are many diaper banks around the US that may be able to help you. Some of our readers have also been able to buy diapers by using a rewarded shopping app like Ibotta to get cash back from their eligible food purchases.

Are you eligible for free stuff?

Companies love to spoil new parents with freebies! If you’ve got a newborn in your household, don’t miss out on these incredible freebies for babies.

Nicole is the owner and lead researcher for Low Income Relief. She has over 20 years of professional research and writing experience, and she has been solely dedicated to investigating low income topics for the last 10 years. Nicole started Low Income Relief after a personal experience with poverty. When her husband was medically discharged from the US Army, their family experienced tremendous financial hardship. Nicole was able to gather help from multiple community agencies and move into a nearby low income housing unit in just two weeks! Since then, Nicole has been dedicated to helping low income families in crisis. She regularly spends hundreds of hours combing through countless resources to make sure that Low Income Relief has the most comprehensive and complete resource directories on the internet today. Prior to starting Low Income Relief, Nicole worked as a novelist, journalist, ghostwriter and content creator. Her work has been featured in various print and online publications, including USA Today, The Daily Herald, The Chronicle and more. Her work has also been featured by Google for Publishers and other leading industry publications.