"Recommendation: Breastfeeding Centre of WA"

A dad's perspective.

After my partner experienced a very traumatic and complicated labour requiring two emergency surgeries, she was placed in the Adult Special Care Unit at King Edward Memorial Hospital. On the day of the birth of our first child, she had almost no contact with our newborn whatsoever, only a brief moment. 

We were wanting to breastfeed, if possible, but given my partner's massive blood loss, and lack of time on the first day, amongst other things, our immediate focus was her health. I had already purchased formula, bottles, electric steriliser etc., well before bub was due as I wanted us to be prepared (no point beating yourself up!)

Whilst my partner was staying in KEMH, we telephoned the Breastfeeding Centre of WA, which is connected with the hospital and made an appointment to see them. This is a free service, and this is hands down one of the best decisions we made for our family. 

The hospital gave us a loan of a breast pump, and we had an appointment to come in and see a lactation consultant within a week or two. The staff member assisting us was Myra. Over the course of our several appointments, Myra helped us tirelessly to get where we wanted to be. As we had come from a rather difficult place, it is actually rather difficult to articulate the amount of assistance provided to us.

There was no pressure, expectations or otherwise placed upon mum - just a whole heap of assistance, advice, and beyond this, it also included practical things such as the loan of a breast pump. We were seen regularly by Myra and our appointments continued up until we both felt that we were fully confident.

If you have even a slight inclination towards breastfeeding, which we did, just make the call - the amount of assistance the Breastfeeding Centre provides is amazing. To overcome our hurdles, and to see my partner able to breastfeed and care for our newborn with ease (it does get easier, just trust yourself) and confidence, has been very rewarding.

A big thanks to Myra and the rest of the staff at the Breastfeeding Centre of WA