Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Breastfeeding as contraception : quick poll

53 replies

LittleManktiesMum · 27/04/2010 18:44

Hi all

Haven't posted on here for a while as been busy studying. Was wondering if any of you lovely ladies would be able to help me with a research project I'm currently undertaking?

For those of you who have had a baby in the last year or so and have breastfed your baby, were you informed by your midwife/health visitor/GP of the form of contraception which is brought about by breastfeeding - this is known as the lactational amenorrhea method. This may have been discussed as part of the post-natal discharge or your 6 week check.

Just really want an idea at this stage whether or not this was mentioned/discussed with you and if so, by whom and at what stage. (Please note that the results from this will form part of my research project, which is for study purposes only, and all responses will remain anonymous).

Many thanks,

LittleManktiesMum x

OP posts:

mamasparkle · 27/04/2010 19:01

I was told that in the first 3 months if I was not menstruating and fully BFing that I was pretty much 100% guaranteed not to get pg, but after that not to rely on BFing as contraceptive.

EggyAllenPoe · 27/04/2010 19:04

contracption was dicussed at immediate post-natal appointments.

they told me flat 'don't rely on BF'

I did anyway, because i didn't mind getting PG again, and both times conceived about 9months after birth.

l39 · 27/04/2010 19:19

No, they didn't discuss it with me. DD5 is 6 months.

Either midwives round here have become much more relaxed about contraception, or they decided that at 40 I'm not fertile any more.

I breastfed all my earlier children yet had a midwife tell me 'You're very fertile right now' 24 hours after delivery, in my 20s. They fell over themselves to get me a minipill prescription, ready to start taking it on the 21st day after the birth. This time it was all left to me.

houmousandcarrotsandwich · 27/04/2010 19:21

I was told not to rely on breastfeeding either. I think Dr at 6 week check said it was a myth!
Community Midwife talked about contraception on discharge (14 days), she said bf'ing wasn't 100% effective. I can remember laughing after she had gone, "sex? As if I feel like doing that right now!!!"

sunnybump · 27/04/2010 19:22

My DS is 11weeks old. BFing making it less likely to conceive was never mentioned or discussed though pretty much every health professional has asked what contraception we're using. I seem to remember one midwife at antenatal classes saying that having a baby supercharged your reproductive system. I get that you can get pregnant straight away but was a bit sceptical that breastfeeding wasn't mentioned as part of this

I brought this up with my GP when she asked about contraception at my 6 week check and we had a chat about it then, but I instigated it.

WoTmania · 27/04/2010 20:15

I was told that as long as you
a)hadn't had a period
b)were exclusively BF and,
c)the baby was under 6 months
you were unlikely to get pregnant

WoTmania · 27/04/2010 20:16

but a HV told me that I was very fertile at the 2 week weigh in. the MW told me the above at a BF drop in

preggersplayspop · 27/04/2010 20:18

I was told not to rely on breastfeeding and contraception was discussed immediately after birth.

Co-sleeping seems to be doing the trick on the contraception front so far.

Original poster

LittleManktiesMum · 27/04/2010 21:11

Its very interesting how varied your comments are, thank you to those who've replied already. Anyone else?

OP posts:

Tweetinat · 27/04/2010 21:27

This was not mentioned to me at all by midwives, hv or GP. My DS is 6m. hth!

kimplus4 · 27/04/2010 22:11

i was told as long as i was feeding on demand and that i was not weaning my baby it was ok. i have 2 children that are 11 months apart so go figure!!!
i was tandem feeding them both when i got pregnant again. so now i have 3 children under 3.
lol i love telling that story, its almost like im just reading it out loud and its not real!! hahaha

rasputin · 27/04/2010 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

greenbananas · 27/04/2010 22:25

The community midwife asked me about contraception when she visited me at home 10 days after DS was born. It was on her checklist of things to ask me about.

She told me that although breastfeeding wasn't a totally reliable method of contraception, it was about 95%, i.e. as good as the pill. She said I could only rely on it as long as I was still ebf, with no supplementary foods at all (not even water) and only for the first 6 months. Then she explained that I could get 'caught' 2 weeks before my first period.

This worked for me, and my periods didn't return until DS ws 12 months old. However, I know people who have got pregnant only 3 months after giving birth and while they are still exclusively breastfeeding. So maybe I was lucky...

iloveasylumseekers · 27/04/2010 22:29

I'm a family planning trained GP. There is widespread ignorance about Lactational Amenorrhoea amongst the public and indeed amongst medical professionals (except those who have done FP training fairly recently as I have - but even then it's a bit of a footnote tbh), which is a recognised method of contraception. I try to remember to bring it up when I do 6w checks on BFing women, but there isn't enough time to do that and everything else in the ten minutes I get, and there isn't much god quality patient information on it either.

(I used it for the first 6m after my first child)

ShowOfHands · 27/04/2010 22:31

I was told by the midwife and hv but advised not to rely on it. As it was, my periods came back when dd was 13weeks. She was ebf and hadn't gone more than 2hrs between feeds at any point, day or night. Wasn't having sex anyway tbh, but certainly didn't prevent the return of my periods.

Bumbleconfusus · 28/04/2010 05:22

I was told 3wks after giving birth not to rely on this and to use contraception... then at 6wks was told by the dr not to rely on this unless I happened to want more children already...

weegiemum · 28/04/2010 05:30

I was told not to rely on it and just as well as even ebf, my periods came back when dd1 was 10 weeks old!

helenwombat · 28/04/2010 05:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RubyBuckleberry · 28/04/2010 05:57

i'm sure its something to do with spacings between feeds too - no more that four hours in day and six at night - not expert though!

MrsMotMot · 28/04/2010 08:50

Agree with iloveasylumseekers that there just isn't enough info on this method of contraception. I was not told about it at all when I gave birth and in my own training (as a mw) it was only mentioned very briefly. The mw's I trained with all mentioned it as almost an old wives' tale/myth when discussing contraception at the discharge chat.

Also agree that hcp seem ever so keen on discussing contraception! I always prefaced my chat with 'now I know this is the last thing on your mind'

Original poster

LittleManktiesMum · 28/04/2010 09:21

Thank you all so much for your views/comments. As I said above, it is interesting how varied they are and as to whether women are actually told about this method by health professionals. There does seem to be a real lack of knowledge about & confidence in this method, despite the statistics and the desire to promote contraceptive "use"!

This is something I am intending on exploring in my research project. Thanks again all.

OP posts:

cory · 28/04/2010 10:27

Only place I was told about this was in archaeology lectures at uni.

However, since two of my friends got pregnant while breastfeeding, it is not a method I personally would rely on.

ShowOfHands · 28/04/2010 14:37

Next time, if there is one, I won't rely on it at all. As I said, dd had not gone more than 2hrs day or night, exclusively bfed and my periods came back at 13 weeks. I count myself lucky that I hadn't healed properly at that point and wasn't even thinking about sex.

cory · 29/04/2010 20:24

Can I offer a friendly word of warning here

It looks a bit as if you had already made up your mind what the outcome of our investigation was going to be (low take-up of lactation as contraception=due to ignorance amongst mothers and health professionals). This is seldom a good starting point for academic research. Will you be flexible enough to accept and investigate evidence that points at any other, possibly equally valid, explanation?

For instance, if mothers had experienced early periods during intensive lactation in previous pregnancies (as a couple of posters on this thread had done) might not this be a perfectly valid reason for not using the method in subsequent pregnancies? And nothing to do with ignorance.

Or, if they had become pregnant using this method (again see several examples above), or had friends who had become pregnant using this method, might they not have other reasons for their choice than lack of information?

We were told in archaeology lectures that historically the spacing by breastfeeding worked in hunter-gathering societies where maternal food intake was restricted, but that there was no evidence that it was equally effective in later societies where this did not apply (e.g. medieval or Victorian society).

You need to find a way of phrasing your question that does not give your examiner the impression that it is designed so that you can only arrive at the answer you want.

How about having a couple of questions instead:

a) had you heard about the lactation method when you had your baby?

b) did you use it?

c) if you did not use it, what influenced your decision?

cory · 29/04/2010 22:36

"previous pregnancies" should of course be "after previous births".

Flip

1 2 3