Natural child spacing involves mother-baby inseparability.
In summary, inseparability is the key to ecological breastfeeding. A mother has to be available to meet her baby’s needs. Physical closeness makes the mother more aware of her child’s needs—so much so that it is the key requirement for natural spacing and is the basis for the other standards of ecological breastfeeding. For example, frequent and unrestricted nursing—day and night—is a natural consequence of this togetherness. The result is prolonged postpartum infertility and, most importantly, happier mothers and babies.
One mother said: We have one daughter who is 2½ years old and who is still nursing. She has gone everywhere with us since she’s been born and really it has been no problem. In fact, we are so at ease knowing that she is with us and having her needs met by us that the word ‘babysitter’ is an obsolete word in our household.
Another mother said: Joshua has been a real joy. He’s been to the mountains, the Gulf of Mexico, flown in an airplane, and helped me drive the combine at age six weeks. Truly a portable, happy, easy-to-care-for baby. I’ll never go back to cribs and bottles.
For those interested in natural child spacing, I encourage you to read The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding. Taking Nature as your norm, it is normal for a mother doing ecological breastfeeding to go 1, 2, or 3 years without menstruation. An early return of menstruation after childbirth with ecological breastfeeding would be the exception. The best part is that there are so many health benefits to both mother and baby with extended breastfeeding. In addition, one main benefit regarding natural family planning is that babies can be spaced naturally without abstinence.
Sheila Kippley