The Story

The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre will be a hub of information and support for parents in Warrnambool and the surrounding areas (South West Victoria, Australia – a population of over 30,000). It will be a place parents can come to relax and connect with other parents in an informal setting. Importantly, parents can access the breastfeeding information and support they need, when they need it, through professional lactation support, breastfeeding counsellors and practical support such as breast pump hire and information on lactation aids. It will also be available for hire from community groups.

With your help, mothers in the Warrnambool area can get the breastfeeding support they need. Women want to breastfeed – in Autralia around 92% of women are breastfeeding at the time of birth*, but this rate steadily declines despite national recommendations to exclusively breastfeed for six months and to continue breastfeeding until at least 12 months. The data shows that only about 56% of babies are receiving any breastmilk at 6 months of age and about 30% at 12 months.** We know that the key to successful breastfeeding is the right support and the right information, all of which will be able to be accessed readily through The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre.

This campaign is crucial to us being able to help establish The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre.  As the centre is not-for-profit and run predominantly by volunteers, it is crucial that we gain the support from the community to ensure that we can provide the families of Warrnambool with the breastfeeding support that they need.

Our goal is to raise $20,000 which we will use to cover rent of the venue and administration costs which will in turn allow us to give women in our area the best possible support.

Why Warrnambool Needs a Breastfeeding Centre

Just like much of Australia, Warrnambool has fantastic breastfeeding initiation rates. Unfortunately, however, these rates rapidly decline soon after birth. The objective of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy is “to increase the percentage of babies who are fully breastfed from birth to six months of age, with continued breastfeeding and complementary foods to twelve months and beyond.”One of the principles of the Strategy is to ensure that “…all members of a community have universal access to appropriate information and affordable services that protect, promote and support breastfeeding”.  The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre will strive to do all this and more.  Importantly, the work of The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre will work with women and their families to achieve their breastfeeding hopes and goals.

The Impact You Will Make

When you donate to this campaign, you get more than the warm fuzzy feeling of helping a worthy cause…At every level you will be thanked on The Warrnambool Breastfeeding Centre website (to be established).  You can choose among our many giving levels and receive some fantastic perks! Some perks are geared towards families, others towards lactation professionals.

Donor gifts include greeting cards, DVDs, ebooks, recorded webinars, an online midwifery series, online lactation learning modules and the chance to have your breastfeeding conference organised for you.

We also encourage you to support our campaign by using the Indiegogo share tools to help spread the word. Making more people aware of our campaign increases our chances of meeting our goals.

Many, many thanks to our fabulous sponsors who provided many of the perks – Breastfeeding Conferences, Pinky McKay, Andi Lew, David Spark, Gloria Lemay, Spectrum Printing. Special thanks to Colleen Hughson and Peta Jolley who took many of the beautiful photos shown in the video clip. And to the families of Warrnambool, thank you for supporting the vision!

Other Ways You Can Help

Some people just can’t contribute, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help…Please consider the following:

• Spread the word for us about this campaign – the more noise made about it, the more likely we are to meet our goal!

• Remind them to use the Indiegogo share tools!

From the Bottom of Our Hearts

Thanks so much to everyone who donates and spreads the word for us - we really are grateful to each and every one of you!

* Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) 2008, Growing Up In Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Annual Report 2006-07, <http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/ar/ar2006...>

** Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) 2008, Growing Up In Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, Annual Report 2006-07, <http://www.aifs.gov.au/growingup/pubs/ar/ar2006...>