Why do mothers practice ecological breastfeeding?
The primary reason is that eco-breastfeeding normally gives babies and mothers alike more of the dose-related blessings of breastfeeding. It does this by maintaining the milk supply for an extended time and by suppressing menstruation.
A second reason is the religious conviction that God Himself created woman and baby in such a way as to enjoy these benefits. Many who share this conviction practice ecological breastfeeding because they believe it is God’s own plan for baby care and baby spacing that He “revealed” in the Book of Nature.
A third reason to practice eco-breastfeeding is to accept the natural infertility that God has built into this natural form of baby care. In our writings and online manual you will be reading so much about the extended infertility of eco-breastfeeding that it may seem that we are making that the primary reason for this kind of baby care. Not so.
In summary, I see three reasons why mothers practice eco-breastfeeding: practical health reasons, religious conviction, and natural infertility.
Next week: Scriptural Mothering
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
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