In the United States, 81.1% of newborn infants started breastfeeding, 51.8% are still nursing at 6 months and only one-third are nursing at 12 months. Rarely do mothers follow the American Pediatric Association recommendations of 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding and the continued nursing for at least one year.
Exclusive breastfeeding offers a brief natural spacing of babies, but ecological breastfeeding offers an extended natural infertility that exclusive breastfeeding alone does not provide.
Reported in secular papers on August 23, 2016 was a recent study in the Maternal and Child Health Journal that offers three risks for premature births: women who were underweight, had poor weight gain during pregnancy, or short periods of time between pregnancies. The article stressed that education interventions should be given on the importance of birth spacing. The US has a higher rate of pre-term births than many other nations. Certainly education about Ecological Breastfeeding can contribute greatly to a desirable natural spacing of babies.
Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding