Balance Health Phillip Island

11/08/2026

Dance Harold dance!

09/08/2026

07/08/2026

Why would you want to live anywhere else?

05/08/2026

Most breastfeeding problems are fixable. The hard part is getting help quickly enough.

This week is World Breastfeeding Week and the theme is 'Strengthen What Works'. So rather than a poster, here's the practical version. Who to ring on Phillip Island, and when.

*The ABA Breastfeeding Helpline is 1800 686 268* Free, 24 hours a day, staffed by trained breastfeeding counsellors, and you don't have to be a member. Put it in your phone now rather than at 3am.

Your midwife in the early days, your Maternal and Child Health Nurse, your GP for anything medical.

And when it's mastitis, ring us. We treat mastitis as urgent and we aim to see you within 24 hours, same day wherever we can fit you in.

Kristine Miles is a Physiotherapist and IBCLC Lactation Consultant, and treats mastitis as well as doing comprehensive breastfeeding assessments covering latch, supply, ni**le healing and recurrent mastitis. Casey Cleeland is a Physiotherapist with a Post Graduate Certificate in Women's Health and also treats mastitis. Two clinicians means more appointment times when you need one quickly.

For the partners, prents, and friends reading this, a short list of things that genuinely help. Bring her water before she asks. Take the baby after a feed so she can sleep. Do the school run, the washing, the dinner. Ask what she needs rather than whether she's tried something.

Please share this one. Someone on your friends list is in the thick of it this week.

Balance Health Phillip Island, 14 Warley Avenue, Cowes, 5952 2244.

Book online https://www.balance-health.com.au/bookonline

04/08/2026

If breastfeeding hurts, it's usually not because you have sensitive ni**les. It's usually about how baby is attaching.

To get milk out, your baby needs a big mouthful of breast, not just the ni**le. That allows the ni**le sit right at the back of the mouth where the hard and soft palate meet. When the latch is shallow, the ni**le gets squashed against the hard palate instead. That's what causes the pain, the cracks and the grazes, and it means baby gets less milk too.

There are two things worth looking at.

POSITIONING - Unwrap her so her arms are free. Chest and tummy against your body. Head, neck and body in a straight line. Nose level with your ni**le, head tilted slightly back. Support her neck and shoulders rather than the back of her head.

ATTACHMENT - Brush her top lip with your ni**le and the underside of your ar**la. Wait for the big, yawn-wide open mouth. Aim your ni**le at the roof of her mouth and bring her in quickly, chin touching the breast first, well below the ni**le.

You'll know it's going well when her cheeks look full and rounded, her chin is pressed into the breast, there's more ar**la visible above her top lip than below, and there's a steady rhythm of sucking and swallowing with natural pauses. And it doesn't hurt.

Clicking or slurping, dimpled cheeks, slipping off the breast, fast continuous sucking with no pauses, or any pain at all are worth having looked at. Break the suction gently with a clean finger in the corner of her mouth and start again.

Small adjustments make a big difference, and you don't have to work it out on your own. At Balance Health Kristine Miles is a Physiotherapist and International Board certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC), and sees mums and babies together for a comprehensive feeding assessment.

Call 5952 2244 or book online https://www.balance-health.com.au/bookonline

The ABA Breastfeeding Helpline is also available 24 hours a day on 1800 686 268.

04/08/2026

We have some high class availability this week with Senior and Advanced Sports Osteopath Kevin, Senior Physio of Women health Casey Cleeland, and Physio Tim Tracy our go to for Vertigo and Mens health. Call 5952 2244 or book online at www.balance-health.com.au

03/08/2026

Mastitis is not a plug of milk you need to squeeze or massage out.

Mastitis means inflammation of the breast. That inflammation makes the tissue swell, and the swelling squashes the milk ducts from the outside. So the lump you can feel isn't stuck milk. It's swelling. The milk that isn't moving is sitting behind it.

This is why the old advice doesn't hold up. Deep massage, squeezing the breast and long hot showers all tend to make inflammation worse. So does pumping to ‘empty’ the breast, because more milk removed means more milk made, and more pressure in a breast that is already congested.

The current advice from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine is ice as often as you like, ibuprofen and paracetamol, very light sweeping strokes towards the armpit and collarbone, feeding as normal on demand, a supportive bra, and genuine rest. Antibiotics are for bacterial mastitis, not for every case. If you are very unwell, have a fever lasting more than 24 hours, or you aren't improving, see your GP.

In clinic we use therapeutic ultrasound and gentle lymphatic drainage massage, and we spend time working out why it happened so we can work on prevention.

We treat mastitis as urgent. Ring us and we will aim to see you within 24 hours, and same day if we can fit you in. Both Kristine Miles (Senior Physiotherapist and IBCLC) and Casey Cleeland (Senior Physiotherapist) treat mastitis.

Call (03) 5952 2244

Full article here: https://www.balance-health.com.au/post/mastitis-what-it-is-and-what-actually-helps

30/07/2026

30/07/2026

Run Forest run!