Introduction by Croakey: Yalbilinya Miya, meaning ‘learn together’, is a successful breastfeeding program on Wiradjuri Country in regional New South Wales, which has had many positive outcomes, including strengthening cultural and social connections, reports Dr Simone Sherriff, a Wotjobaluk woman, and a Research Fellow at Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Sydney.
The project has a story of resistance, reclamation and empowerment, she writes below.
Simone Sherriff writes:
A breastfeeding program designed by Aboriginal women, for Aboriginal women has had successful outcomes in supporting local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women through their breastfeeding journeys.
The project is designed and led by Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation (RivMed) on Wiradjuri Country (Wagga Wagga, NSW) and is an innovative breastfeeding program in response to an urgent need locally for better supports that are responsive to the needs and uphold Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty.
We saw that most of our women are trying to breastfeed at the local hospital after birth, but by the time we see them in the RivMed clinic around two weeks after birth, lots of our women have experienced challenges and, with no culturally safe supports available, have made the decision to stop breastfeeding.
The project is headed up by a team of Aboriginal women who are mothers with their own breastfeeding knowledge, skills and wisdom, including lead researcher Simone Sherriff (Wotjobaluk), project lead Kristy Williams (Wiradjuri) and two research officers Hilary Honeysett (Wiradjuri/Ngiyampaa) and Tarnie Brown (Wiradjuri/Ngiyampaa). The project is also supported by an experienced general practitioner with lactation training at RivMed, Dr Megan Elliott-Rudder.
Yalbilinya Miya (‘learn together’ in Wiradjuri language) was developed to fill a gap on available evidence on what Aboriginal women in the Wagga Wagga area want and need to support their breastfeeding journeys.
After observing the need for better supports locally for our women, we successfully received a grant from the Lowitja Institute and engaged in a partnership with the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Sydney and the Sax Institute for additional research support.
Grounded in sovereignty and self-determination
We know Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been nurturing and sustaining our babies through breastfeeding for 65,000 years, but colonisation and the ongoing inequities and injustices our people continue to face have disrupted breastfeeding practices for some Aboriginal women in our area.
Clinic data from RivMed highlighted a need for better programs to support local Aboriginal women to initiate and maintain breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is the best start to life for our babies and has many health benefits for both the child and mother, but our women need better supports that are designed by us and embedded in our ways of knowing, being and doing. Most of the current supports available are very Western models of breastfeeding and not what is wanted or useful for our women.
Therefore, to respond to this community need we wanted to conduct two programs of work.
The first focused on understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s experiences of breastfeeding, including barriers and enablers, and to understand the preferences of our women for breastfeeding supports. We spoke with 20 local Aboriginal women who were mothers of children under five years and also Elders and other Aboriginal women who support mothers in our community.
In the second part, we drew on the voices and experiences of Aboriginal women in our community to co-design and evaluate a community-led, holistic breastfeeding program.
This included several support elements: community designed educational materials, a weekly group, a breastfeeding pack (Aboriginal designed bag, electric Medela breast pump, breastmilk storage supplies and information on storing and using pumped milk, feeding cover), culturally grounded lactation supports (phone line, dedicated breastfeeding support appointments, Elders and other Aboriginal women as mentors, a breastfeeding room and a private Facebook group).
Yalbilinya Miya so far has provided breastfeeding support to 15 Aboriginal mothers through RivMed, with some women being first time mothers, and others with children but their first time breastfeeding or their first time being able to breastfeed beyond a few weeks.
This community-led, evidenced-based model is grounded in sovereignty and self-determination, ensuring breastfeeding supports provided to our local mothers are responsive to their needs.
Social connections
In Australia there are no Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led lactation or breastfeeding training programs. In order to support our women in their breastfeeding journeys and increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies being breastfed, there is an urgent need for workforce development.
Through support and training of Aboriginal community members, Aboriginal Health Practitioners/Workers, midwives and GPs in our ACCHOs on breastfeeding, we can embed our ways of knowing, being and doing. Through the development of culturally grounded supports, we will empower our women to reclaim our breastfeeding practices for the next generations.
Yalbilinya Miya has supported women to revitalise and reclaim Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander breastfeeding practices for our future generations and is a successful model of community-led research and program design.
Although the project was designed to be a breastfeeding support program, it naturally evolved into something much for than that.
It has provided our women with social connection for both new mothers and also Elders. The mothers in our program spoke about how it provided a foundation for cultural knowledge sharing and for them to develop connections, a “sisterhood” with other Aboriginal mums going through the same journey of motherhood.
Local Aboriginal fathers also got involved and showed our women strong support for breastfeeding our babies. Aboriginal men in the community proudly wore our pink breastfeeding shirts we had designed for the program, and attended the exhibition.
The women shared stories of some of the Aboriginal fathers who came from strong breastfeeding families themselves providing knowledge on how to get through breastfeeding issues such as a blocked milk duct, how beneficial it is for mum and baby, or words of encouragement that mum was doing the best thing for baby, and this provided motivation to continue through those long days and nights with a newborn.
Support from Elders
A private Facebook group was set up so the mums and Elders could support each other anytime of the day. They would often share words of encouragement, struggles, advice and celebrate the milestones together. This included photos of how many millilitres they were able to pump of breastmilk, support for relactating after a hospital separation with bub, and tips on feeding positions.
Local Ngiyampaa Elder Aunty Donna, who has breastfed 20 babies and has a wealth of breastfeeding knowledge and expertise, was one of the mentors who provided support to the women.
Aunty Donna is one of the most passionate breastfeeding advocates, she attended the group going around and checking in with all of the mums and supporting them with getting a good latch, which she refers to as the “Koori Kissing Lips”, advice on positions and how mum and baby were settling in at home.
Women in the group spoke highly of the importance of having our Elders support their breastfeeding journeys and being part of their journey into motherhood.
Another element of the program was to make breastfeeding more visual and celebrated in our community. We used a combination of photography, art and videos to visually tell the story of empowerment, resistance and the significance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander breastfeeding within the Wiradjuri community.
We engaged Wiradjuri photographer, Alicia Frail from OchreUp, to take cultural breastfeeding photoshoots on Country with local mums and babies. During these photoshoots, female Aboriginal Elders and other Aboriginal women in the community shared stories to the young women of cultural ceremonies and practices used to support birth and breastfeeding in the local area.
Our Elders described how heartwarming it was for them to see all the young mums and babies here on Country breastfeeding, as it is an important cultural practice passed down through our ancestors and a powerful act of our resistance and resilience against colonisation and colonialism.
Celebrating 65,000 years of breastfeeding
In addition to the photos, we put a call out to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and emerging artist to submit pieces that represented and told a story of breastfeeding.
We had submissions from youth who had observed their own mothers breastfeeding siblings, female artists, male artists, the Yalbilinya Miya group, and Elders.
The exhibition was held at the local Civic Theatre on 11 November and was a celebration of 65,000 years of breastfeeding.
It was a beautiful evening attended by 80 people, including local community members and organisations, state peak body the AH&MRC, the national peak body NACCHO, funder the Lowitja Institute, university and research partners, the Australian Breastfeeding Association and other Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
Comments by women involved
Author details
Dr Simone Sherriff is a Wotjobaluk woman and a Research Fellow at Poche Centre for Indigenous Health at the University of Sydney. She has worked in and with the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service sector for 15 years in areas of research and program implementation in areas such as food security, breastfeeding and child health. She leads the Yalbilinya Miya collaboration between the Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, the Poche Centre, Lowitja and Sax Institutes.
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