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March 2001
1) How Does Breastfeeding Effect Fertility? Just Ducky Babies 1) How Does Breastfeeding Effect Fertility?
The Breastfeeding Answer Book:
In many countries breastfeeding has a greater impact on birth rates
than all other contraceptives combined...estimates that if all breastfeeding
were to
stop, within a year there would be a 20-30% rise in the birthrate worldwide
(Labbok 1995)...
In the !Kung tribe of Botswana, Africa, children were spaced an average of 44
months apart despite having no taboos about sexual relations during
lactation...
Offering more than 98% protection from pregnancy during the first six months
postpartum, Lactational Amenorrhea Method has since been extensively tested
and its effectiveness verified around the world. According to the LAM
guidelines, a mother has less than a 2% chance of becoming pregnant if: her
menses has not returned AND, she is not supplementing regularly nor going
longer than four hours between feedings during the day and six hours between
feedings at night, AND her baby is younger than six months old.
Research has found that breastfeeding increases the likelihood that a
mother's first menstruation will be anovulatory, particularly if it occurs
during the first six months of breastfeeding. The longer a mother's menses
are delayed by breastfeeding, the more likely she is to ovulate before her
first menstruation.
Even if ovulation does occur before a nursing mother's first menstruation, in
many cases, the hormones of lactation cause mothers to have deficient eggs
and luteal phases, that is, the hormonal levels in the second half of the
menstrual cycle are too low to maintain a pregnancy. In some cases, this can
happen during more than one cycle. Even after menses return, bf continues to
reduce fertility.
Although mothers should consider themselves fertile once they have any
vaginal bleeding after 56 days postpartum, or when supplementation replaces
breastfeedings, according to one study (Singh 1993) continuing to bf appeared
to suppress ovulation in mothers whose menses returned when their babies were 3
to 9 months old. The younger the baby when the mother's menses returned,
the more anovulatory cycles the mother was likely to have. No differences in
fertility were associated with continuing to bf in women whose menses
returned after 9 months postpartum.
The Breastfeeding Answer Book by Mohrbacher, Stock, and Riordon
Babies love to tote and carry items, put items inside containers and pull
them out again. Babies enjoy a great variety of different objects that they
can manipulate and use easily. These activities are part of fine motor
development, but most of all they are fun for baby!
Make a small tote bag just the right size for your child to carry his
favorite toys in, or anything that is safe and enjoyable for him or her.
How to Make a Tote Bag:
Materials: 2 pieces of felt, canvas or denim, approximately 12" X 20". 1) Cut two strips 12" long and 2" wide off the end of each piece of fabric to
use for the handles. Hem the raw edges.
2) Sew the large pieces of fabric together (with right sides together) on
three sides, making a bag roughly 11" wide and 17 1/2 " deep.
3) Hem the top edge of the bag.
4) Sew the handles firmly to each side of the bag.
5) Decorate the tote bag with colorful felt scraps. You can make patterns for
designs using clipart. Enlarge clip art on a photocopier (or even on your
computer) to the desired size. Cut the clipart out and pin it to the felt.
Once your felt pieces are cut out you can have fun decorating the tote by
sewing or glueing (non-toxic!) the designs on.
How to Make a "Touch and Feely" Felt Book
Materials: 1) Sew the pieces of felt together on one side to form a book.
2) On each page draw, paste or sew a colorful picture.
3) Paste or sew the scraps you have collected onto each picture, making them
come alive with texture! For example, a cotton ball makes a wonderful rabbit
tail, and sandpaper works great as tree bark. Another alternative is to not
make pictures, but organize your textured scraps within the book. You could
have a soft page, a rough page, a furry page, etc.
4) Name and talk about each picture and texture as your baby looks and feels
the wonderful book you have made! Breastfeeding
Derksmom writes--If you are a LLL member check out the January February New
Beginnings cover. That is Me and My DS at 2 months old. He is now 15 months
old and going strong on the nursing. He loves it more now then he did then.
Please give me feedback on the picture. I highly recommend getting a
professional picture done of the nursing. Nighttime Parenting
Scottranch writes--Hi! Being a mom that was so sick and tired of analyzing
"what is making my kid act this way?" and looking for possible stressors in
her life, I am so thankful another MN mom recommended strongly I buy a copy
of "Is This Your Child?" by Dr. Doris Rapp. Our kids are not psycho. Very
often, something in their diet or environments registers in the body as
"harmful" and logically, a reaction occurs (minutes, hours, or possibly days
later). Allergies and sensitivities are manifested in so many ways other than
rashes. Our "colic", Jekyll & Hyde outbursts, whining, headaches, itching,
and nightwakings are related to red dye, apples, nitrites, and possibly too
much milk. It is odd how many things we accept as "normal", unaware that we
can make a simple change and eliminate these aggravations vs. living with
them! You can get so many leads and answers in here -- and hopefully some
sleep and sanity too! I urge you to spend the $16 so you can highlight and
write notes in the margins. Then, try elimination diets and get to a doctor
that will investigate your leads. I hope this will work for you. If so, you
won't agonize about the quality of your nuturing and her stress-life any
longer!
Baby Food
Does anyone have any interesting baby food recipes using tofu? I'd like to
introduce tofu as a finger food, but not sure of how to season it...
Please email me if you have any suggestions! Thanks! Angel madball@gis.net
4) Milk Banks Locations of Donor Milk Banks in the US as of June 1998:
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