Natural Family Planning International

From other mothers who enjoy ecological breastfeeding with its spacing of births:

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

“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.”

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

“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 18 months since my last baby was born.  No period yet.”

“We have a 21-month old boy, and I am still ecologically nursing him.  We have been trying to get pregnant.  I am so glad that I am still nursing my son, because I know that it is so beneficial for him.  But I have to admit I am starting to worry that our babies will be so far apart that I won’t have very many!  My husband and I would like a large family, but I probably just need to work on my patience.  At first, I thought about weaning my son so that we could more easily get pregnant, but my husband didn’t think that was a good reason to wean.  I think I agree with him now, because I see how good nursing is for my son.”

(I want to add here that St. John Paul II encouraged mothers to nurse for at least two years because of its many benefits.)
Tomorrow: from Amish and Jewish readers.

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

From mothers this year (2018):

“I relied only on breastfeeding during amenorrhea and then encouraged night weaning for a return of fertility.  I became “pregnant at 23 months with no return of menses.”  I am still nursing baby at 24 months, baby’s current age.”

“My son is still nursing at 35 months with no end in sight.  Thanks be to God.  My first postpartum period returned at 25 months.”

“I night weaned my second baby at 13 months to encourage a return of fertility to conceive again.  My first postpartum period returned at 14 months.  I did not know about ecological breastfeeding with my first baby or I would have done it!”

“I had my first postpartum period return at 14 months and conceived at 18 months intentionally.  I am still nursing baby #3 who is 20 months old.”

” I had lactation amenorrhea of 30 and 37 months with my 2nd and my 3rd daughters; in both cases my menstruation returned while I was still breastfeeding.”

“My first postpartum period has not returned yet.  I am still nursing my baby (now 13 months) with no signs of fertility.  Thank you for teaching about ecological breastfeeding.  It has brought me so much peace and joy.”

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

From St. John Paul II:
“Greater consideration should be given to the social role of mothers, and support should be given to programs which aim at decreasing maternal mortality, providing prenatal and perinatal care, meeting the nutritional needs of pregnant women and nursing mothers, and helping mothers themselves to provide preventive health care for their infants. In this regard attention should be given to the positive benefits of breastfeeding for nourishment and disease prevention in infants as well as for maternal bonding and birth spacing.” [John Paul II, Address to Dr. Nafis Sadk, Secretary General of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, March 18, 1994, n. 8. Emphasis added.]

From Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family:
“For many years the value of breastfeeding has been recognized especially in terms of the close bond it establishes between a mother and her child and the health benefits of a natural form of nourishing infants. It is therefore heartening to see a revived interest in this natural form of nurturing. However, there is another dimension of breastfeeding that is not as widely known, that is, choosing breastfeeding as a natural means for spacing births.
Used in this way, breastfeeding has been found to be of particular value, not only in various traditional cultures, where such an approach has been known for centuries, but in the wider world. As one of the natural ways for regulating fertility, breastfeeding thus takes its place among various methods that constitute the ‘authentic alternative’ to contraception, and so it remains a subject for research and study.” (Foreword, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: The Ecology of Natural Mothering, Classic Edition, 2008. Emphasis added.)

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