Hi everyone,

I hope all is going well for you as we race towards the end of the year (how can it be almost November?). I am pleased that the lengthy lockdowns have come to an end for our colleagues in Greater Sydney and Victoria. I hope your transition into the new normal is smooth.

Did you hear that we recently announced our speakers for next year’s Health Professional Seminar Series? It is yet again another wonderful line up that will be informative. These seminars will be live in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Will you be there? Details here.

We have been busy in the Breastfeeding Information and Research team with preparation of some important submissions over the past few weeks.

  • We were very happy to have the opportunity to provide feedback in October to the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) on their Guideline on pre-anaesthesia consultation and patient preparation.
  • We made a brief submission in October to a Parliamentary Inquiry on Provision of general practitioner and related primary health services to outer metropolitan, rural, and regional Australians.
  • We collaborated with the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative Australia (WBTiAUS) team and Assoc Prof Julie Smith from the ANU on a submission to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) regarding FSANZ P1028 Consultation Paper #3.

ABA is an invited member on the National Breastfeeding Advisory Council which will be supporting the implementation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (ANBS). Dr Susan Tawia attended a preliminary meeting in the lead up to official commencement. We look forward to seeing the ANBS implementation commence.

Have you had the chance to check out our new look ABA Professional website? Let me know if you have any feedback or fact sheet topic requests? Also please get in touch if you would like to write a Feature Article. This needs to be relevant to those working with mums and babies, about breastfeeding, and evidence based. Email me at bir@breastfeeding.asn.au.

That’s all from me this month,

Naomi Hull RN, IBCLC, MPH

Senior Manager Breastfeeding Information and Research