Astromum wrote:

Mary W. wrote:

Astromum wrote:

Oh Andrea, I'm sorry to say that your doc is wrong. My cousin got
pregnant that way and currently it is adviced always to use additional
contraception while breastfeeding. Although breastfeeding reduces your
chance of getting pregnant, it is in no way a reliable contraceptive.


Breastfeeding can be a reliable method of birth control, if you
follow the guidelines. Which include no artificial nipples (no
bottles, no pacifiers) and baby feeding frequently (can't remember
the rules on this). Baby must also be less than 6 months old.


It seems this works fine for young infants if they are nursed at
least every four hours, but what if you make a mistake? How strong
is the effect of having the baby sleep for 6 hours once? Or twice?
Why would the maximum length of sleep during the day be different
than the maximum lenght of sleep at night? What if this was reversed?

I don't know the answers to these questions. If I were to rely
on LAM for birth control I would certainly make sure I understood
the method completely and followed it carefully. There are plenty
of resources out there for someone who is interested, and I was
just pointing out that LAM is an effective form of BC, but you have
to follow the rules (and, as with any method, there are exceptions,
we've all heard of babies being conceived while someone was on
the pill. Doesn't mean it isn't an effective form of BC).
And Andrea's doctor gave her bad advice, she
was not following the rules and therefore shouldn't be relying on LAM for
BC. I didn't follow the rules either and probably shouldn't have relied
on LAM, but having a second child close to our first would have
been an OK consequence for us, so it didn't concern me much.
Turns out my cycle didn't return until DD was 10 months and I had
plenty of signs that ovulation was coming, so we were able to
take the appropriate steps. We've successfully been using natural
family planning for the last 16 months and DD just weaned.
..
I'd be very reluctant to use this as a contraceptive method, even
if I did know for sure I follow the guidelines. At least until I
am sure that one slip doesn't immediately reduce the effectiveness.

Agreed. But I'd make sure I knew this information about any
contraceptive method I chose.

Mary