Natural Family Planning includes breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is God’s plan for spacing babies. It is the most natural NFP method and involves no abstinence. But it does involve certain maternal behaviors associated with breastfeeding that are part of that plan and which offer the mother an extended period of infertility or amenorrhea. That is why we promote the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding.
Another wonderful benefit of breastfeeding is that breastfeeding is so healthy for the infant! A new research report from an organization called Save The Children was released this year. I will quote from this report the benefits of breastfeeding for just the first hour and for the first 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. Breast milk is a super food and should be provided to every infant.
In 2011, 6.9 million children under five died. Today 2 out of 5 of those children who die are not even one month old! Worldwide, 830,000 infants would be saved if mothers breastfed within the first hour of life. Infants given breast milk within one hour of birth are 3 times more likely to survive than those infants given breastfed a day later! The most powerful protection in the early days of life is colostrum. Colostrum is “the most potent natural immune system booster know to science.”
Worldwide we would save 1.4 million babies if mothers would exclusively breastfeed and continue breastfeeding into the second year. Breastfeeding “is the closest thing there is to a ‘silver bullet’ to save these children’s lives… Infants who are not breastfed are 15 times more likely to die from pneumonia and 11 times more likely to die of diarrhoea than those who are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life…A study in Brazil found that infants who were not breastfed at all had a 14 times greater risk of death than those who were exclusively breastfed.”
The problem today is that some of the breastfeeding rates are falling and the baby-food industry plans to grow by 31% by 2015 with most of that growth planned for Asia.
What about churches which are concerned about social justice and poverty? What can you do if you give financial support to missionary activity here and in other countries? Send them the “Superfood for Babies” report. Ask them if they teach, promote and support breastfeeding or do they hand the new mothers formula? You may make a difference!
If your NFP teacher asks you to wean entirely so you can get back to cycling, look for another NFP teacher that supports breastfeeding or contact NFP International.
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor