Natural Family Planning: Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies by John and Sheila Kippley (December 31, 1971)
NFP Awareness Week runs from July 20 through July 26, the 46th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, the papal encyclical that reaffirned the Catholic Tradition against all unnatural forms of birth control. I will post a blog each day during this commemorative week. This series comes from an article we wrote in 1971, titled “Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies.” The excerpts have been edited only slightly but not at all in substance.
One good way to get an argument going is to ask, “Does breastfeeding space babies?” If someone says yes, someone else is sure to say that she knows someone who got pregnant while nursing. A third person might ask, “What type of nursing do you mean?” while some others might look on with amazement at the implication that 1) there is more than one type of nursing and 2) that the type of breastfeeding may influence the side effect of natural infertility.
Perhaps the key reason why debate arises about whether breastfeeding provides an effective period of natural infertility is that the infertility effect of breastfeeding is dependent upon an ecological pattern of child care. Mothers who are willing to accept the conditions of the ecology of the nursing or mothering relationship will experience an extended period of natural infertility in the vast majority of cases. Those who do not follow the ecological requirements cannot reasonably hope for the natural side effects.
John and Sheila Kippley