Ecological Breastfeeding
For the poor and illiterate, ecological breastfeeding is God’s way to space babies. Recently mothers in Ghana who were taught through song and instruction to exclusively breastfeed their babies soon discovered that breastfeeding not only gave them healthier babies but also gave them natural spacing. Our studies with American mothers who do ecological breastfeeding have found an average duration of breastfeeding amenorrhea (no periods) of 14.5 months. Certainly similar results would be found among breastfeeding mothers in other countries, especially those who still follow the traditional ways of keeping their children with them.
Sympto-Thermal Method (STM)
We believe that NFP International has the most complete program for NFP since we teach all the common signs of fertility plus eco-breastfeeding. Those who teach only the mucus method frequently claim that it is easier to teach. It may be easier to teach, at least in theory, but that certainly doesn’t mean that it is easier to use or is equally effective. In the one comparative study of the STM and the mucus-only method, the study was closed much earlier than expected because it became clear quite early that the mucus-only system had a much higher unplanned pregnancy rate than the STM.
Couples Should be Taught All Their Options
We believe all options should be taught and then let the couple decide what fertility signs they want to use, and some or many couples may choose to use only ecological breastfeeding to space their babies.
One Advantage to Teaching the Poor
The NFPI teaching system does not require expensive equipment. Daylight is sufficient. That is, you can teach directly from the manual, Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach. Students can have the same manual in their possession. You don’t need PowerPoint or slide projectors or even a chalkboard. The truly poor can download this manual for free at the home page. Otherwise, a $10 donation is requested for the download of the manual. Anyone can download free charts also at the home page. Some might say that a thermometer costs something. That is true. But when my husband spoke to Mother Teresa, she told him that some of her sisters taught the temperature sign. So apparently the use of a thermometer was not an obstacle to teaching NFP among the poor.
Sheila Kippley