"Excellent telehealth support postnatal"

After my second baby was born we realised things weren't quite right with breathing and feeding difficulties. After multiple trips to the emergency department, resulting in a referral to ENT, my baby was diagnosed with laryngomalacia and reflux. I was having breastfeeding difficulties because of these conditions in addition to mastitis, vasospasm and pain from using a breast pump.

It was such a difficult start for my baby and for our whole family. We were extremely lucky that our child health nurse referred us to the WA country health telehealth lactation service, where we had the wonderful support from Di.

Di made such a difference to those early days for us. She was so lovely but also I honestly don't know what we would have done or how we would have coped without her input. We felt heard and this meant a great deal to us. We'd hit a jackpot as far as someone who actually was extremely knowledgeable in all the areas relevant to us- we had felt dismissed previously and as though no one really understood our concerns with our young baby.

It is clear Di is an amazing communicator and is experienced in her role as a midwife and lactation consultant, in addition to having expertise in larygomalacia and reflux. She was able to share her knowledge with us and also how to cope with these and 'how and who' to go to in order to advocate for our baby. Di provided management and treatment options for the breastfeeding problems I was experiencing, followed by expressing, positioning and lactation weaning advice too.

It was a really hard time looking back and I just wanted to thank Di and her team for being there for Mums and their families, and providing excellent postnatal support.

The thought of breastfeeding again is anxiety provoking, however I am  really comforted to know this service is available- so thank you.