ABA's breastfeeding counsellors help thousands of mothers every year. As breastfeeding mothers themselves, they know that breastfeeding may not always seem easy. Their experience can reassure new mothers and give them the knowledge to understand how breastfeeding works. Counselling is available to ABA subscribers and non-subscribers alike.

Breastfeeding counsellors are all trained volunteers. All have breastfed at least one baby for at least nine months and undertaken the ABA breastfeeding counsellor training course to qualify. Counsellors provide counselling and breastfeeding information to any person seeking help. Counsellors are continually updating their breastfeeding knowledge and counselling skills.

Counsellors may be contacted by telephone or email. Counselling is also available in person at group meetings.

Has an ABA counsellor helped you? ABA needs members to ensure we continue to give our counselling services free of charge. Please consider becoming an ABA member. Details about how to subscribe are available on this website.

Please note:

ABA breastfeeding counsellors are all volunteers. Counsellors are not medically trained and so can not give medical advice. Their area of expertise is breastfeeding management.

Due to insurance issues, ABA is unable to offer our counselling service to residents of the United States or Canada. Mothers in these countries may like to contact the La Leche League for assistance. Please visit the La Leche League International website for contact details.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association collects data for the purpose of providing and improving association services. Your personal details will not be given to any other party unless legally required to do so. Our full privacy policy can be viewed at www.breastfeeding.asn.au or obtained by calling 03 9885 0855 during business hours

Telephone Counselling

The Australian Breastfeeding Association now has a National Breastfeeding Helpline which operates on a roster system. The Helpline is available 7 days a week. Counsellors are answering calls in their own homes so please take this into consideration when calling.

Trouble connecting to 1800 mum 2 mum? If you are unable to access the Breastfeeding Helpline it may be due to your phone service using internet technology (eg VOIP phone). Drop the last number and call 1800 686 2 68.

Email Counselling

When sending a breastfeeding query to an ABA counsellor, please send as much information about your situation as possible. It may help the counsellor to know the age of your baby, weight gain history, feeding pattern, what other foods/drinks your baby may be having, and what other advice you may have received regarding your problem.

Counsellors check their email each day, and endeavour to answer all queries within 24 hours of receiving them. This means it could be up to 48 hours before you receive a response. If a more urgent answer to your query is required, please try to contact a counsellor by phone. ** Please note ** Technical problems do occasionally occur - counsellor's PC problems, server problems etc etc. So if you do not hear back from a counsellor within 48 hours please try to contact them or another counsellor again. We will not leave an email unanswered on purpose. ** Please also check your Spam/Junk folder - some ISP's may filter email responses as Spam/Junk.

If the particular counsellor assigned your query cannot answer you quickly, she may forward your email to one of our other email counsellors. Your email will be kept strictly confidential and not passed on to anyone else without your permission.

As the counsellors will be talking with you about your own particular circumstances, please do not share their responses in a public forum. All circumstances vary from family to family, so what may be relevant to your situation, may not be a good suggestion for others.

Our counsellors are busy mothers, voluntarily counselling from their own homes. They put a lot of thought and effort into their replies and would appreciate not having to repeat what someone else has already said. Please submit the query form just once. Please note that much of our information is contained in ABA's comprehensive set of booklets available from Mothers Direct..

Please note: Due to insurance issues, ABA is unable to offer our counselling service to residents of the United States or Canada. Mothers in these countries may like to contact the La Leche League for assistance. Please visit the La Leche League International website for contact details.

Please note: Some counsellors available to answer your email/online queries may be residing outside Australia. ABA counsellors are all qualified and up-to-date with ABA information.

The counsellors on helpline for the period Sunday 24 May to Sunday 31 May are Amanda, Lisa, Karen, Jen, Jo, Suzy and Elizabeth.

Please complete the form below giving as much information as you can. One of our counsellors will get back to you via email very soon.
Fields in bold are required, other fields are optional but may help us when replying to your query.