[pratique]

I often hear such negative reviews on EB on the ABA's hard stance of exclusive breastfeeding only. IRL I have never met anyone who has had a negative experience with them.

In the last two years I have rang ABA around 6 times. I needed to use nipple shields until DS was 3 months and occasionally used formula for night feeds (I had 3 surgeries in the first 6 months post birth) I will also admit, when I occasionally went out with friends DH would supplement with formula.

I never felt judged, nor was I offered alternative advice to what I was doing. If anything I felt supported, especially when I was congratulated that I was still feeding past 12 months.

I often wonder if people forget they are volunteers. Or have I just been very lucky in the response I got?

[Jersey Caramel]

I rang them 2 or 3 times and only ever had great experiences.

[FluffyOscar]

I rang on behalf of my sister, at her request, when she needed help. They were great, but I suspect it wasn't the advice my sister wanted to hear. Her choice, ultimately.

[Boombox]

I think the fact they are volunteers is maybe their possible downfall. I imagine it might be hard to ensure volunteers maintain standard advice, unlike a paid health professional who is bound by a code of practise and shouldn't be giving advice swayed by their own experience and ethos.

I had a bad experience calling ABA with an unsettled tiny baby- she gave me some crazy talk that was completely about her experiences with her children, not the situation I was asking about.

That said I think the organisation is great, and their classes and booklets are invaluable. I do often wonder about the call line though.

[Roobear]

I have had a negative experience with them unfortunately. It does seem to be the zone I am in though as another lady from my mother's group also had a negative experience with them. I have moved areas now and have been encouraged to join the local group as apparently they are all positive and friendly so I might tag along to a meet next year.

[Guest_3Keiki_*]

I had a terrible experience with ABA, a total BFing crazy who had no idea and in a very isolated situation continued with a starving baby and pain for far to long before coming to my senses

[AllegraM]

I had good experiences with them and found they were very supportive of mums who had to fulltime express. I wish I had gone to them for advice first instead of wasting my time with lactation consultants.

[Saecularis Angel...]

In my experience with them, there was very definitely a sense that only exclusive breastfeeding was ok. When I rang to ask for advice with the issues I was having, and on how to mix feed well, I was told to "just keep putting her to the breast."

Combine that with the judgement from the MCHN, and yeah, I definitely felt like I was "officially" doing the wrong thing, and I felt that others perceived me as selfish, lazy and precious.

I don't know if voluntarism is an issue. How hard is it to have a script that says, "If mother says this isn't working because of x,y,z, offer comfort, support, and make a and b alternative suggestions"?

[♥~Bodhichitta~♥]

I only had good experiences with them also

[katpaws]

If you use formula or EBM you aren't really the person they want ringing and if the objective is to make women do breastfeeding, regardless of circumstances, why would i ring them for advice if i cannot get assistance on formula or expressing (which is what i needed at the time) and did not plan to change? I did ring when my milk was starting to dry up in supply; it was hard to get a call back and the only advice i got was to use Fenugreek (which i did use but didn't help). Advice like make sure you look after yourself and eat well etc would have been a lot better, something i had to find out on my own.