Claire, you mentioned that this mother now knows that BF is not a form of
birth control.  Actually, it is, under specific conditions.  It is estimated
that, on a world wide basis, more pregnancies are prevented or delayed by
breastfeeding than by all other contraceptive methods combined.

The conditions under which breastfeeding provides approximately 98 per cent
protection against pregancy are threefold, and they comprise the Lactational
Amenorrhea Method.
*Baby is exclusively breastfed and not on an externally imposed schedule,
with no intervals between feeds exceeding 6 hours, around the clock.
**Mother has not had a return of menses.
***Baby is under 6 months old.

As soon as any one of these conditions change, and *no matter which one of
them changes first* the chance of getting pregnant starts to rise, though on
a population basis there will be reduced fertility compared to women who are
not lactating.

The fact that this mother's baby is 6 months old is typical.  It's rare for
ovulation to begin during exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months, and
particularly if the woman is amenorrheic.  Women whose menses resume while
they are still exclusively breastfeeding and while baby is less than 6
months old, generally have at least one anovulatory bleed first.  If the
amenorrhea continues beyond 6 months or beyond the period of exclusive
breastfeeding, chances rise that ovulation will precede the first
menstruation, hence the increased pregnancy rate among women using no other
form of family planning during that time.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html