Being 100% pro breastfeeding Barb, I'd like to go along with your 98%. I have to agree with Janet though. There are very real reasons why the 98% does not apply to all in our culture particularly. Having 100% fully breastfed three babies from periods of 6 months to 11 months, not used bottles or dummies but did indeed co-sleep, sling baby and suckle on demand for the whole periods of time indicated, I became fertile at 4 months pp, 5 months pp and the last one was the shocker.....6 weeks pp! I was fully aware of mucous signs before fertility returned and pinpointed them exactly except with the last one, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and I didn't believe it until it happened. So because of my experiences, I'm reluctant to spout 98% success rates re breastfeeding as contraception
I have also heard that maternal fat levels can play a part - higher levels. Mine was actually average to low at the times when fertility returned. There was one thing that I feel triggered fertility returning and that was the point when my babies started to sleep for periods of 4 to 6 hours at a stretch through the night. Regards Jayne ----- Original Message ----- From: Janet Fraser To: ozmidwifery@acegraphics.com.au Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 2:07 PM Subject: Re: [ozmidwifery] breastfeeding as contraception I don't think it's risky or tricky, or silly for that matter. I was trying to be thorough in my reply and not make sweeping statements. Recently one of my moderators did some research on achieving fertility again while breastfeeding so she came up with a list which could equally be applied to Kylie's article. Obviously LA works a treat if you look at cultures which pursue child-led weaning but western culture just doesn't and therein can lie the problems for many people. Most people don't understand anything about bf in the first place, as we all know ; ) Here's the list in case you're interested, Kylie. It was for a member with a 2 year old who'd like to ttc but hasn't bled in 2 years and with no signs of bfing slowing. It's a very mixed bag of refs but some great ones : ) * Feeding EBM by bottle (http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:1ilEf4An7dMJ:www.bfmed.org/ace-files/protocol/finalcontraceptionprotocolsent2.pdf+lactational+am enorrhea+fertility&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=30) * Supplementing feeds (formula or solids) * Increased use of pacifiers * Feeding on schedule instead of on demand * Increased intervals between feeds (4hrs during day, 6hrs at night) * Waiting until bub is 6mths or older * Reduce time at the breast during a feed (shorter feeds, no comfort sucking) * Reduce total time at the breast per day to 65 min or less (McNeilly AS, Glasier AF, Howie PW, Houston MJ, Cook A,Boyle H. Fertility after childbirth: pregnancy associated with breast feeding. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1983 Aug;19(2):167-73., http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/lam.html) * Reduce night time feeds (Heinig MJ, Nommsen-Rivers LA, Peerson JM, Dewey KG. Factors related to duration of postpartum amenorrhoea among USA women with prolonged lactation. J Biosoc Sci. 1994 Oct;26(4):517-27., http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/lam.html) * Stop co-sleeping, including no naps with your child during the day (Kippley, Sheila. Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies. Cincinnati: Couple to Couple League International, 1999, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_Amenorrhea_Method) * Be separated from your child for more than 3 hours a day (Kippley, Sheila. Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies. Cincinnati: Couple to Couple League International, 1999, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_Amenorrhea_Method) And what if you're a co-sleeping, fully BFing, no pacifier, BF on demand mumma? How long will it be until your period returns? "Average return of menses for women following all [...] criteria is 14 months, with some reports as soon as 2 months and others as late as 42 months." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactati...norrhea_Method Of course, once your period does return, continuing breastfeeding can still affect your chances of conception. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...t_uids=7761906) Reference pages - very eclectic mix some ok, some good http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/faq/lam.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactati...norrhea_Method http://www.fhi.org/training/en/modul...references.htm (lots of references for articles on lactational amenorrhea, if you want to do more research) http://www.fhi.org/training/en/modul...getstarted.htm http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:1ilEf4An7dMJ:www.bfmed.org/ace-files/protocol/finalcontraceptionprotocolsent2.pdf+lactational+am enorrhea+fertility&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=30
