Natural Family Planning International

“You mentioned that Macabbees is the only place in the Bible that mentions the length of three years for breastfeeding in Biblical Times.  Back in the mid 60s when the Pill was being discussed on the news, my mother (an immigrant from Italy who never went beyond the 3rd grade) commented to me: ‘A pity the mothers today don’t know what my mother taught me.  I breastfed all my children for two years.  And that’s why there’s at least three years between each of you.’  To which I replied, ‘Mom , we had teeth already by that time.’  To which she replied, ‘I know, but I could teach each one of you not to bite.’  
       My five years in the Peruvian Andes taught me basically the same thing.  Their children were spaced by three to four years, and they were ever so well behaved in Church as toddlers.  No crying or screaming.”

+Victor Galeone, Bishop of St. Augustine, Florida; personal correspondence, June 4, 2004, quoted with permission.

Next Week: A Cardinal on Breastfeeding and Birth Spacing

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood

First, April 23 is our third anniversary for blogging.   We began the blogging April 23, 2007.  This blog is #204.  We blog weekly with the exception of daily blogs during NFP Week and World Breastfeeding Week.   You are welcome to review any blogs/categories to the right of this site.  It has been our pleasure to do this.  Now on to this blog about a simple NFP method called eco-breastfeeding.

For years mothers who remained with their babies and breastfed found that their menstruation did not return until months later.  Breastfeeding was known as a natural baby spacer.  So simple.  So easy.  No gadgets.  Baby with you day and night. 
       For years I taught natural child spacing by promoting mother-baby togetherness.  That one biological unit was the key to natural child spacing.  Today this type of mothering is associated with a type of breastfeeding called ecological breastfeeding.
       This mothering also speaks well for the baby’s emotional happiness.  In such societies where breastfeeding moms keep their babies with them, people notice an absence of babies crying, something not experienced in our society.  To learn more about eco-breastfeeding, read The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor.
 
Next week: Bishop Victor Galeone’s comments on natural child spacing and the absence of crying.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood

Breastfeeding is the norm of nature.  It is not an “ideal” and it is not the average.  Most persons associate the “ideal” with something that is not easily attainable.  And what’s “ideal” for someone may not be the “ideal” for someone else.  Regarding average, what’s average may not be desirable.  For example, in a school the students, on average, may be overweight. 
         Breastfeeding is the norm.  As a priest friend said, “The closer we approach the norm, the happier we will be.”
         In addition, this priest added, “One can look at a structure and its function to determine what is the structure’s normal activity.”  Certainly the structure of the breast is geared for producing milk so a mother can feed her baby.  As this priest said, “It is like following a recipe; follow it and you get good results!”
         In our Catholic faith mothers can learn the “recipe” by studying the basic structure and function of the breasts and follow it by breastfeeding their babies.  This is truly God’s own plan for feeding our babies.
         Natural child spacing by breastfeeding is also nature’s norm.  You can see this benefit promoted by La Leche League International and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action in their joint statement in celebration of World Health Day 2010 on the theme of “1000 Cities, 1000 Lives.”

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood