Let’s make breastfeeding work

Wodonga Council’s Maternal and Child Health (MCH) nurses have kicked off World Breastfeeding Week with a morning tea for professionals who support breastfeeding in the area.

Council’s Maternal Child Health team and invited guests spoke ‘all things breastfeeding’ while enjoying the morning tea.

This year’s theme of ‘Enabling breastfeeding – making a difference for working parents’, showcases the impact of paid leave, workplace support and emerging parents norms on breastfeeding.

The global campaign aims to engage governments, policymakers, workplaces, communities and parents to play their critical roles in empowering families and sustaining breastfeeding-friendly environments in the post-pandemic work life.

The health impacts of stopping breastfeeding early are what drive many women to continue providing breastmilk for their babies when they return to work.

Continuing to breastfeed may protect babies against illness if they need to be in childcare with other children, which means fewer visits to the doctor and less time off work for parents, as breastmilk contains many anti-infective factors to protect against infections.

Wodonga Council’s Team Leader of Maternal and Child Health, Tamara Cox, said the morning tea was a way to acknowledge the efforts of those in the community whose expertise and passion for breastfeeding is on display everyday as part of their work.

“Breastfeeding provides a vast array of protections for the baby, the mother and the community from a health and wellbeing perspective, right through to larger scale economic and sustainability factors,” she said.

“As maternal and child health nurses, breastfeeding is a core part of our work with families, and we work alongside our colleagues in a range of services to protect, promote and support breastfeeding in our community.”

Wodonga Council proudly supports employees who are new parents as a breastfeeding-friendly workplace with policies in place to protect and support breastfeeding upon returning to work.

The MCH Service is a free universal primary health service that provides support to all Victorian families, from birth through to school age.

“In addition to breastfeeding support, we offer a range of programs within our MCH service, including first time parents’ group, sleep and settling support and programs to support families experiencing vulnerability.” Tamara said.

The awareness week is driven by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) - a global network of individuals and organisations dedicated to the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding worldwide.

It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration signed in August 1990, by government policymakers, WHO, UNICEF and other organisations, to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

For more complex breastfeeding issues, some of the MCH team have further specialised to become internationally recognised lactation consultants, and offer free breastfeeding support within the MCH service.