Hi everyone,

Our 2022 Breastfeeding Professional Seminars are fast approaching. The 2022 seminar series with the theme Breastfeeding: A thirst for knowledge is a unique opportunity to hear from internationally renowned speakers and Australian experts. By registering before 31 January 2022 you’ll go into the draw to win one night of luxury accommodation at one of our live seminar events in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. There will be one winner per location, get in quick so you don’t miss out! Click here for more information.

The November edition of Breastfeeding Review will be winging its way to ABA Professional members and those who subscribe. This edition covers a range of topics including weaning babies onto a vegan diet, research on instinctive behaviour when skin to skin, a case study outlining the experience of a tongue-tie diagnosis, and a discussion regarding the rights of the child and alternative diets.

This month, ABA has finalised an update of our Position Statement on Donor Milk plus we made a submission to the Federal Government’s review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act.

ABA’s Position Statement on Donor Milk is based on a series of Principles and sets out a number of Objectives. We have identified several new and important Objectives which required the addition of a several more Principles. The Principles can be found at the beginning of the updated position statement. The additional Objectives appear in bold in the list below:

Objectives

  1. Support women in making informed decisions about donor milk and human milk banking.
  2. Encourage methods of using donor milk that support rather than displace breastfeeding.
  3. Encourage the establishment of human milk banks.
  4. Encourage the ethical governance of donor milk.
  5. Encourage ways of sharing human milk that address social inequities in breastfeeding and access to donor milk.
  6. Recognise the contribution of human milk sharing to food security and infant feeding in emergencies.
  7. Protect the Association from potential risks involved in donor milk.

ABA’s Position Statement on Donor Milk can be found here: https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/policy/statement-donor-milk

As we head into the festive season please be aware that the November research summaries will be the last for 2021. Our dedicated volunteers will be taking a break and there will be no summaries in December. You can still expect to see a monthly newsletter with news, fact sheet and feature article just prior to Christmas.

Take care,

Naomi Hull

Senior Manager Breastfeeding Information and Research