There is a lot of misinformation regarding whether or not you can use breastfeeding as a means of birth control. I have been told numerous times by well-meaning technicians that I am silly for believing that breastfeeding can keep me from getting pregnant. On the other hand, there are lots of women who say that they’ve gotten pregnant while breastfeeding. On the one side, people will tell you that breastfeeding cannot be relied upon as a form of birth control. On the other hand, people will say that any amount of breastfeeding at all will keep you from getting pregnant. So what’s the truth?
The truth is that for those people, either can be true. Breastfeeding is an effective means of birth control as long as certain criteria are met. In some women, any amount of breastfeeding will keep them from getting pregnant. To understand this, we have to first understand how it all works.
Prolactin is the hormone that helps you produce milk as well as suppress ovulation. Prolactin clears from the bloodstream very rapidly. This is true for all mothers. In order to suppress ovulation, you have to nurse frequently to keep the prolactin levels in the blood high. What varies from mother to mother is how much prolactin she personally needs in order to suppress ovulation. This is partly why you hear of mothers that breastfed exclusively and got pregnant anyways.
However, in most cases, breastfeeding is an extremely effective method of birth control IF you follow the rules. Just like any other method of birth control, you have to use it correctly or it won’t work. According to studies, breastfeeding is 99.5% effective if used “correctly”. If you compare typical usage of breastfeeding as birth control to other methods, only an IUD is more effective. You are as likely to get pregnant using Depo-Provera, 4 times as likely to get pregnant using the pill, and about 8 times as likely to get pregnant using a condom or diaphragm. Furthermore, breastfeeding doesn’t have any side effects like other hormonal drugs do. Also, hormonal birth control will decrease your milk production, generally significantly.
So what exactly do you have to do in order to use breastfeeding to avoid getting pregnant? Look for my next blog on the rules of natural child spacing!
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