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Organisations such as the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) are fantastic for promoting and supporting breastfeeding in the community.

Regular meetings are held in local areas throughout Australia, which are facilitated by an ABA Counsellor. I’ve found these meetings to be invaluable to discuss experiences with other new parents and get advice on breastfeeding. The meetings provide encouragement to persist with mastering a skill, which can be difficult to establish at first, but can have amazing benefits for feeding your baby naturally and connecting with your babe.

The ABA offers advice on the Breastfeeding Helpline, 1800 mum 2 mum (1800 686 2 686). This toll free service puts mothers and caregivers in touch with a trained volunteer breastfeeding counsellor 24 hours a day (that includes 3am in the morning)!

You can go along to your first meeting without being a member. If you become a member of the ABA, you receive a subscription to the entertaining magazine ‘Essence’ and you receive a complimentary copy of the book ‘Breastfeeding Naturally’. This book has some good tips on establishing breastfeeding. To learn more about breastfeeding before your babe is born, you can take part in a workshop and there are ABA shops where you can browse through products for your babe.

A product I found wonderful when feeding my newborn babe was Lansinoh. It is lanolin based cream and is amazingly soothing. To find out about other ‘Lotions and Potions’ for you and your newborn babe, click on the Newborn page.