Hi, As part of the Australian Breastfeeding Associations email team, thought I would let you know that in Australia, the ABA website is the homepage to the "Email roster" where mothers can access a counsellor both by phone (on our new national helpline) or by email, where volunteer counsellors usually are rostered on for a week at a time. We have our own private website and support list to access peer support and can ask for assistance re special situations or if we feel overwhelmed by too many first contacts. We offer suggestions and support numbers for the mothers local area as well as offering ongoing support if the mother wishes. We also offer  a lot of breastfeeding info that mothers can also access from our website and a very popular forum at <http://www.lrc.asn.au/forum/>. Many mothers have an ongoing email conversation with us, and occasionally send a pic of the baby. We mainly receive emails from mothers in Australia, with occasional contacts from mothers overseas, whom we try to give appropriate contact details for their local organisations. 

I actually love email counselling, for both the teamwork, for the mothers who respond back and the challenges of obtaining less common information, for example "should I discard my milk if I have ingested <substances>",  "can I breastfeed this time, even though I didn't with my 1st baby"

Seasons greetings

Julie Weller -  Overseas Counsellor in Florida USA

 [log in to unmask]
 Breastfeeding Counsellor
 Australian Breastfeeding Association
 http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/


 
Date:    Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:41:06 +0000
From:    Magda Sachs <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: mother support -- internet

Just to mention that there is the possiblity of email support for breastfeeding.  I don't know what is done in other countries, but I know that here in the UK all four of the mother support breastfeeding organisations provide some form of support. 

For example, I know what we have done in The Breastfeeding Network.  Up to 2004 emails that strayed in to us via our website were answered in a rather ad hoc fashion.  In 2004 I took on the job of answering all of the support emails, except for ones which were medication queries, which went to a supporter who is also a pharmacist, who specialises in this sort of support. 

After doing all of the emails we got for 10 months or so, I developed some protocols and a team was formed.  This has continued to the present.  I have had times of being on the team again (such as the present) and times off. Part of the standard for most emails is to offer the urls of all four mother support groups and the national telephone helpline number for the UK, as well as websites which list local support groups.  In most cases, I would suggest to a mother that she seek a group or individual support in person or on the phone. 

However, some mothers feel more comfortable without that contact, and offering support by email is at least offering them something.  I use cut and paste for websites and lists of support organisations, but every email is individually written and tailored to the mother (or family member) who sent the query.  Indeed, in a 'conversation' where you get no cues as to whether an approach is ringing bells with the mother or not, and where you can ask questions, but are not likely to enter into dialogue, there is a huge art to covering all things you think might be useful without overwhelming the woman. 

When we began email support the thought was that it could be a way for newly qualified people to get some experience.  Over the year I was intensely involved and thinking about this, I came to the conclusion that it is actually a harder task than face to face or telephone support. 

I know this is not exactly what Rachel was talking about, but I thought it was worth mentioning.  I don't think I have ever seen others working by email (not as an adjunct to other practice, but as first, maybe only, point of contact) discuss their practice here on lactnet.  Surely you are out there? 

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter
The Breastfeeding Network, UK


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