Yarning about breastfeeding

Ballarat & District
Aboriginal
Co-operative
Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative has two Maternal
Child Health Nurses, Elspeth and Fiona, who work together to
deliver care and support to the Community.
There is a strong partnership with the local hospital, where
a midwife is employed to work specifically with Aboriginal
families. Elspeth and Fiona have a good relationship with the
hospital, and are able to utilize this partnership to help their
clients to access antenatal services at the hospital.
Elspeth and Fiona
A lot of young women don’t always know how to breastfeed
before they go into hospital. We know how important it
is to support women and work to make them feel more
comfortable with the thought of breastfeeding. We
understand that each family and pregnancy will be different
and it’s important that they are supported. The KMS and the
hospital’s Midwives for Aboriginal families also recognise how
important family support is, especially from partners, mothers
and Aunties and understand the influential role they play.
We use resources with mothers to discuss breastfeeding
topics to get them more familiar with what the breast
looks like, how baby latches on and right techniques. We use
information provided from the Australian Breastfeeding
Association and the VACCHO KMS Boorai resources and we’re
committed to making sure it’s all culturally appropriate for our
Aboriginal families.
There’s also postnatal support offered at the Ballarat &
District Aboriginal Co-operative with a full outreach services.
Home visits are also available to all mothers and their babies
until the child reaches primary school.
“I certainly support
mothers in their
endeavors to breastfeed.”
- Elspeth, Maternal Child
Health Nurse