You have to assume health professionals truly don't realise the impact on parents of being told that breastfeeding is failing to meet their baby's needs. There is 100% focus on getting more milk into the baby - pumping, topping-up, introducing formula.

It seems goals around exclusive breastfeeding are ignored or dismissed in so many cases. There is no space for grief, no suggestion of speaking to a breastfeeding counsellor to work through those emotions and rarely any referral to an IBCLC to diagnose why the baby isn't effectively removing milk from the breast. The default blame is the mother has insufficient supply.

Can we just cut parents some slack?

Obviously eye contact is vitally important for the mother-child connection and gazing into your baby's eyes while they feed is one of life's pleasures.

But, here's the thing. Babies actually spend a lot of feeding time with their eyes closed. They're in their own little bliss-bubble.

It is fine to leave them to it and take your own break. That might be screen time, it might be conversation time. Or daydreaming time.

Birth interventions and the medicalisation of natural childbirth last century masked something incredible which had almost been lost in western midwifery memory: babies are born hard-wired to seek the breast and attach with minimal assistance.

The hints were there in the reflexes observed and assessed at birth: the stepping movement of the feet, the rooting reflex, the grasping reflex. Babies delivered onto the belly of their mother can crawl and move their body to the breasts, identify the nipple area, lift and move into position and latch on.

Why we are surprised by this, when we observe similar behaviour in other mammals shows how distanced we are from our biological normal.

This week Victoria took a hammering from the weather during the last days of Melbourne's lockdown. Huge wind and rain storms in the night and into the next day took out power in large areas of the suburbs and brought floods to Gippsland. Water supplies in some areas were tainted and residents advised not to drink the tap water. Power is not expected to be restored in some areas for several days.

#breastfeeding is safe and reliable in such emergencies but babies who rely on expressed breastmilk, donor milk or infant formula are vulnerable to supply interruptions. Donors and recipients can lose their freezer stores. Formula fed babies might not have access to safe water and flooding can spoil stocks in shops and homes. Road closures from flood waters and fallen trees can mean families are cut off from retailers. Exclusively expressing mothers can lose access to power clean water and equipment can be lost or damaged by flood waters.

Most parents choose to breastfeed their babies. But many are not able to achieve their goal of breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months.

Society puts so many hurdles in front of feeding goals. Throughout pregnancy parents are told human milk is important. Yet very little practical guidance is offered on how to make breastfeeding work. A couple of hours hearing about the "benefits" of breastmilk in an antenatal class does little to educate mothers on how breastfeeding works, what challenges they might face and how to overcome them.

A well-attached baby is the most effective way to remove milk from the breast. Feeding your baby whenever they want, for as long as they want, will establish and maintain your milk production, and is also the best way to restore it after breastfeeding challenges. More out equals more in.

There are times when you want or need to remove milk without your baby. Expressing breastmilk occasionally or regularly is part of some people's breastfeeding journey.

Southern Natural Parenting Network respects the challenges breastfeeding presents for many mothers and families. Too many women are not given the support and information they deserve to establish and maintain breastfeeding. Being able to meet their #breastfeeding goals is prevented due to factors beyond their control, barriers and hurdles created by others and misinformation circulated by medical and social contacts.

Our community is a safe space for like-minded parents whose goal is #naturaltermbreastfeeding two years and beyond. When they have not personally been able to reach their goals, our non-bresstfeeding members support others in the group to do so.

Our group practice #breastsleeping #milksharing and #exclusivebreastfeeding for six months followed by #babyledweaning with family foods.

Babies are regularly weighed and measured to monitor their growth.

The majority of children are growing just right, at rate determined by their genetic recipe.

Very occasionally, a baby causes concern because they are not growing at the anticipated rate and this flags potential complications. This includes everything from poor feeding through to complex and rare medical conditions. Regularly checking all babies is intended to prevent the few slipping through the net.

But the monitoring of weight can cause extreme anxiety for parents and, when poorly interpreted, can jeopardise exclusive breastfeeding.

When your baby is well attached it will feel better. This is the primary indicator, more important than how it looks. However, those supporting you will also be looking for visible signs of good attachment, including how much areola they can see.

The skin around your nipple is very individual. Some breasts have pale areola while others are quite dark. Some are small enough to completely disappear into the baby's mouth while others extend beyond the area touched by the baby's face.

It is given unconditionally.

In Australia it is illegal to sell human milk. It is collected and donated, most often through informal molk-sharing networks as this country has so few milk banks. There is an abundance of generosity behind the donations. It takes time and effort to collect and store excess milk.

Blood donors are celebrated as their gift saves lives. Milk donors also offer lifesaving fluid. For premature infants. For those at risk of or living with allergies. For parents working on overcoming challenges in establishing breastfeeding and wanting to avoid the risks of formula for their child. For mothers with Insufficient Glandular Tissue (IGT) or a history of breast surgery or injury preventing them fully meeting their baby's needs.

When it comes to positioning your baby, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Here is what you need to keep in mind:

"Chest to chest and chin to breast" This is all about presenting your baby in the best orientation to seek the breast and attach well.

Decades ago, when #breastfeeding rates were at a historical low, bottle feeding techniques got mixed up with breastfeeding advice. We held our babies on their backs, swaddled tightly to keep their hands out of the way and brushed their cheek so they would turn their head towards the breast. This position meant babies had to grasp the nipple with their head twisted towards their shoulder - obviously not a comfortable position for anyone! Babies would grab the nipple and hold on for dear life, because it would spring out of their mouth the moment they paused.

It makes so much sense that a relaxed, comfortable position will allow your baby to comfortably take a mouthful of breast tissue and keep it in their mouth without losing their latch. It's comfortable for babies and their mothers.

Your position when you are breastfeeding is just as important as your baby's. There is no use getting them attached only to find you are now stuck in an uncomfortable position for the next hour. You won't be able to relax and that can delay your let-down reflex.

While you are establishing breastfeeding, it helps to set up your feeding spaces at home.

Ideally, you can feed lying down as much as practical to maximise rest and recovery (especially if you had a caesarean or complicated delivery). At other times choose a seat where you can leave any pillows or cushions you are using in place.

Babies hands are an important tool in getting a good attachment to the breast. Unfortunately this is something we have had to relearn as we overcome the loss of breastfeeding wisdom in the past century.

In the womb, babies suck their hands. You might have seen your baby doing so on ultrasounds. This means they have a strong association between their sucking reflex and their hands long before birth.

Sometimes it's the little things which make the biggest difference. And babies arms and breastfeeding are a great example of this. In the fuss and bother of getting baby to the breast, it's easy to think it can't really matter that much if an arm is in the way. But it means your baby can't be as close as they need to be and that can make the Latch just that bit more shallow.

Imagine how difficult it is getting close to the dinner table in those final weeks of pregnancy. Your body shape means you need to lean your head in closer to bring your food to your mouth. It changes your posture and uses muscles in a different way, which can be fatiguing.

Replicating breastmilk is the goal of manufacturers. At a very basic nutrition level, this is potentially possible. Breaking human milk down to basic components of proteins, fats and carbohydrates and assembling similar ratios from alternate sources can be done.

However there is much more to breastfeeding than what the milk is made of. Even beyond the unique growth and immune factors, it is the relationship of breastfeeding which is unique. Although it is always possible to feed human milk via what we can call "vessels" - cups, supplementary nursing systems, spoons and teats - nothing can replace the actual process of infant/breast communication.

Breastfeeding is so much more than a source of milk. Human milk is a living fluid, custom made onsite for the baby. It contains what they need, when they need it. From nutrition and emotional needs to specific immune support produced in response to threats picked up and acted upon by the maternal immune system.

From the very first feed to the very last, from breakfast to bedtime and all through the night, breastmilk changes. It is flavoured by the mother's meals, contains hormones to support sleep and evolves as the infant gets older. Every drop is beneficial, whatever the age of the child.

Breastmilk is undervalued. Lactation is undervalued. The contribution to public health from breastfeeding is undervalued.

Babies arms! Why are they always in the way when you are trying to breastfeed?

It turns out, Babies practice sucking in the womb and will suck on whatever gets close to their mouth ... basically, their hands! Although a newborn doesn't have much intentional control of arm and hand movements, they do seem to have some reflexive drive to bring their hands to their mouths at feeding time.

It's tempting to take an idea from the past and tightly wrap your baby in a blanket to restrict arm movements. Unfortunately, this not only confuses them but prevents them assuming the natural position to come to the breast.

Babies have wonderful reflexes in place to help them breastfeed. One is referred to as the "rooting reflex".

When we think of the natural carrying position of young primates on their mother's chest, gripping on to her body hair with hands and feet as she moves about, being able to find the breast by facial touch makes sense. A baby swiping their face backwards and forwards across the chest area would be able to zero in on the nipple area which would feel different to the surrounding skin.

Breastfeeding is natural for mothers and babies. They are biologically prepared to do it with only a small minority facing insurmountable barriers.

However, the practical aspects of breastfeeding, the skills and techniques, are learned behaviours which become habitual with practice.

The Let-down Reflex is not something mothers do, it is something which happens.

Your Baby is the main stimulus for the release of oxytocin into your bloodstream, which in turn begins to eject milk out of the glands and into the ducts.

Hidden away under our brain is the pituitary gland, no bigger than a walnut but with significant influence over our bodies. It is from here that oxytocin begins to switch on the milk flow.