“I would like to express my extreme admiration and gratitude for your work (and your husband’s). I read about ecological breastfeeding a few years ago, at the recommendation of a friend, shortly after my second child was born (I have four now). At the time I thought it was very intersting and informative, but only gradually has it really sunk in just how important this is. I have noticed in my own experience, and also in watching others, how the breastfeeding relationship affects everything about the family, for good or ill. It is the beginning of everything, on the natural level, and the importance of that good beginning cannot be overemphasized. As I have become more informed myself and have noticed what others have to say on this topic, I am really amazed and saddened that so few people seem to understand the truths that you set forth so well. Even among Catholics who are really intending to live out the Church’s teachings, there seem to be huge misunderstandings about the true teaching of Humanae Vitae, as well as vast lack of understanding about what nature teaches us. I have not yet had a chance to read your new book but I am looking forward to doing so.
My own little testimony about ecological breastfeeding: When I read your book I was mostly following the guidelines you set out, with the exception of not having been careful not to leave my children for any real length of time. I didn’t have babysitters, but I did leave each of my first two children with their grandmother for the greater part of a day, and both times, my cycle returned the next month. For the first baby, it was 14 months postpartum when my cycle returned; for the second, it was 19 months postpartum. Both times I became very uncomfortably engorged. With my third, I simply did not consider leaving her for a long period to be an option for me until she was about three. With her, my cycle did not return until 22 months postpartum! My fourth child is months old and it will be interesting to see if she follows the same pattern as my third. I was 25 at the birth of my first child and am now 34. My children are spaced 2.5 to 3 years apart. I have not needed to use any other method of NFP in spacing my children.”
—A mother who would identify herself as an ordinary mom.
For more information and instruction on breastfeeding and natural child spacing, read The Seven standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor.
Sheila Kippley