Yes, it does. Eco-breastfeeding is a wonderful way to space the births of your children naturally. Below, some express their views on natural child spacing. These comments illustrate that ecological breastfeeding should be part of all natural family planning instruction.
“Our first three children came in three and a half years. I remember the night I sat on my couch with a screaming infant, up for the third time in two hours, feeding him a bottle. I said out loud, with tears streaming down my face from exhaustion, ‘There has to be a better way to take care of my babies. It shouldn’t be this hard!’ I breastfed our third child for 25 months and fertility returned at 19 months postpartum. I am still nursing my 18 month old and have not had a cycle yet. I have to wonder if the NFP movement is trying to make sure they don’t make waves for those mothers who go back to work not out of necessity but out of want. I heard a priest in a homily say that 90% of Catholics contracept. 90%. My jaw hit the floor. That says a lot about NFP, eco-breastfeeding, and Catholic families today. Continue your work despite the roadblocks. There are those of us who are listening.”
“I have a 13 month old daughter. We are eco-breastfeeders, although until I read about eco-breastfeeding at your website I didn’t realize that’s what we are doing! I just did what felt natural and my husband is extremely supportive. We did use a pacifier but not really to pacify as it were. My daughter was very playful right from birth and sucking the pacifier was like a game to her. We didn’t really use it when she was upset or cuddly. Even with the use of a pacifier I have remained infertile or not resumed menses. I am breastfeeding very frequently and I notice culturally it can be intimidating when others are unsure as to why you always use the breast to comfort. I always joke I will be the one weaning from breastfeeding, not my daughter, because it has been such a wonderful experience so far.”
“I am SUCH a better parent because of ecological breastfeeding. It’s the BEST way to raise a child, if possible!! Sorry if I offended anyone by saying that. This age is so funny. If we speak the truth that one thing is better than something else, people try to quiet us, claiming that we are being judgmental or narrow-minded.”
“I don’t blame my Jewish friends for feeling overwhelmed after having 2 babies in one year and then getting on the pill for 5. It is extremely overwhelming. I do wonder though why we don’t learn the natural method for child spacing in school, in seminary, in kallah classes, etc. Why is it such a big secret? Why is it that when I tell this to my friends their eyes open wide and they say ‘Really? You spaced your babies without taking the pill!?’ Yes! Indeed, I used the inborn, natural, G-d given ability to nurse my babies so that Hashem can give me that space so I don’t have to use outside forces to prevent pregnancies. I don’t think we were meant to have our babies a year apart; I do think we were meant to nurse.”
“Thank you for such a wonderful clearinghouse of information. Now I have a site I can share with people who don’t understand why I nurse on demand or breastfeed my children beyond a year. I call it God Family Planning, and it has been a blessing in my life….Ecological breastfeeding proved to be a great way of naturally spacing children.”
“I was 25 at the birth of my first child and am now 34. With eco-breastfeeding, my children are spaced 2.5 to 3 years apart. I have not needed to use any other method of NFP to space
my children.”
Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor, 2008
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, 2008, classic edition
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, 2005
www.nfpandmore.org