breastfeeding and fertility

Breastfeeding does affect a mom's fertility. This is a good thing. Breastfeeding helps to space out pregnancies so that each baby gets as much of mom as possible. It's also due to this affect on fertility that is responsible for breastfeeding moms having fewer reproductive cancers. The more a woman ovulates in her lifetime, the higher her rate of ovarian cancer.

Breastfeeding as a way of discouraging fertility

If you don't want to become pregnant soon after giving birth, you can rely on breastfeeding delay your fertility for at least six months if the following requirements are met: Baby is breastfeeding on demand, with no supplemental bottles of formula, juice or water, and no pacifiers and is also not eating solid foods. Researchers have calculated that breastfeeding prevents more pregnancies worldwide than all other birth control methods, combined! Some mothers will find that their periods to do not return for the entire time they are nursing. Others will have periods several months after their baby's birth but these will be anovulatory - a period without ovulation. So, mom is still not able to conceive.

But what if you want your fertility to return quickly and you're still breastfeeding? If you want your babies spaced closely together, read on.

Encouraging the return of fertility while breastfeeding

Here are some ways of nudging your body towards fertility so you can become pregnant, even when you're still breastfeeding your baby. Try cutting back on your baby's feeding slowly, especially the night feedings. Night nursings stimulate the hormones responsible for lactation more than daytime feedings. Don't cut them out cold turkey, or you may become uncomfortably full or get plugged milk ducts or mastitis. If your baby is close to the age where eating solids is appropriate (5-6 months), consider offering some solid foods.

Of course, you may want to give some consideration to just being patient and waiting for your fertility to return naturally. If your baby is nursing a lot, this is a signal that he still needs you and may not be ready for a sibling to enter the picture. Breastfeeding tends to space children at around 2 to 3 years apart in many women, and this may be for good reason - both for mom and baby's health and well being.