“In my 30 years in Brazil, I saw many promising apostolates rise and then fall as they abandoned the charisms of their founders.”—Bishop Karl Jozef Romer, Pontifical Council for the Family, 2002 CCL Convention.
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Ecological Breastfeeding and CCL
In early 2007 we were told by a reliable source that CCL now teaches or plans to teach
1) that if breastfeeding is done only for breastfeeding infertility at the expense of baby, mother or family, then one might be “using” the baby or using the mother or family, and
2) that breastfeeding is not a form of natural family planning (NFP).
“Using” the baby
The inference that a mother could be “using” her baby has upset several mothers I know. First, the mother does not breastfeed. Only the baby does the breastfeeding! You cannot force a baby to breastfeed. Many mothers have tried without success to encourage their babies to nurse when weaning occurred unexpectedly early.
An emphasis on the possibility of using her baby may place undue worry upon a mother’s shoulders and may cause a mother to nurse less or stop altogether. Or it may discourage some mothers from nursing. A mother does not need a guilt trip for taking the time to do what is in God’s plan for her as a mother.
Breastfeeding is already a selfless act on the part of the mother. It is a constant commitment, a never-ending task for her. Anyone familiar with breastfeeding can’t think in terms of the nursing mother being selfish or individualistic. It’s almost contradictory. The easy way out or most selfish way out for the new mother is not to breastfeed because of the inconvenience involved. She would not have to be there to meet the needs of her baby at the breast. Breastfeeding takes time; we as parents are always told to spend time with our kids, including our babies. As I noted in Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, in the breastfeeding relationship “It is very difficult for a mother to abuse her baby or to use her baby for other purposes.”
During a retreat talk given on April 21, 2007, my husband explained that some are now saying you can “use” the baby when breastfeeding. What was the reaction of the attendees to this new teaching? Only laughter because it didn’t make sense. This “using the baby” is such an important issue that it will be covered more thoroughly at a later date. Suffice it to say that God is the author of breastfeeding and thus breastfeeding is a moral good.
Ecological breastfeeding is NOT a form of NFP?
Obviously I disagree with the proposal that breastfeeding is not a form of NFP. In my opinion, the best way for couples to space their children’s births when starting their families is by following the Seven Standards of eco-breastfeeding—with systematic NFP used only as needed.
Eco-breastfeeding is the most natural form of NFP. Steve Koob of One More Soul apostolate agrees and stated this view in his comment for one of our first blogs. God’s plan for spacing babies is breastfeeding, and this form of natural family planning has been present since the beginning of the human race.
While ecological breastfeeding does not require the daily observation and recording of systematic NFP, it definitely is a form of NFP. Further, when it is taught as a form of NFP, the breastfeeding mom will understand the meaning of both her amenorrhea and the signs of fertility when they appear. For example, a woman who has gone 18 months without menstruation can say, “I’ve been infertile because my periods have not returned yet.” Another woman might say, “I think my periods are about to return because I am experiencing lots of mucus and my child is now two years old. I usually expect menstruation or fertility to return at about this time.”
Scientifically recognized
If there is one aspect of natural family planning that has been recognized in the scientific literature since 1950, it is the relationship between breastfeeding and postpartum infertility. The research began very tentatively, but soon it was clear that a certain pattern of breastfeeding significantly delayed the return of fertility. Additional research, including our own, enabled us to describe this pattern in the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding. It is also scientifically established that other forms of breastfeeding do NOT significantly postpone the return of fertility.
Despite the scientific evidence that ecological breastfeeding plays a major role in maintaining a lengthy amenorrhea after childbirth and its positive impact on natural family planning via natural child spacing, it appears that CCL is now proposing that breastfeeding is NOT a form of NFP.
If what we have heard is correct, there’s an irony in the timing of CCL’s abandonment of its former advocacy of ecological breastfeeding as a form of NFP. As I write this, I am also preparing a talk to deliver at La Leche League’s 50th Anniversary Conference this summer in Chicago. My subject: “The Seven Standards: Ecological Breastfeeding for a New Generation.”
This reminds me of the time 36 years ago when Dr. Konald Prem and I were speakers on a panel on breastfeeding infertility at the 1971 La Leche League Convention. In a pre-convention private meeting with Dr. Prem in the Twin Cities area, we discussed our respective roles on that panel. Then John and I asked him if he would be interested in helping us start an NFP organization in which couples taught other couples. You know the results.
To ignore ecological breastfeeding is to abandon 36 years of tradition within the CCL organization.
To deny that ecological breastfeeding is a form of Natural Family Planning is to deny scientifically established reality and to ignore the reality experienced by thousands of CCL-taught couples over the last 36 years.
For CCL to change course now does not make any sense to us. Does it make any sense to you?
If someone says that CCL is not abandoning ecological breastfeeding but is only dropping the term, I respond that all of the substitute phrases I’ve seen (full breastfeeding, extended breastfeeding, and long term breastfeeding) are highly unsatisfactory, might lead to confusion, and will reinvigorate the old wives’ tale that breastfeeding does NOT space babies. In my opinion, that would be an injustice to the NFP movement as well as to individual couples.
Considerable research on breastfeeding infertility can be found at http://www.nfpandmore.org/nfpresearch.shtml .
Sheila Kippley
NFP International
www.nfpandmore.org
Author: Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (Sophia, 2005)
Co-author: Natural Family Planning: The Question-Answer Book
(e-book at this website, 2005)