Sheridan Howe did not know until after her first child was born that she was not able to breastfeed.
"I had all these ideas in my head about 'breast is best' and I was going to breastfeed him for as long as I possibly could," she said.
"It was pretty hard, I cried every time I fed him [with formula] for the first few months."
But women across the region have donated breastmilk to the Ms Howe and her children.
"I'm so grateful that I can walk down the street in Gunnedah and spot women who gave the most precious, irreplaceable gift to me and didn't expect anything back in return," she said.
"They're people that I really admire."
First 2,000 days of life
Tamworth Hospital is showcasing babies' first 2,000 days of life, with an exhibition highlighting the joys and challenges of breastfeeding.
Nestled among the photographs of women breastfeeding newborn babies, breastfeeding in public and breastfeeding for the last time is an image of five women, including Ms Howe, standing side-by-side.
Ms Howe said she first heard about milk-sharing after the birth of her second child.
"The midwife at the birth centre talked about milk sharing as an alternative to formula and that's when I first heard about it," she said.
"In the lead up to the birth I looked online, sourced milk and I had quite a stash before my baby was born.
"The colostrum my daughter was first fed at the birth centre was donated by a woman just down the road and she was fed donor milk for most of the first six weeks of her life."
Feeling judged for not breastfeeding
According to statistics from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, its breastmilk-donation service feeds roughly "1,000 babies per year", with over 5,000 litres of milk collected nationally in the 12 months between 2021 and 2022.
A Hunter New England Health spokesperson, which the Tamworth Hospital is part of, said its health facilities used human donor milk collected through the Australian Red Cross Life Blood Service milk bank, which was pasteurised to kill harmful bacteria and viruses.
"Milk from this bank is used for the most vulnerable babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit," the spokesperson said.
"Outside of this program we have no visibility or governance over sharing breastmilk in the community.
"We recommend that mothers are careful when doing so as there may be infection risks."
Ms Howe chose to carefully source her own breastmilk, and by the time her third child came along, she was well-organised.
"I got some milk from women in Gunnedah and I regularly run into a lot of those women.I've got to know a lot of them," she said.
"I've also sourced milk from people I'll never see again."
Ms Howe expressed how challenging it was feeling others misunderstood and judged her for not breastfeeding.
"I think some people judge you, thinking you're choosing not to breastfeed because it's too hard," she said.
Proud to help other mothers
Morgan McHugh was one of Ms Howe's main donors from the start.
Ms McHugh said she learnt about donating breastmilk when a nurse mentioned it after the birth of her son.
"It was at the back of my mind and one day I opened up my freezer and I had so much expressed milk and I thought, 'I'll put it on this Facebook group' and Sheridan got in contact with me straight away," she said.
Ms McHugh said initially she did not think too much about donating, but after realising how much it meant to Sheridan, she felt proud to help.
"When Sheridan saw how much milk I actually had, she did get a bit emotional and at that moment I realised how much it meant — that something so small could mean so much to somebody," she said.
"I suppose it is a lifeline. It's giving a baby sustenance and nutrients — it's beautiful."
Ms McHugh wants to continue donating milk.
"It felt good that I was helping somebody and that something that came naturally to me was being put to good use," she said.
"I wanted to donate to them as long as I could."
A topic still 'much not spoken about'
Maryann Murdoch is the clinical midwifery consultant for lactation at Tamworth Hospital and is hopeful the exhibition will help the community better understand breastfeeding.
"In the wider community it is still something that is very much not spoken about," she said.
"We're hoping that the exhibition gets people talking about breastfeeding.
"If you read the stories, every mother and family has a reflection of the joy and the magic — but they also recognise the challenges and that it's very normal for there to be challenges."
