Natural Family Planning International

“God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws (Humanae Vitae, n.11).

To draw attention to Natural Family Planning Week (July 22-28, 2007), I am blogging daily on breastfeeding and natural child spacing.

In my blog yesterday I explained how God led me through certain events to give me a basis for the ministry of promoting natural child spacing through breastfeeding. His guidance became even clearer by the changes that took place in my mothering practices. These changes were an important step in my discovery of breastfeeding as a natural baby spacer.

Why did my mothering practices change?
While my research began in the medical library, the real “research” began in our home. I am convinced that God had a hand in the weird events that developed about a year before my research began. He was teaching me there was another way to take care of our second baby. Of course, I did not see it that way at the time. I don’t remember the order of these events, but will mention four major events that occurred early after childbirth with our second baby that changed my, and later John’s, views about parenting.

First, I was very much a part of our culture. I was adamantly opposed to sleeping with the baby. Our first baby had a crib in a separate room. I remember becoming very upset when I came home and found my sister and our first baby, now older, sleeping together on the top of our bed. My La Leche League leader encouraged me to sleep with both my babies as I am sure I often complained to her about how tired I was after each birth. I refused to follow her advice. For some reason I thought sleeping with a baby was very dangerous.

One afternoon I was nursing our second daughter before placing her in the crib. I awoke three hours later to find her still at the breast. I was so exhausted I had fallen asleep on the top of our bed. What surprised me was how rested I felt and our baby was safe! That afternoon was the beginning of a different kind of parenting for us. For me sleeping with the baby allowed the baby to nurse at will and it gave me the rest I needed.

Co-sharing sleep is an advantage when breastfeeding. People who are opposed to having baby in bed with the parents don’t realize the dangers of nursing a baby during the night in a chair. Oftentimes the mother falls asleep and awakes scared because she almost dropped the baby. This happened to me. Sitting up also restricts the nursing due to the mother’s fatigue. It did for me. I was tired and tried to get the sleeping baby off the breast as soon as possible so I could get back to bed myself. Or the room was cold and I was anxious to get back into a warm bed. There is a big difference in the amount of suckling at the breast when the mother sits up at night to nurse as contrasted to nursing the baby in bed. In addition, more babies die in their own cribs. A SIDS death while co-sleeping is almost unheard of if the situation is normal and proper precautions are taken. By normal situation, I mean the baby is with the mother and not the boyfriend or some other person, and the nursing mother is not a smoker and is not drugged or morbidly obese or incapacitated in some way.

Second, in the early Sixties the University of California dental faculty at San Francisco recommended only one brand of pacifier for good oral health. This pacifier, however, caused a rash around our second baby’s mouth, so I discarded it. With our first baby we used a pacifier constantly. We did not use a pacifier with our last four children. It’s unfortunate today that most parents believe that their baby needs a pacifier. What babies really need is that extra suckling from their mother’s breast.

Third, God led us to a new Catholic obstetrician with our second baby. He was faithful to Church teaching and encouraged the use of the thermometer for family planning. He did not recommend the thermometer to me however, because he knew I wanted to breastfeed. He told me to breastfeed exclusively and to call him when I had my first period. It was July and hot at the time. I remember asking him if I could give the baby water. His response was that my milk was adequate for the baby. He stressed that I was not to give the baby water or anything else.

His advice was so different from the first Catholic obstetrician I had who told me I would have a period within three months after childbirth no matter how I nursed my baby. I thought this first doctor was correct because I did have a period within three months after childbirth with my first baby. At the time I did not realize that this doctor was not properly informed. For several reasons I had to search for another Catholic obstetrician with the birth of our second child. I am very grateful for his “exclusive breastfeeding” advice. Our baby took to solids gradually at eight months of age and my first period returned at twelve months postpartum.

Fourth, while I nursed our first baby frequently, I used an occasional bottle. Exclusive breastfeeding our second baby brought changes. I never used a bottle for her or our other children. In addition, my mothering lifestyle changed. I went from mother-baby separation to mother-baby togetherness. If I had to be somewhere, I picked up our baby and went. We also went from the lifestyle of using babysitters for our first baby to never using a babysitter for our other babies. When we began our family, my husband believed it was best to expose the baby to many babysitters. He too changed and felt baby was best with mother. In America you are unusual when you adopt a lifestyle of mother-baby togetherness. This major change in my mothering, taking the baby with me, was completely new to me; I knew no one else who did this. But it was a necessary step toward breastfeeding infertility.

With our first baby, my periods returned within three months after childbirth. With our second baby my first period returned when she was a year old. Why the difference? I attended La Leche League meetings while nursing my two babies. At those meetings you learn to nurse your baby often day and night in order to have an ample supply of milk. The main difference was that I had changed how I cared for our baby. With exclusive breastfeeding and baby-skin irritation from a pacifier, I quit using bottles and pacifiers. Taking the baby with me whenever I left the house also allowed for more nursing if needed. In addition, co-sharing sleep allowed for frequent and unrestricted nursing all during the night as needed. The main benefit for me was that nursing was one thing I could do in my sleep and I was well rested in the morning.

I am very grateful I learned a natural form of mothering and began to realize it is the kind of mothering that one does that primarily influences whether or not a mother will experience natural child spacing.

For those wanting scientific support and safe guidelines for co-sharing sleep, go to “Links” at our website (“Safe bedsharing for mother and baby” and “Reactions to the AAP’s Policy Statement on SIDS”)

Tomorrow: The Specifics of Natural Child Spacing

Sheila Kippley
NFP International
www.nfpandmore.org
Author: Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (Sophia, 2005)
Natural Family Planning: TheQuestion-Answer Book (e-book
at this website, 2005)

The Anniversary Day of Humanae Vitae, July 25, 1968

God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws (Humanae Vitae, n.11).

To draw attention to Natural Family Planning Week (July 22-28, 2007), I am blogging daily on breastfeeding and natural child spacing. I apologize. My blogs for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were not posted in my absence. They went up last night. John is also blogging this week on Humanae Vitae: Monday, Wednesday and Friday at CUF’s new blog site. He will continue to blog on HV the 25th of each month for CUF until the 40th Anniversary of Humanae Vitae (July 25, 2008).

My Mothering Experience: God’s Plan for Me

Things happened in my life that I didn’t realize were part of divine providence until way after the fact. One step led to another. Now I see God’s hand in these events and how these events led me to become a promoter of breastfeeding and natural child spacing.

A good marriage
First, I believe a good Catholic marriage was important for my ministry. I look back at my childhood friends on the block. A friend across the street and one friend who lived two houses up from our home had no siblings. I only had one sister. We were all Catholic. Two Catholic families a short distance from our home, one up the street and one down the street, had three children whom we occasionally played with. It wasn’t until high school that I became close to a friend from a large Catholic family. I was impressed with this family and later wondered if this is why I longed to have a lot of children when I became a mother.

As graduation from college came closer to reality, I realized that many of my classmates were engaged. It dawned on me that if I wanted children, I needed a husband and I began to pray earnestly for that. Early in my college years I decided to date only good Catholic men. If I became interested in someone and he wasn’t Catholic, we quit seeing each other. With prayer and putting a little effort into it (I joined the Catholic Alumni Club in San Francisco), I met John prior to my graduation in 1962. John forgets this, but at the end of our second date, he asked me if I wanted children. The answer was “Yes.” Then he asked me if I wanted a lot of children, and even how many. We became engaged on All Saints Day in Church after Mass and married the following April. We had eight pregnancies, three miscarriages and five live births. I am forever grateful that the Lord brought us together.

A good science background
In my work, familiarity with science and medical journals would prove to be an asset. How I ended up attending school at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco is a miracle in itself. I never desired to go to college in those days. My dad’s philosophy for his two daughters was that we should go to college for one year so we would know what it was like. If we wanted to go to college for additional years, then we were entirely on our own. He would only pay for the first year.

During the beginning of my junior year of high school, I was playing in a tennis tournament at Pasadena Community College. Mother Mary Wilfrid, principal of Mayfield School in Pasadena, liked tennis and came to watch me play that day. She talked to my dad during the match and offered me a scholarship to her high school. The only thing we would have to buy would be a summer and winter uniform. The school was run by the Sisters of the Holy Child and taught mostly girls from wealthy families. In this atmosphere tennis was a popular competitive sport. I took my first plane ride when I competed on this school’s team!

The reason I bring this up is because every graduate from this school went on to college. So I did. But I soon agonized about what I wanted to do with my life. After all, at college you are there for a reason, especially when you are paying for it. I finally made my decision to pursue dental hygiene at UC San Francisco. From then on I went from poor and average grades to all As in the science courses I had to take. I did so well in organic chemistry at UCLA that my professor sent me a postcard asking why I didn’t become a chemistry major. I was rejected from UCSF, however, due to my earlier grades. That soon changed with the improved grades. I received a notice saying that I was now the first one on the list for acceptance and most likely I would be entering next fall. I was elated.

It was at this university that I was required to do assignments using the medical journals at the library. When I became a mother for the first and second time and had many concerns about what was involved with natural child spacing, I made a quick trip to San Francisco and headed for that medical library to begin my research. God was behind all of this. He knew the steps I needed to take in order to be a disciple in this area.

Tomorrow: Where the real research took place for me…

Sheila Kippley
NFP International
www.nfpandmore.org
Author: Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (Sophia, 2005)
Natural Family Planning: TheQuestion-Answer Book (e-book
at this website, 2005)

God has wisely ordered laws of nature and the incidence of fertility in such a way that successive births are already naturally spaced through the inherent operation of these laws (Humanae Vitae, n.11).

To draw attention to Natural Family Planning Week (July 22-28, 2007), I am blogging daily on breastfeeding and natural child spacing.

Promoting Breastfeeding for Natural Child Spacing, Bonding, and Health

Dr. Otto Schaefer

Through his reading when a young boy of eight living in Germany, Otto Schaefer dreamed of living in the Canadian Arctic. As a medical doctor his dream was fulfilled. In a book titled Sunrise Over Pangnirtung (The Arctic Institute of North America, 2000), Dr. Gerald Hankins tells the fascinating story of this doctor who spent 32 years studying the Eskimos (or Inuit as they liked to be called), recording all his observations in his notebook, and even learning their language. His research resulted in over 100 publications, and he won many awards and honors toward the end of his life. He was outspoken about his concerns for the Inuit and about the negative impact the western ways had upon these people and their families. His favorite topic was breastfeeding.

During his early days in Canada, Dr. Schaefer spoke highly of formula. “In time, however, he realized he was quite wrong; thereafter, he could not keep quiet. From his studies and surveys of health and nutrition in infants from many Arctic centers, he had ample evidence to support his views” (ibid, p. 179). He observed the bottle-fed baby who “lacks the intimate mother-child bonding and closeness” (ibid, p. 171). Otto saw another reason for the Inuit to go back to the traditional custom of breastfeeding for three years. Prolonged breastfeeding “provided an effective type of birth control: the natural contraceptive action of lactation allowed for a desirable spacing of children” (ibid, p.180).

Dr. Schaefer wrote and spoke frequently about the effect of breastfeeding upon fertility. In 20 years he saw the Inuit experience a population explosion. In just ten years the increase in the birth rate went “from less than 40 births per 1000 in the mid-1950s to 64 births per 1000 ten years later” (O. Schaefer, “When the Eskimo Comes to Town,” Nutrition Today, November-December 1971, p. 16). A 60% jump! In fact there was a “direct relation to the mileage of the family from the trading posts. The shorter the distance, the more frequently they had children” (Ibid). In his opinion:
“There is a clear relationship between the increasing use of bottlefeeding and the shortening of lactation. This important point is usually overlooked in searches for explanations of the population explosion seen in developing countries” (Ibid).

In June 1971 Dr. Schaefer and his friend, Dr. Jack Hildes, presented their research at the Circumpolar Health Symposium in Finland (Oulu, Finland, June 1971; Unpublished; acquired through O. Schaefer.). They compared the fertility rate of the older Eskimo mothers who had nursed traditionally to the younger women who bottlefed.
Women aged 30-50 in most cases reared children in the tradition of camp life with prolonged breastfeeding as the major source of infant nutrition until native foods such as seal meat or caribou were taken. Younger women aged 17-29 in the course of urbanization have used bottle feeding at the expense of prolonged breastfeeding (ibid).
When did these women conceive? The older women conceived 20 to 30 months postpartum while the younger women who used baby bottles and formula conceived 2 to 4 months postpartum. The doctors believed that the older Eskimos relative infertility was due to prolonged breastfeeding. This natural birth spacing of breastfeeding, in their conclusion, “has been largely destroyed by the consequences of urbanization” (ibid).

In 1981 Dr. Schaefer spoke at a women’s conference in Pangnirtung. It was attended by native Arctic women from many places. Due to the popularity of the bottle, the one complaint among the women at this conference was having too many children (G. Hankins, Sunrise Over Pangnirtung, p. 182). Since breastfeeding had kept the family size in the past at 3 or 4 children, Dr. Schaefer taught that the larger Eskimo family was “one of the consequences of giving up breastfeeding” (ibid, 182).

While Dr. Schaefer was a strong promoter of natural child spacing, he also recorded the many diseases that accompanied the introduction of the bottle. In Dr. Schaefer’s opinion, “breastfeeding had a greater influence on the life and health of infants than any other single factor” (ibid, p. 179). He worked hard to spread the truth about breastfeeding to the common Eskimo people and others. He was also controversial. He spoke out for the Eskimo people when his stand was not popular in other areas of medicine. He was a bold and fascinating doctor who was able to do the work he accomplished due to the loving support of his wife. Dr. Hankins book on his life was a delight to read.

Tomorrow: The Anniversary Day of Humanae Vitae

Sheila Kippley
NFP International
www.nfpandmore.org
Author: Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood (Sophia, 2005)
Natural Family Planning: The Question-Answer Book (e-book
at this website, 2005)