Archive for January, 2014

Natural Family Planning: Moms Describe Ecological Breastfeeding.

Sunday, January 26th, 2014

The effectiveness of breastfeeding for suppressing ovulation seems directly related to the amount of food a baby gets from other sources.  In our culture, in the land of canned formula and readily available baby foods of all kinds, a baby is frequently given bottles in addition to nursing.  He is started out on solid food after a month or six weeks.  It is important to note that the mothers who endorse breastfeeding as a method of spacing babies give nothing but breast milk for a period of six months, and then, while starting the baby on other foods, continue to breastfeed him for 10 or 15 or more months…Breastfeeding is a means to be considered by couples in our culture who would welcome eight children in 16 years rather than eight children in eight years. (Mrs. James Kenny, Wiesbaden, Germany, America, February 29, 1964)  This was the first article on natural child spacing   that impressed my husband. After he read this letter when I was pregnant in 1964, he said: “Sheila, you’re going to breastfeed…aren’t you?”  This was the first time I considered this issue!

Without any effort on my part, my first three children were spaced 4.5 and 3.3 years. Thanks to ecological breastfeeding. I typically enjoy lactational amenorrhea for 27-29 months postpartum.

We sort of used eco-breastfeeding, but didn’t stick to all the rules 100% (mainly dropped the daily nap one).  We didn’t use anything else to space our two children and they turned out to be 25 months apart in age.  Now my baby is 18 months and my fertility and periods still have not returned.

I have eco-breastfed 6 out of 8 children.  Eco-breastfeeding is really not that complicated a thing.  You feed your kid on demand and keep them with you to facilitate that as much as possible and you don’t substitute mother care with various gadgets (pacifiers, formula, early solds to supposedly to make them sleep more at night, and you avoid letting them cry it out).  Frankly, pretend you are too poor to do anything else and you’re probably on the right track.  Heck, we WERE too poor and that’s always just what we did.

I have been promoting attachment parenting (AP) and ecological breastfeeding by word of mouth.  I find myself sharing bits and pieces with friends and family. I have one friend who did quite a turn-around with my encouragement. Her siblings either did not nurse at all or nursed part time for a few months. They also leave their babies for “vacations” when their babies are just a year old. (What kind of vacation is that anyway? You’d have to take me kicking and screaming before I left my baby– even if I wasn’t nursing!) But my friend spent so much time watching me with my babies and listening to me talk about AP that she now “rebels” and nurses her babies in her bed for at least a year and never leaves them overnight.

I am currently nursing my 17 month old without a return of my periods.

Breastfeeding has a very definite effect on child spacing.  With my bottlefed children I conceived again at 8 months after childbirth despite other contraceptives.  It has been 15 months since the last baby was born.  No period yet.

My son nurses on and off during the nights.  He is 22 months old and I have not had a period yet.

I thank you for the positive effect you’ve had on my mothering skills.  I nursed my first baby for 4 months and quit because of the inconvenience.  I nursed my second baby for 22 months because it was so very convenient.

Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding

Ecological breastfeeding means successful breastfeeding, good outcomes, and natural spacing.

Sunday, January 19th, 2014

International health organizations promote exclusive breastfeeding for six months and continued nursing for 2 years or beyond, and John Paul II endorsed these recommendations.

On the other hand, despite ever increasing research on the benefits of breastfeeding, long-term nursing is down.  A recent study involving the duration of breastfeeding among Saudi Arabian mothers found that the mean duration of breastfeeding was 13.4 months in 1987 and 8.5 months in 2010.  The most common reason given for no longer breastfeeding was insufficient breast milk.  Some reasons given for this shortened lactation were the common use of the bottle, more mothers working (67% in 2010), use of oral contraception, sickness of mother or child, and becoming pregnant. (“Breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia: a review,” International Breastfeeding Journal, January 14, 2014)

Our country also suffers from the poor lactation rates.  Mothers and babies have more diseases because our country and churches do not promote a pattern of frequent and extended breastfeeding.  The latest statistics from the CDC (2010) report that the rates for breastfeeding in the United States remain “stagnant and low.”  It appears that only about one-fourth of the babies in the United States are receiving any breast milk at 12 months.

Nature has the answer for successful breastfeeding, for good outcomes, and for spacing of births.  As Dr. William Sears has said, the key to successful breastfeeding is “frequency, frequency, frequency.” That’s basically a description of ecological breastfeeding as well.   With ecological breastfeeding a mother is nursing frequently, and she will have an ample milk supply. Due to the frequency of nursing and extended breastfeeding, the mother doing ecological breastfeeding will have good health outcomes for herself and her baby.

The research stating the health benefits of breastfeeding is abundant. If interested, just download our online manual (small donation requested unless you are poor) and study the first two pages of Chapter 6 as a starter.

The research showing the natural spacing effect of ecological breastfeeding is also abundant.  The research was there when I began my work in the late Sixties; our research was published in two journals in the Seventies and Eighties; and Dr. H. William Taylor made several contributions on ecological-type breastfeeding research in the Nineties.   Other research of this kind has also been reported or published.

The lack of education on breastfeeding and natural child spacing among mainline churches is unfortunate.  On the other hand, I have been privileged to help some conservative Jewish women for over 25 years, and recently we have been receiving requests from Amish and similar groups which have spiritual or solely natural reasons to avoid unnatural methods of birth control.  The most common request from these latter groups is for The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding which meets their needs for family planning.

Unfortunately, most Catholic dioceses and independent NFP programs ignore both ecological breastfeeding and also the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM), a method that has been studied abundantly and published frequently in scientific journals and is highly effective—-at least 98% if the simple requirements for the method are met.

To be sure, everyone says some nice things about breastfeeding, but ignoring ecological breastfeeding and the LAM sets the advocacy of breastfeeding back 50 years!  That’s not exactly the way to make progress in maternal and child health and in natural baby spacing.

Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor

 

The Gospel of Life and Ecological Breastfeeding

Sunday, January 12th, 2014

The Gospel of Life (Evangelium Vitae) is an easy read.  In that encyclical, John Paul II tells us that the baby is an icon of Jesus Christ.  If we are to see Christ in our baby, how can we delegate their care to others?  If we see Christ in our babies, how can we place them in cribs, car seats, playpens, swing seats and strollers for long periods of time when they really need to have close contact and intimacy with their mother and later their father?  How can we let our baby cry unattended for a long period of time as parents are being taught to do in our society?

In our society mothers who practice ecological breastfeeding may use such items mentioned above but will probably do so on a very limited basis.  They will also use their body and breasts to nourish and comfort their baby instead of relying upon pacifiers and bottles to do the job.

In the Gospel of Life, the Pope says 7 times that “the family is the sanctuary of life.”  (Sections 6, 11, 59, 88, 91, 92, and 94)  Parents are called to develop that sanctuary of life for their children.  A sanctuary where life is loved, nurtured and protected.  A home also where it is a desirable place to be.

In the Gospel of Life, the Pope asks us to serve life at its weakest stages, especially those at either end of the scale—the unborn, the infant and the elderly.

Our families start with the addition of a baby.  We as parents are to serve our babies and meet their needs.  The family begins its mission of becoming that “sanctuary of life” first when the baby finds a sanctuary in the womb and later at his mother’s breasts.

As D. Ruth Lawrence said so well, “Breastfeeding is the most precious gift a mother can give her infant.  If there is illness or infection, it may be a life-saving gift.  If there is poverty, it may be the only gift” (“The Eradication of Poverty: One child at a Time Through  Breastfeeding,” Breastfeeding Medicine, October 22, 2007; article available at the NFPI website).

Breastfeeding is one of the best gifts a mother can give to her baby.  Even the Pope Francis promotes breastfeeding!  This Sunday he baptized 32 infants and encouraged mothers to breastfeed their babies if they were hungry in the Sistine Chapel.

Sheila Kippley