Hi everyone and welcome to my blog of what is unsettling the breast. My name is Katrina and I am a mother to 4 beautiful children and I am also a qualified midwife. Today I decided I need to make a difference in the world of breastfeeding after reading Mia Freemen's blog 'lets chill out about breasts' It was a very average read and I felt Mia did not do herself justice writing such article but what I did get out of it was Tara Moss's staggering statistic that in Australia 14% of women exclusively breastfeed till 6 months of age. Now that absolutely sent shivers down my spine not because I am a breast pushing midwife but because I can not believe we send about 95% of women home from hospital breastfeeding. So the biggest question I ask is what are we as midwives doing wrong????
The answer to my own question is that midwives are failing women, yes I said it midwives I feel are the main cause to breastfeeding problems in Australia. Midwives do not give up to date, consistent, accurate and across the board information. It is bloody hard being a first time mother, you have a new baby to care for, a cocktail of hormones, sleep deprevaition, soreness, extended family and friends to contend with and 6 or so midwives throughout your stay giving you conflicting breastfeeding advise. What chance do our mothers have???? This is the question I ask and this is the question I am bloody determined to change. I have the power because I am a midwife, I have the power because I am a mother and I have the power because I care so much that women should get the best chance to feed their baby via the breast. I understand 100% that some women decide that breastfeeding is not for them and their baby and I fully support any women's decision. I can not accept that 81% of women give up because they choose not too, something and someone is getting in their way.
Please if you have any breastfeeding stories you would like to share on this blog please send them to katrinaw44@rocketmail.com or comment below.
My overall dream is to retrain all midwives around Australia so they can teach and educate breastfeeding women consistently and accurately
I hope you follow me on this journey
Bye for now
