The Nursing Mothers' Association was founded in 1964 by a visionary young mother in Melbourne, named Mary Paton. When Mary's first baby was born in 1962, there was virtually no written information on breastfeeding available to either mothers or health professionals.

It was a time when formula feeding was seen as modern and fashionable and viewed as being as good as, if not better than breastfeeding. Babies were fed to a strict four-hourly schedule no matter how much they cried. Mothers were not encouraged to pick up a crying baby, for fear of 'spoiling'. In hospitals, breastfeeds were strictly timed - access to the breast being restricted to only a few minutes initially, slowly working up to ten minutes each side over a number of days.

Babies were routinely test weighed after breastfeeds, and topped up with infant formula if they were thought not to have taken enough at the breast in the time available! At night it was considered important that a mother's sleep not be disturbed so after the 10pm feed babies were kept in the nursery and fed infant formula during the night. None of these hospital practices were conducive to establishing breastfeeding. It's a wonder that any mothers managed to breastfeed!

In this climate of regimentation, conflicting and negative advice, Mary struggled to feed her baby. And when at 41/2 months she finally put her baby on formula, as she had been urged, she knew that it shouldn't have to be like that. There had to be a better way.

When Mary was shown a Readers' Digest article about La Leche League in the USA and a book called Nursing Your Baby by Karen Pryor, she set about importing three copies as it was not available in Australia. The book was a revelation to Mary and her friends. It showed successful breastfeeding as easy and natural, and spoke such common sense.

A year of thinking and planning followed in 1963. Mary thought how breastfeeding mothers could support one another, how information could be disseminated. On Feb 13th 1964, Mary and five of her friends met to talk and plan how this vision could be achieved. Along with Mary Paton (The Founder), these women - Jan Barry, Glenise Francis, Pat Paterson, Pauline Pick and Sue Woods - became known as the Foundation members.

Deciding on a name proved to be a challenge because of censorship restrictions of the time. It was not acceptable to use words like 'breast', 'pregnant' or 'nipple' in public print or on the airwaves. The Postmaster General's Department (as it was then) would not allow the word 'breastfeeding' to be printed in the telephone directory! Nursing Mothers' Association was finally decided upon as it combined the ideas of breastfeeding and nurturing. (The extra A for Australia was added in 1969 to reflect the national nature as the Association grew.)

Initially the group expanded by word of mouth (often in whispers), with friends bringing along their friends. Slowly the women gathered information about breastfeeding, mainly from sharing their experiences - things they had tried and what had worked for them. The first formal discussion meeting was held at Mary's home in Balwyn on July 27, and discussion notes started to be developed. Pat Paterson designed the NMA logo in the same year.

From the very beginning, Mary and the other young mothers knew that it was important to establish their credibility with the medical profession, and so enlisted the help of Medical Advisers. The early Medical Advisers were Dr Claire Isibister, Dr Lorna Lloyd-Green and Dr James Smibert.

It was the Advisers who arranged NMA's first talk to the Victorian Women's Medical Society in 1964, closely followed by a talk to 300 Baby Health Centre Sisters in Melbourne. Mary remembers being terrified at these talks, but she knew how vital it was to educate the health professionals about breastfeeding. The Advisers' support was invaluable in providing an introduction to hospitals and medical and nursing schools, mentions in the Medical Journal of Australia and the quiet word here and there in Government circles.

In those early days there was so much to be done and no money to do it with. There was however tremendous drive and enthusiasm. Mothers would take along their bundles of newspapers as well as their babies to meetings, as paper recycling was a key fundraiser. Dutifully washing the silver milk bottle tops and saving them for recycling was part of being a member of NMA. And there were the drop scones for the cakestalls!

Mary saw trading as being important to the financial stability and promotion of NMA. The first NMA product to be sold was the baby sling called a Meh Tai. Mary had sewn her own and was pictured on the front page of the Melbourne Herald in 1965 wearing baby Nicholas in the sling on her back while she vacuumed the carpet wearing stiletto heels! This generated a lot of interest in the sling and many enquiries for the pattern. Mary announced that NMA was 'making them'. This led to a great flurry of sewing by everyone around kitchen tables to keep up with the demand.

Starting an Association from scratch meant that much thought had to be given to its structure. Right from the outset the Foundation members knew that a code of ethics was vital to not only establish the Association's credibility, but also to keep it on track, and not lose sight of its main aim, which was to encourage and provide support and information to mothers who want to breastfeed.

The NMAA Code of Ethics was adopted in 1965, as was the Constitution. A counsellor training system was also introduced. The first booklets - Increasing Your Supply, Survival Plan and Toddlers' Activities were produced in 1968. The first slide set was also produced - and no-one has ever discovered why the developers posted them off to a dairy company rather than NMA! Although it does underscore the fact that in those days, much more was known about milk production in cows, than about human lactation.

Slowly and steadily the number of breastfeeding mothers in Australia increased. There was great jubilation when in 1967 the first recorded increase in breastfeeding rates was noted in North Melbourne, with NMA being given the credit in the Melbourne City Council Medical Report. Victoria was also the first state to show a 2% increase in breastfeeding rates in 1972 - 1978. This reversal of the downward slide was the first significant increase in a developed country. The rate continued to climb from 20% of mothers breastfeeding at 3 months in 1972 to 38% in 1978 and 54% in 1983.

A significant year for NMA was 1969. The 1,000th member joined, Branch Presidents were appointed in NSW, ACT, WA, Qld and Victoria and the name became Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia. Always on the lookout to improve the availability of information for women, the Increasing Your Supply booklet was translated into Greek - reflecting the changing makeup of the Australian society.

The Association moved ahead in leaps and bounds. It was a milestone when the first National Headquarters was established in Hawthorn - a Melbourne suburb, in 1970. It was a milestone of another sort when in the same year the first photo of a white Australian woman breastfeeding was published. Needless to say she was a NMAA member! - but nevertheless her face was deliberately obscured to save embarrassment.

In 1973 the 10,000th member joined and there was great pride when the first Australian book on breastfeeding was written by a NMAA member - Successful Breastfeeding by Virginia Phillips. Through several editions and many reprints, this was to remain the definitive text on breastfeeding for Australian mothers until it was replaced by another NMAA publication Breastfeeding.... naturally in 1996.

A further publishing landmark for Nursing Mothers' was the release in 1990 of the first edition of Breastfeeding Management in Australia, designed for health professionals. It has since been fully revised and the latest edition issued in 1997.

In 1976 the first breastfeeding Helpline was established in Melbourne. Such was the dedication of those trained volunteer Breastfeeding counsellors, that they took calls day and night from mothers during their rostered shifts of 7 days. All this while they juggled the needs of their small children and family responsibilities. One Melbourne counsellor recalls a memorable week when she took 89 calls on after hours roster!

It is fitting that in 1978 Mary Paton received an Order Of Australia and in 1981, an Advance Australia Award. In 1993 she was voted "Woman of the Year'" by readers of Family Circle magazine in recognition of her work with NMAA and Australian and international mothers and babies.

Mary's vision has grown from very small beginnings to the amazing organisation that it is today - approximately 400 groups nationwide and almost 1400 counsellors. In the past 35 years over 145,000 Australians have joined the Association. The aims of the Association have remained the same throughout its history. That is indeed the strength of the Association. Its other great strength is the dedication of thousands of counsellors over the years, all mothers, who have given countless hours of unpaid time to support other breastfeeding women and to promote the importance of human milk in the community. Each year our counsellors offer information and support to over 258,000 people - mostly mothers. All counselling is free of charge and counsellors receive no payment for their services. There are, however, costs associated with training counsellors and keeping them up to date. By becoming a subscriber, you will help to ensure that accurate breastfeeding information and support is available to future generations of Australian mothers.

In May, 2001, the Association voted overwhelmingly to change our name to the Australian Breastfeeding Association. With a name that clearly states our purpose - to be the recognised Australian authority for breastfeeding information and support - we look forward to the challenges of breastfeeding promotion in the new century.

Any enquiries about the history of NMAA/ABA, archives, past events, newsletters, films etc can be directed to Judy and Fran