Australian Breastfeeding Association Orange Group shows support for mums returning to work

Hollie McCallum has recently returned to work after having a baby but it hasn't meant she had to stop breastfeeding.

Mrs McCallum had daughter Nora eight months ago and joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association to help her through the experience as a first time mum.

"It took me two months to find out about it," she said.

"It's been such a good support I nearly gave up breastfeeding but once I started here and had other people I could ask questions it made me feel empowered enough to keep going."

She has also recently taken the step of returning to work and her employer has been accommodating of her continuing to breastfeed.

"They've been amazing," Mrs McCallum said.

"I am lucky because I'm in a childcare centre and she comes with me so I have that constant access to her so they're happy for me to just duck into her room and feed but they have just been beautiful, they're happy to give me whatever breaks I need."

This week the ABA is celebrating World Breastfeeding Week and it's theme 'Enabling breastfeeding - making a difference for working parents' to highlight the importance of breastfeeding-friendly environments for women who are navigating their transition back to work.

ABA Orange group leader Maria Ryan is a certified lactation consultant and midwife and said the group is supporting women in the workplace as part of its services.

"ABA has a breastfeeding friendly workplace option for bosses to embrace," Mrs Ryan said.

"The idea is that women know they don't need to wean just to return to work and of course everyone is returning to work at different ages of babies, especially now with the increased cost of living and interest rates."

Mrs Ryan said the group meets fortnightly and among its events is a meeting on returning to work and helping women know what to say or ask for when having a conversation with their bosses.

She added that in some professions, women can have paid lactation breaks so if they need to express their milk, they are paid for breaks that are agreed with their boss.

"That's not including their meal break," Mrs Ryan said.

"It's about bosses knowing how valuable women are in the workforce and how valuable it is having breastfeeding mums in the workforce because it's so healthy for babies to breastfeed and they are protected from their mother's breastmilk they're less likely to get sick.

"We know they are likely to have less days off work because they stay healthier."

She said some mothers might breastfeed their baby at 7.30am or 8am and go to work and then express their milk with a breastmilk pump during the day and then go and breastfeed their baby at night.

"There's a lot involved in returning to work and women are keen to know how to go about it."

Mrs McCallum said the biggest issues she faced before learning about the group from friends was breast feeding in public and latching.

"When you come to the Breastfeeding Association they are very hands on and help you support you mentally as well," Mrs McCallum said.

"There definitely have been times where I thought I won't come but pushed myself to come and it's so much better once you're out and about.

"Just come as you are, come when you can as well, we do 10am to 12pm and if you come at 11.30am no one really cares we're still there for a chat, it's still really nice."

She said it's important to come and learn it all.

"I don't think enough women have any knowledge on breastfeeding like milk supply, latching, different nipple sizes and shapes and how to deal with that as well as babies with tongue ties and that sort of thing," Mrs McCallum said.

"I think a lot of people are told they can't breastfeed if their baby has a tongue tie, they definitely can, it's just all a learning curve," Mrs McCallum said.

She said there's also been misconceptions when it came to milk supply.

"A lot of people think if you have a low milk supply you have to give up but there's definitely ways around increasing your milk supply and you're never empty, it's just a constant flow, a lot of people think that it's out but it's not."

Mrs Ryan said the meetings take place every fortnight and average between 12 and 20 women a fortnight.

"Because in Orange we have a lot of women that don't have families, what we find with the breastfeeding association is how supportive they are of women and their choices," she said.

"When the meetings are on the women look after each other.

"When we have a topic the women all share and chat."

"We have two women who are training to be breastfeeding counsellors because its a volunteer organisation so we volunteer our time to train through the breastfeeding association and then through us training other women choose to train."

One of those trainees is Charli Hills whose sister-in-law brought her along to the group when she was pregnant with her daughter Ivy Mitselburg, who is now eight months old.

"I needed a lot of help breastfeeding so I wanted to give back what I received and also the more I get into the training the more I learn about breastfeeding," Ms Hills said.

She decided to become a trainee when Ivy was three months old and the training is "at your own pace" and she expects it to take her less than two years.

Once the training is completed, she will volunteer on the breastfeeding helpline.

"We don't give medical advice, we are there to listen and it's more like helping mothers find what medical professionals to go to," Ms Hills said.

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Sign-up to our latest newsletter.