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Breastfeeding
Using EBF as birth control?
So I've read on kellymom that if you EBF, the baby is less than 6 months, and you haven't gotten your period yet, that BFing will be about 98-99% effective as birth control. All those apply to me, and we've been using that as our sole birth control, but now that DS is getting close to 6 months, I'm getting a little scared, cause I definitely don't want another baby this soon! Has anyone used only EBF as birth control beyond 6 months with success?
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Re: Using EBF as birth control?
If you're not ready then you REALLY need to be using some form of contraception. I was reading about this a while back and for those who don't ovulate while exclusively breastfeeding, they have their kid on boob all. the. time. They were talking about tribes in Africa who have their kid latch on every 20 minutes or so.
I'm not pretending to be an expert in this, but if you're not ready for another baby I'd be calling my doctor and either getting the mini pill or the mirena, or hitting up Target for a box of Trojans.
First of all, thanks for asking this! My first response was going to be, "Hell no, breast feeding isn't good BC, period," and "You'll probably ovulate before you have your period." Blah, blah, blah. I just did a super quick search on KellyMom and actually learned quite a bit! So, thanks for that!
That said, I would not rely on breast feeding as birth control beyond 6 months primarily for this reason: Changes that are more abrupt tend to bring fertility back faster (e.g., cutting out one nursing session abruptly, rather than gradually decreasing nursing time at that session) --even if you continue to breastfeed a great deal-- this is why many mothers experience the return of fertility when their child sleeps through the night or starts solid foods. (from kellymom)
I assume you're going to introduce solids around 6 months, if not a little sooner? In that case, I would be too worried that my breast feeding "schedule" would be thrown off whack. If I was OK with getting pregnant at that point, then, sure, I'd give it a shot. OTOH, if I absolutely did not want to get pregnant again, then I'd use another form of BC for sure.
Yeah EBF isn't birth control - Ecological Breast Feeding is birth control. That means that you don't use a pacifier - every time your child is fussy you put a nipple in his mouth. You never feed your child from a bottle and never pump. You bedshare. You do the last feed of the day laying in bed with the baby. There are some other aspects, but if you're not doing EVERY single aspect of ecological breast feeding you have a pretty high likelihood of getting pregnant. In fact, if I were you, I would definitely take a HPT. There's a chance you're pregnant right now and that's why you haven't gotten your period yet.
She's not proving it wrong. It's only 98% effective which is very similar to all forms of birth control. My fitness instructor got pregnant on hormonal birth control. I guess she proved it doesn't work either. The only 100% method of BC is abstinence.
Also, you cannot get pregnant at any time. You can only get pregnant if you ovulate. BFing on demand will suppress ovulation. I was not totally comfortable relying only on EBF, so I also checked my CF daily and watched out for EWCM. Anytime I saw that we used condoms...of course mostly we used abstinence because I was tired. LOL!
That said, after six months the effectiveness of BFing to suppress ovulation goes down dramatically. If you do not want to use hormonal BC I'd suggest reading TCOYF and learning about how to track your CM before the return of AF so you can keep an eye out for impending ovulation. HTH!
I have 2 friends that got pregnant while BFing - one was even taking the mini pill! (granted she was spacy about taking the pill)
Anyway, if you don't want to get pregnant, use a true form of BC.
All of this. I decided that after 10 years on the pill, I was not going to go back on it after DS was born. I also have no interest in IUDs. So instead, DH and I have been relying on breastfeeding, checking for signs of ovulation, withdrawal (not on its own) and condoms when needed. I wouldn't suggest it for anyone else, but I felt comfortable with the risk after doing the research. We were able to correctly predict my first cycle based on the methods described in TCOYF, and I plan to continue to use that as foundation for my birth control.
I didn't have my period the whole time I was BFing my older son, which was for 24+ months. We still used protection, just in case. I got pregnant literally the week we started TTC (and I still hadn't had my period back yet, so we weren't thinking I'd get pg that quickly). This time, DS2 is 15 months and I still haven't had my period, but we're using condoms just in case.
The reason breasfeeding-as-birth control only works when your baby is less than six months is because you have to be nursing enough to suppress ovulation (and nursing regularly over a 24-hour period). Babies over six months are sleeping longer or eating enough solids that BF alone is no longer effective as sole birth control.
DS2 - Oct 2010 (my VBAC baby!)
I just found this article (paper?) and wanted to post. It may be more reliable than I thought with PERFECT use.
https://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/news/issue_briefs/lam_brief.pdf" target="_blank" title="https://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/news/issue_briefs/lam_brief.pdf">https://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/pop/news/issue_briefs/lam_brief.pdf
It's a pdf. It is only 4 pages long and calls it the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM): A Postpartum Contraceptive Choice for Women Who Breastfeed
It does require no pumping, no pacifiers, breastfeeding on cue, no more than 4 hours apart and during the night.
It seems to be more effective than I had originally thought. If it's right for your family this paper may be a good start.