Natural Family Planning International

. Both acts have two orders: the order of nature and the personal order. In Love and Responsibility, Pope John Paul II also speaks frequently of the marriage relationship. His discourse on the sexual relationship between husband and wife may also apply to the breastfeeding relationship between mother and child. The Pope discusses two orders involved in the sexual relationship: the natural order and the personal order. These two orders, he says, cannot be separated because “each depends upon the other.” The Pope says that the natural order in the sexual relationship has reproduction as its object. The same can be said about breastfeeding, which also has as its object the completion of the reproductive cycle.

Remember that the reproductive cycle ends with breastfeeding, not after childbirth, because the baby’s total dependence upon the mother’s body for protection and nutrition occurs both during pregnancy and during the early months of breastfeeding. In addition, reproduction depends upon the fertility-infertility cycle of the woman. The infertility of the woman during pregnancy continues during breastfeeding for months or a year or two.

The personal order of the sexual relationship between husband and wife has love as its object, and this love is expressed between the two persons involved. The same personal order also applies to breastfeeding. The personal order of the breastfeeding relationship between mother and baby has love as its object, and this love is expressed between the two persons involved.

Thus, the two orders — the natural order and the personal order — of the sexual relationship between man and woman are also present in the breastfeeding relationship between mother and baby. In God’s plan, both relationships have a natural order and a personal order that depend on each other; the objects of each order, for the marriage act and for the breastfeeding act, are reproduction and self-giving love.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
Sophia (800-888-9344) is offering a 25% discount to any order for Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (paperback and eBook) during World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7.  Offer expires Aug. 7, 11:59 PM.  Use promo code WBW25 when ordering.  Get this book for yourself, a priest, a seminarian, an expectant mother and religion teachers.

. Both acts involve a love that unifies two persons, according to the definition of love given by Pope John Paul II in his book Love and Responsibility. I believe that this unifying love can be experienced by both husband and wife and also by the breastfeeding mother and her baby. In fact, “The greater the feeling of responsibility for the person, the more true love there is.” Certainly there is a grave responsibility to give an infant the very best of care when a mother chooses to breastfeed.

The Pope in his earlier days said that love never utilizes a person. This is especially true with breastfeeding. A mother learns to give to her baby by the very fact that she is breastfeeding. She is constantly giving to her baby. Her reward comes when her baby learns to love her in return and soon becomes a very affectionate child. The baby soon has eyes only for his mother and will usually kick happily or show bodily signs of happiness when his mother gets ready to nurse him. It is very difficult for a mother to abuse her baby or to use her baby for other purposes. On the other hand, abuses in the marriage relationship are observed frequently in our society.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
Sophia (800-888-9344)  is offering a 25% discount to any order for Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (paperback and eBook) during World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7.  Offer expires Aug. 7, 11:59 PM.  Use promo code WBW25 when ordering.  Get this book for yourself, a priest, a seminarian, an expectant mother and religion teachers.

. Both acts should involve the gift of self to another. Husband and wife show their intimate love for each other physically and emotionally in the marriage act, giving themselves to each other without holding anything back, including their fertility. Breastfeeding helps the mother become a “gift of self ” to her baby continually throughout the day. Breastfeeding teaches a mother to put her baby first and to give of her time for the needs of her baby. This learning process occurs in an easy and natural way with breastfeeding.

Because we are only human, we know that there may occasionally be grumbling and complaining between husband and wife or by the breastfeeding mother over her particular situation. But in both relationships, the married couple and the breastfeeding mother should have the faithful commitment to be a gift of self to the other and to spend time, heart, and soul serving the other. Love is thinking of the good of the other and showing this thoughtfulness in words and deeds.

Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
Sophia (800-888-9344) is offering a 25% discount to any order for Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (paperback and eBook) during World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7.  Offer expires Aug. 7, 11:59 PM.  Use promo code WBW25 when ordering.  Get this book for yourself, a priest, a seminarian, an expectant mother and religion teachers.