Thirteen years ago, when corporate lawyer Etta Watts-Russell went on maternity leave after having her first child, she had no idea how challenging breastfeeding would be for her. At the time, the challenges women face in breastfeeding were not spoken about openly and the lack of conversation on the topic left Watts-Russell to feel alone as a new mum.
In light of her own experience and meeting other women who’d been let down with a lack of support during breastfeeding, Watts-Russell decided to dive head-first into the research. She discovered that 92 per cent of all new mothers experience a variation of breastfeeding problems. But no one seemed to be doing anything about it.
“I just thought breastfeeding is natural and it would be easy,” she tells Women’s Agenda.
“[I thought] I would reach the targets that are recommended by healthcare professionals, and I was really, really surprised to find breastfeeding difficult in the first place.”
“It was only on my third child—who’s now nearly eight—that there were more conversations,” she says.
“And the more I started looking into that, [I realised] it’s a global problem.”
“UNICEF tells us that no country in the world meets the recommended standards for breastfeeding. It definitely wasn’t just me. I looked into decades worth of research, and I realised that it would be possible to create an evidence-based solution to support the common problems,” Watts-Rusell says.
“There just wasn’t innovation in that space. It was really identifying that unmet need and looking into that and innovating in that space.”
The world-first breastfeeding solution backed by experts
Watts-Russell is now the founder of Lactamo, a world-first and award-winning breastfeeding solution in the form of a small massaging device that can be heated or cooled and used to massage breast tissue, facilitate lymphatic drainage, and address common problems such as blocked ducts and mastitis.
“I put together a team of lactation consultants, healthcare professionals, breast surgeons, lymphatic drainage experts, osteopaths, and GPs. All of them just had a resounding answer of ‘why isn’t this available already?’” Watts-Russell explains.
“I was very lucky that I was able to continue my corporate career to a point where I had got the business to a stage it was something that was already on its way to be very clearly validated.”
Lactamo brings together decades’ worth of research, and it combines the three critical components that the research supports; temperature, movement and compression.
“All the research has shown that those three components in combination have the ability to not just reactively address breastfeeding problems when they arise, but to proactively address them as well,” she says.
“One of the really key things that we’ve done with Lactomo is to be clinically validated, and that’s absolutely critical in what we’re doing.”
Each year, Lactamo carries out an annual breastfeeding survey in line with World Breastfeeding Week. Most recently, it found that 95% of women reported breastfeeding challenges. And 76% reported facing barriers to accessing breastfeeding support.
“There’s a lot of noise in the new mother and baby space in terms of essentials, and it’s really important to be aligned with the healthcare professionals and to have that clinical validation specific to our product,” Watts-Russell says.
How women’s voices are leading innovation
Since 2019, when Etta Watts-Russell launched Lactamo, there’s been a lot of progress in the women’s health space. This has largely been delivered by a growing cohort of women entrepreneurs who are taking it upon themselves to innovate and build solutions.
And while the health space is still male-dominated, Watts-Russell says she’s seeing huge opportunities for change.
“For too long, there haven’t been enough female voices at the table, and we know that the table isn’t just the C suite and the key decision makers—it’s everyone in the whole chain,” she says.
“We’ve now got a huge opportunity for change. This base level that we’ve got can only get better and I’ve got that real drive and passion to make sure other women can do this too.”
And her advice to first-time mothers facing the daunting early days of feeding their child?
“You’re the best person to navigate motherhood for your baby’s needs. You’ve got to trust yourself. You’ve got to know that you’re enough,” Watts-Russell says.
“You’ve got to ask for help when you need it. And don’t listen to that negative rhetoric. Breast is notbest for everyone: supported is best.”
Thanks to our partner CommBank. CommBank supports women in business and the community across all industries and sectors through its Women in Focus team. For more information head to WomeninFocus.com.au.