“I am currently nursing my 17 month old without a return of my periods.”
“My son nurses on and off during the nights. He is 22 months old and I have not had a period yet.”
“I thank you for the positive effect you’ve had on my mothering skills. I nursed my first baby for 4 months and quit because of the inconvenience. I nursed my second baby for 22 months because it was so very convenient.”
“Breastfeeding has a very definite effect on child spacing. With my bottlefed children I conceived again at 8 months after childbirth despite other contraceptives. It has been 15 months since the last baby was born. No period yet.”
“We have a 21-month old boy, and I am still ecologically nursing him. We have been trying to get pregnant since January. I am so glad that I am still nursing my son, because I know that it is so beneficial for him. But I have to admit I am starting to worry that our babies will be so far apart that I won’t have very many! My husband and I would like a large family, but I probably just need to work on my patience? At first, I thought about weaning my son so that we could more easily get pregnant, but my husband didn’t think that was a good reason to wean. I think I agree with him now, because I see how good nursing is for my 21-month-old.”
“My religion, Islam, encourages breastfeeding for two years and, according to some Muslim scholars, allows birth control to be practiced within that two-year period. I feel that so many people ignore breastfeeding as a form of natural child spacing. The techniques you describe are entirely compatible with my religion.”
“As a Protestant, eco-breastfeeding had never been presented to my husband and me as a logical way to have a family. Many of my acquaintances are put right on the IUD after their first baby, and I think it’s a shame when God intended His way of spacing little ones.”
“[As a Jewish mother] I practice ecological breastfeeding (I nurse my babies based on Sheila Kippley’s book) and therefore have gotten a 26 month space between my 2 girls. My husband and I don’t want to have to decide when to have or not have a baby. We are only smart enough to know that we aren’t smart enough to know when is really the “best time” and we would rather if Hashem took care of that decision. But what I do think is important for women to know is that you do not have to have your babies a year (or in some cases 11 months) apart in order to be a good Jewish woman. If you practice ecological breastfeeding which in a nutshell includes unrestricted nursing (no feeding schedules!), and no bottles or pacifiers you can get that breather between babies naturally—as it was meant to be—from Hashem!”
Interested in God’s plan for spacing babies? Read the book on this topic, The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor.
Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor