"As soon as my baby was born, it felt like I was no longer viewed as needing care. I felt unimportant."

The heartbreaking response is one of hundreds to a new national health inquiry.

Other submissions to the Senate select committee before Friday's cut-off speak distressingly of medical misogyny and having severe pain dismissed or misdiagnosed.

"Despite the severity and persistence of my symptoms, it took over six years from their onset... to receive a diagnosis of endometriosis," says Konstandina Karavias.

"I found it extremely difficult to find a practitioner who would listen attentively to my symptoms, apply appropriate clinical reasoning and aim to understand the extent to which my condition was affecting my life."

The Select Committee on Women's Health was established in August via a motion by South Australian senator Marielle Smith. It follows similar inquiries into birth trauma (NSW, 2023) and women's pain (Victoria, 2024).

Many of the submissions it has received are from mothers and their healthcare providers who describe a system failing women as they recover from giving birth.

"I wish my pregnancy and postpartum struggles were not seemingly invisible to healthcare professionals," says a survey respondent cited in material tendered by the Adelaide Mums and Babies Clinic.

"A woman's postpartum challenges don't end after her six-week check-up," another adds.

The Adelaide facility is the only SA clinic that assembles GPs, midwives, mental health professionals, social workers and a dietician under one roof.

Co-founder Rhiannon Smith had the idea eight years ago, when she had her baby and realised how little support there was post-birth.

She is hopeful the committee recognises and acts on mothers' experiences and concerns.

"Women are recovering physically from pregnancy and birth whilst trying to navigate breastfeeding," Dr Smith tells AAP.

"They're sleep-deprived, they've got pelvic floor concerns, they've got sexual health concerns – there's mental health concerns.

"The current system doesn't really acknowledge or provide for that at all."

If women are heard, she says their problems can be identified earlier.

"So we are hopeful that this is a catalyst for change," she says.

A survey of more than 300 clinic patients found 69 per cent rated infant feeding their biggest post-birth challenge, followed by infant sleep (64 per cent) and mental health or emotional wellbeing (59 per cent).

Asked about what they valued most from health care, 69 per cent said additional breastfeeding and lactation expertise, followed by feeling listened to and taken seriously by professionals (67 per cent) and longer appointments (65 per cent).

Dr Smith says there is an expectation in health care that women "just deal" with issues themselves during the postnatal period.

The clinic is calling for the postnatal care period to be extended from six to eight weeks to at least 12 months and be appropriately funded.

"The Medicare funding is just as it is for any other general practice consultation," Dr Smith says.

"And there needs to be a focus on allied health – whether that be postnatal pelvic floor physio, perinatal psychology."

She is also calling for more data, greater access for women in regional and remote areas and better education for medical professionals.

"We're not taught about breastfeeding in medical school. I wasn't taught about it in GP training," Dr Smith says.

"(We need to be) designing a system around the woman and her baby, rather than the woman trying to have to navigate the system – that's very fragmented at the moment – by herself.

"We're thrilled that finally there's a spotlight on this really important area of medicine and we're just hoping it can translate into some really practical solutions."

Birth Trauma Australia founder Amy Dawes says many of the women it supports were initially sceptical about whether the inquiry would lead to change.

"A lot of women were actually asking us, 'Is it worth it? Is it worth actually putting a response into this inquiry?'" she says.

"One woman in our community said, 'Are we just going to be shouting into a void again?'"

But Ms Dawes is ultimately optimistic the inquiry will provide meaningful solutions.

"What gives me that optimism is that we have seen post-inquiries into perimenopause and menopause, we've seen significant investment and the same with endometriosis," she says.

"My hope is that birth-related trauma is moving on that trajectory."

Birth Trauma Australia received 69 responses to a survey informing its inquiry submission, with 60 of them citing medical misogyny.

"A big catalyst for trauma during a birth is being denied pain relief or not being believed when women are saying, 'I can feel this,'" Ms Dawes says.

"Having a failed epidural and they're screaming out and no one's believing them; somebody asking for pain relief and they're assuming they just want the drugs.

"That level of misogyny is absolutely diabolical but sadly we hear it."

The peak birth trauma body is urging the committee to prioritise national antenatal education standards as well as trauma-informed training for professionals working with parents in the perinatal period.

Ms Dawes says postpartum reviews and support should be extended from six to eight weeks to throughout the first 12 months after birth.

She is calling for greater access to psychological and pelvic-physiotherapy services.

Non-profit organisation Project:herSELF has asked the committee to consider the inadequate treatment of women who are pregnant and give birth while in custody.

"Women should not be handcuffed, shackled or otherwise restrained during labour, delivery or immediate postpartum recovery except in genuinely exceptional circumstances where there is a clearly documented and immediate safety necessity," its submission says.

It calls for minimum standards for postpartum care in custody including more timely and consistent access to specialists and better mental health support.

The organisation also stresses the need for reproductive health care for endometriosis, perimenopause and menopause during detention.

The Senate committee will hold its first public hearing in Canberra on October 13 and is expected to hand down its report on August 18, 2027.