Legislative Council, Tuesday 8 April 2025

Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Thanks, Mr President. As you and other members would be aware, one of my abiding passions is the health and welfare of pregnant mums and babies, and the support and care they receive following the birth. There is one area that I have always felt we did not do as well as we could, and that is the postnatal period especially after leaving the hospital, if they have given birth in the hospital. In my electorate, a new and very relevant service is launching to address this gap and improve the health and wellbeing of new mums and babies.

I recently met with Isabel Sykes, who is the founder of First Foods. Members will see a booklet on their seats with more information about this. It is called First Foods Australia. It is Australia's first not for profit postpartum food service.

First Foods is launching in north west Tasmania later this week, with the aim to bring this service to every new mother in Tasmania within the next three years. The service will provide all new mothers with a self selected box of nutritionally balanced meals for the first important week after birth. Eating nutritious food at this time is vital for establishing breast milk supply. The food in the box is rich in iron, fibre and protein, and designed to aid healing, replenish nutrients lost during pregnancy and offer grounded support to new mothers. The First Foods team is currently working closely with local farmers, supporting our local food system and ensuring every meal is made with sustainably sourced and high quality produce. We know there is a strong connection between maternal nutrition and breast milk supply, birth recovery and mental wellbeing. However, rarely do new mothers prioritise nutrient dense meals unless they have the active support of a doula, and not many do.

There is currently no systemic form of accessible community care for the new mothers in Australia. First Foods has drawn inspiration from the longstanding tradition of the European baby boxes, which provide expectant mothers with a box containing essentials for raising a baby. First Foods, however, has expanded on this idea to bring mother centred care to the forefront. The First Foods box is a tangible expression of tenderness and practical support a way to show the 6000 mothers giving birth in Tasmania every year that their new role as a mother is important to our society and they are deserving of the resources to support their physical and emotional health after birth.

In Australia, only 6 per cent of the maternity service's budget is allocated to postpartum care. Regardless of where a woman is birthing her baby, she should not 'fall off the postpartum cliff' an emotive characterisation for the sudden void of maternal health care after birth, but something that so many mothers experience. This directly informs breastfeeding rates. While 96 per cent of mothers initiate breastfeeding at birth, 39 per cent of babies are exclusively breastfed at the 12 weeks postpartum mark. There are many contributing factors: lactation consultants are not subsidised under Medicare, general practitioners are not trained in breastfeeding support, and breast milk supply is largely informed by maternal nutrition.

First Foods is a community of chefs, midwives, researchers, doulas and mothers who have identified a critical gap in the way we care for women in the postpartum period. They are working together on a solution that will bring good quality, nutritious food to new mothers in the most nutritiously demanding time of their life. The rest and nutrition the new mother receives for the first 40 days after birth is believed to dictate her health for the rest of her life.

Despite the distance between countries, the fact that similar practices exist, and have existed for generations, is proof of their worth. The baby box initiatives around the world have successfully continued for decades, the first starting in Finland in 1938. The Finnish baby box still remains a treasured gesture of the Finnish government to its people, and every mother gets it regardless of her circumstance.

Ms O'Connor - So beautiful.

Ms FORREST - Yes, and it is proven to have a huge social and economic benefit to the Finnish society and all that it provides to women following childbirth. The box is suitable for the baby to sleep in.

First Foods is piloting a model of systemic community care that Australia has not seen before. First Foods offers Tasmania an opportunity to model best practice postpartum care. We all want healthy mothers, and it goes without saying we want healthy babies, but they are not mutually exclusive. If we want healthy babies, we have to have healthy mothers. First Food has been designed on the idea that, instead of asking new mothers to reach out for support, we should be reaching in. Socially, we do not celebrate the mother after birth. All the attention shifts immediately to the new baby because they are so cute, but we expect the mother to transition with ease, despite the significant lack of social and public health support.

When we dismiss this season of a mother's life, we also dismiss her. The consequences are profound, with evidence in rising perinatal anxiety and depression rates. One in five new mothers is now diagnosed in the first year after birth with postnatal depression or anxiety.

If we want healthy communities, we need healthy mothers. First version we are piloting this service in north-west Tasmania this year for women with due dates in September and October this year. They hope that this project will become an integrated care model for Tasmanian mothers. I urge the government to support the budget submission to ensure this pilot can be delivered over a longer period to all birthing women and their families.