My exciting new volunteer role

Because I am not returning to work, I had always planned on taking on a volunteer role once Tabitha was past her infancy.  I'd thought vaguely about becoming a volunteer zoo guide, since I adore animals, and teaching.  I'd also considered becoming involved in the programs set up to teach English to refugee families.  Once I joined the Australian Breastfeeding Association, however, I immediately knew that I wanted to become involved on a deeper level - helping women to breastfeed their babies, and helping raise community awareness about breastfeeding, are areas I am incredibly passionate about.  My breastfeeding journey was, like so many women, initially fraught issues including mind-numbing nipple pain from deep cracks, bleeding, mastitis, engorgement, oversupply and blocked ducts, and the support I received in the initial weeks and months (from my independent midwives, as well as the ABA) was so helpful to me.  Giving Tabitha artificial milk was never an option for me, but there were days when I cried and cried from pain and hopelessness - still, getting through those initial challenges was so incredibly empowering and I feel like it helped me form my identity as a mother.

Initially, I helped out with my local ABA group whenever I was asked - I volunteered as a 'demo breastfeeding mum' with Tabitha a couple of times for the prenatal breastfeeding education workshops that the ABA runs for pregnant couples;  I was also a 'demo mum' for a talk on breastfeeding at Canterbury Girls' Secondary College; Tabitha and I posed for a newspaper article on World Breastfeeding Week; and we attended every fortnightly local meeting we could.

After a while, with some encouragement from my local ABA region leaders, I started thinking about training as a Breastfeeding Counselor - a voluntary position, this is a Certificate IV qualification, involving roughly 1-2 years' of study, and ongoing training and professional development.  I am now thrilled to say that I am officially a Trainee Breastfeeding Counselor!

Tabitha and I are going to Ballarat next weekend for the annual Victorian ABA Conference, which will include some fantastic workshops and panel discussions, including one on the ethics and issues surrounding milk donation (after donating literally litres of milk myself to other babies in the initial weeks, I am incredibly passionate about milk donation).

I have a lot of study in front of me, which I can do at my own pace, but I am so excited about getting to the point where I can go and help women and their babies with their breastfeeding challenges.  Also - one of the best parts about volunteering and training with the ABA is that, of course, Tabitha is welcome at every training session workshop, conference and event!