The Church needs to recognize that there are two distinct forms of natural birth spacing—Ecological Breastfeeding and Systematic NFP. Any definition of NFP that does not include Ecological Breastfeeding does not correspond to the full reality.
In the “NFP movement,” breastfeeding tends to be treated more as a charting problem than something to be encouraged and as the healthiest form of baby care. Not only teachers but every NFP student should learn the tremendous health benefits of breastfeeding AND that the frequency of Ecological Breastfeeding actually DOES act as an abstinence-free natural baby spacer.
I am convinced that the Church has a responsibility to share in the public health effort to increase breastfeeding of any sort and secondly to extend its duration. The AAP recently came out with another effort to promote breastfeeding. Also, a recent Dutch journal dealing with lung health strongly opposed formula-feeding for families with a history of asthma. It speculated whether formula should be by prescription-only for such families.
If the Church has a responsibility to inform its members about the health benefits of breastfeeding, where can that be done better than in pre-marriage preparation and especially within a required NFP course?
John F. Kippley