NFP: Is Eco-Breastfeeding a Form of Contraception?

To breastfeed your baby according to the Seven Standards of ecological breastfeeding is not and cannot be a form of contraception. First, you cannot force your baby to nurse. Second, even if you do this form of frequent nursing with the hopes of having a delay in the return of your fertility, the activity is not one of contraception. It is God Himself who made woman in such a way that frequent nursing usually suppresses the return of fertility as a side effect. To consciously hope for the side effect is simply not a contraceptive behavior. Nor is it wrong to hope for any and all of the other effects of breastfeeding such as the health benefits for both mother and baby. Nor is it wrong to nurse your baby because s/he is fussy and your primary motivation for nursing right at that moment is simply to pacify the baby. There is absolutely nothing wrong with hoping for these side effects, and efforts to dump guilt upon those who do so are misguided.

John F. Kippley

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