The Specifics of Natural Child Spacing
My contribution to the promotion of breastfeeding and natural child spacing has been the teaching that there is more to natural child spacing than exclusive breastfeeding, that mothering practices make a significant difference in prolonging natural infertility.
Exclusive breastfeeding is insufficient by itself to maintain amenorrhea. There are many mothers who experience an early return of menstruation while exclusively breastfeeding. I learned this while listening to mothers at La Leche League meetings for a dozen years. Studies on the Lactational Amenorrhea Method also prove that about 50% of the mothers have an early return of menstruation while exclusively breastfeeding. If “fully” breastfeeding is well defined and frequent nursing day and night is stressed, only 18% of the LAM users have a return 0f menstruation by 6 months. (Labbok, NFP conference, 2010)
In the early 1970s, I emphasized not only the concept that you need to do more than exclusively breastfeed to space babies naturally but also that you need to remain with your baby, that mother-baby togetherness is the key to natural child spacing.
In the first and second editions of Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing (self-published; Harper & Row), I inserted a questionnaire at the back of the book for mothers to fill in and return after they had completed their breastfeeding experience. The survey dealt with detailed questions about their mothering practices, their use of any form of natural family planning or birth control, and the return of their first bleeding, spotting, or period. This collection of surveys eventually led to published research.
In our original research John and I focused on six practices in our survey-questionnaire. These practices later evolved into the Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding. The Seven Standards are basically maternal behaviors associated with natural postpartum infertility. We called this type of breastfeeding “ecological breastfeeding” to show that it involved a special mother-baby relationship. We also called this form of baby care “natural mothering.”
John and I isolated each Standard to see if any one standard had more of an impact on maintaining infertility than any of the others. What our research showed was that each Standard was important in maintaining breastfeeding infertility and that no Standard was sufficient by itself. It was for this reason that I often used the example of a “breastfeeding infertility” pie when giving talks. The pie is made up of seven pieces. Each piece is important. A mother interested in breastfeeding infertility needs more than just one piece of the pie and definitely more than just exclusive breastfeeding. She needs all seven parts or standards.
To be continued next week
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding