Natural Family Planning International

            Professionals and clergy can change.  Dr. Otto Schaefer, a German doctor, went to the Inuits in Canada, teaching the merits of formula.  He wrote down everything he observed and soon realized he was dead wrong about formula.  The observed facts led him to conclude that “breastfeeding had a greater influence on the life and health of infants than any other single factor” and that “the traditional Inuit custom of breastfeeding up until the age of three years…provided an effective type of birth control.” 

            Breastfeeding is God’s plan for baby care and baby spacing.  Today the Catholic Church speaks out against contraception in Humanae Vitae, and many in the Church promote natural family planning by charting the woman’s fertility and promoting the theology of the body.  John and I have promoted and taught ecological breastfeeding to space babies since 1969.  The research is there.  Ecological breastfeeding has so many health and emotional benefits for the mother and baby, including natural child spacing, that it should no longer be ignored by other NFP organizations, the clergy or church representatives.

            Learn God’s plan for natural child spacing by reading The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor.  Learn how the “theology of the body” is related to breastfeeding by reading Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood.

Sheila Kippley

The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor

            In 1972 with 29 ecological breastfeeding cases and in 1989 with almost 100 ecological breastfeeding cases studied, we published similar results.  American mothers doing ecological breastfeeding according to the Seven Standards averaged 14.5 months without menstruation after childbirth, proving that breastfeeding can be used by American mothers to space their babies naturally.

            The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 173,205 births in Utah from 1989 to 1996 and found that babies were at higher risk for poor health if born too close or too far apart.  This study concluded that the best spacing for the health of babies was a 2.5 year interval.  Such a study of a selected culture is more suggestive than conclusive.  But it does suggest that the natural spacing via breastfeeding may have another benefit.  In our studies, 70% of the eco-breastfeeding moms had their first period between 9 and 20 months postpartum.  If they became fertile and pregnant immediately, they would have births between 19 and 30 months, for an average of a two year natural spacing.

            Learn to appreciate nature’s way built into a woman’s reproductive system and the importance of ecological breastfeeding in this whole process. 

Sheila Kippley

The Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor

            In 1988 an international group of scientists and others with expertise in the fields of breastfeeding and infertility met in Bellagio, Italy to see if they could agree on a common statement about breastfeeding infertility.  After reviewing the studies, they concluded that an exclusively breastfeeding mother can ignore any vaginal bleeding during the first 8 weeks postpartum.  Any bleeding, even that resembling a period, can be ignored during this time because she is infertile during this time, provided she is exclusively breastfeeding.  This is called the Bellagio Consensus. 

            In 1968 Dr. T. J. Cronin concluded that “provided full breastfeeding is in progress and menstruation has not returned, ovulation does not happen before the end of the 10^th postpartum week.”  This conclusion fits well with the Bellagio Consensus.

            This knowledge is helpful for all mothers who are exclusively breastfeeding and who are interested in natural child spacing.  They need to know it.  This is taught in the regular course and manual of NFPI.

Sheila Kippley

The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor