The purpose of this article has been only to present evidence that proper, ecological breastfeeding has a natural side effect of extended infertility. The woman who is willing to give of herself to her baby should know the ecological requirements. Those who breastfeed because it’s a cultural fad or who succumb to the erroneous information put out by many doctors (“start cereals and liquids at two weeks”), or who pick up the cultural practices such as the pacifier or the race to get the baby to sleep for twelve hours straight through—-well, these mothers are not going to experience the effects intended by nature simply because they are not following the natural plan.
We don’t think that a mother should breastfeed just to get the side effect of natural infertility. We believe she should be interested in doing what is really best for her baby—the best nutrition, the best and warmest pacification and emotional enrichment, and frequent togetherness. Then, because she is attending to her baby with some real attention to his needs instead of her own, she will almost always have a long time to spend with him before she could get pregnant with another. It seems to us that that’s the way God planned it.
(A 30% discount is now offered on all Kippley print books at lulu through August 7 in recognition of NFP week and World Breastfeeding Week. In addition, Sophia is offering a 25% discount on Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood through August 7. The code for this discount is “motherhood.” Ignatius Press is offering Sex and the Marriage Covenant for only $6.00 through August 31.)
John and Sheila Kippley
As previously noted, the daily blogs for this NFP Week were taken from an article dated December 31, 1971.