Ecological Breastfeeding—The Oldest Form of Natural Family Planning
The oldest form of natural family planning is called ecological breastfeeding. In ecological breastfeeding, the Author of Nature—God Himself—has given Mankind a built-in-form of natural family planning. In ecological breastfeeding, the nursing mother provides all of baby’s nourishment, liquids, and pacification for the first five to eight months. Once baby starts solids, you continue to nurse baby frequently, day and night, and baby goes where mom goes! Full ecological breastfeeding excludes bottles, mother substitutes, pacifiers, strict schedules, and abrupt weaning. The key to it is mother-baby togetherness. The term “ecological breastfeeding” was coined to distinguish two forms of nursing that have extremely different effects upon the return of fertility after childbirth—cultural nursing and ecological breastfeeding. When one hears about a mother who conceived while breastfeeding, the type of nursing was almost surely cultural. Because of the frequency of suckling and nursing that occurs while ecological breastfeeding, a mother can easily go more than a year without ovulating; in fact, the average is about 13 months of breastfeeding amenorrhea.
To find out more about this oldest and most beneficial form of natural family planning, e-mail Renae Schoening at schoening@bww.com. Or visit the Couple to Couple League’s web site and order the book Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing by Sheila Matgen Kippley. Learn the many benefits for both mom and baby by practicing ecological breastfeeding including the health benefits for baby, protection against breast cancer for mom, psychological health benefits, economic benefits, and much more.
In 1941, Pope Pius XII urged all mothers to breastfeed their babies. He was addressing Women of Italian Catholic Action about doing their best to develop character of their children. It is clear from the context that he thought that character formation could start right at the breast. Today, this benefit of character building, along with the many other psychological and physical benefits, are no longer a “mystery,” but are scientifically validated. We leave you with his quote:
“This is the reason why, except where it is quite impossible, it is more desirable that the mother should feed her child at her own breast. Who shall say what mysterious influences are exerted upon the growth of that little creature by the mother upon whom it depends entirely for its development.”- Pope Pius XII, “Guiding Christ’s Little Ones,” October 26, 1941.
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