ajs@hpfcla.UUCP (03/20/84)
There's a good article in the current (April) issue of Scientific American, on the contraceptive effects of nursing. The main point seems to be that unsupplemented nursing is a very reliable form of birth control, equal to any existing method (but of course, much safer). The article claims that nursing has a bad reputation as a contraceptive because, as the child is started on supplemental foods, the amount of suckling stimulus decreases, so the mother's hormone levels change, and at some (hard to predict) time, ovulation returns. It stresses that straight demand nursing, including night feedings, is very certain to prevent ovulation. Alan Silverstein
rb@pur-phy.UUCP (Ross Bogue) (03/22/84)
My sister-in-law tried to use nursing as a contraceptive this way. To no one's surprise, her second son was born 11 months after her first. Incidently, her mother (my mother-in-law) can testify that of the 7 forms of contraceptive she tried, only the last (sterilization) was effective. Ross Bogue pur-ee!pur-phy!rb pur-ee!pur-phy:rb
mcgill@ut-ngp.UUCP (03/22/84)
Nursing is NOT 100% effective as a contraceptive. I got pregnant while nursing my son (yes -- full time nursing); however, it was a tubal pregnancy.
holforty@ihuxe.UUCP (Nancy L. Holforty) (03/22/84)
I hate to tell you this but nursing is not a very good means of contraception. I had managed to get pregnant while nursing and using birth control only 6 months after delivery of my first child. Admittedly, the form of birth control that I was using was not considered a very effective form but this was because my doctor recommended against most of the other types (either because of their risk factor to the mother or because they might cause a problem with nursing). By the way, I used straight demand feeding and my son still required a night feeding until he was seven or eight months old. Nancy L. Holforty AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville
budd@arizona.UUCP (tim budd) (03/23/84)
I don't believe it. I have evidence (our second kid).
julian@deepthot.UUCP (Julian Davies) (03/24/84)
I haven't read the complete Sci.Am article yet, but what my first scan through pickup up wasn't the claim that Nursing was a fully *reliable* form of contraception. The claim I saw was that it has (statistically) a substantial contraceptive effect, and that this is very significant from a demographic point of view in "developing" countries where there has regrettably been a trand from breat-feeding to bottle feeding.
mark@umcp-cs.UUCP (03/26/84)
It worked for us.
As far as I am concerned its biggest disadvantage is that it also
decreases libido. ((-: "Libido? What's he talking about?" ;-> "Sex,
he's trying to say sex, but is too embarrassed." (-: "Oh.")
--
Spoken: Mark Weiser ARPA: mark@maryland
CSNet: mark@umcp-cs UUCP: {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!markjulian@deepthot.UUCP (Julian Davies) (03/27/84)
What the article says is that (1) breast-feeding has some contraceptive effects, with discussion of evidence and possible mechanisms; (2) the effect is very much dependent on the frequency of nursing, and that in certain cultures where the infants are allowed to nurse maybe 4 or 5 times AN HOUR day and night, as frequently as they like, and where nursing continues for several years, then the contraceptive effect is fairly reliable. That is, a failure rate of only a few percent (3 or 4% if I recall correctly) is achieved. Specifically, these mothers do not normally ovulate effectively before the first post-birth menstruation, so that the first menstruation would be a fairly reliable warning to start using other protection. (3) this failure rate (which is NOT zero), is as good as or better than the alternatives in the less affluent countries of the world. So the world trend away from breast feeding to using bottles is unfortunate.
peg@linus.UUCP (Margaret E. Craft) (03/27/84)
Three data points: My daughter started getting formula at 6 weeks old, when I went back to work for 6 hours a day. Nonetheless, we continued to nurse whenever possible, and I didn't get my period back for a full year. Two different friends who nursed exclusively got became fertile again quickly - one at 6 weeks, the other at 12 weeks.
spencer@cghub.DEC (Kristy Gleason MKO2-2/J4 264-3636) (03/29/84)
I'm glad that nursing worked for some of you. I guess I happen to be one of the more fertile women around. I had my first post-delivery period ONE week after I had my daughter, and I was breastfeeding full-time. I dried up after two months...actually, I think I started drying up right away, because I never seemed to have enough milk to satisfy my daughter's needs. Just out of curiosity, how many of you LOST weight (no, husbands and/or boy- friends are not included in this one.) while you were pregnant? I myself lost 10 lbs. and I certainly wasn't trying to. *** Kristy Gleason ***