World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August all over the globe to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world.
The theme for 2016 World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is; Breastfeeding: A Key to Sustainable Development.
The WBW 2016 theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the start of life and how to respect each other and care for the world we share.
Breastfeeding is one of the healthiest things a mother can do for her baby. The breast milk is specially designed to provide the baby with all of the vitamins, nutrients and antibiotics the baby needs to stay healthy.
Even though breastfeeding is not only beneficial for the baby, it is very healthy for the mother as well.
It can be used as a natural family planning method. Yes, a natural family planning method. It is a method that most of us do not know how it works and how to go about it.
Here are some tips on breastfeeding as a natural method of family planning.
Known as Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM), exclusive breastfeeding can be highly effective in preventing pregnancy in the first months after childbirth. It is one of the varieties of highly effective natural family planning methods.
The LAM method has been around for thousands of years but declined greatly in popularity over the past century. In 1988, however, the LAM method was reintroduced by new studies that proved information on its effectiveness in preventing pregnancies during the postpartum period.
Breastfeeding can be used as birth control when, after giving birth, a woman breastfeeds her baby exclusively. That means the baby is not given anything besides breast milk. The act of breastfeeding naturally changes a woman’s hormones so that she does not become pregnant.
How it works;
The LAM method works by changing the way in which the body produces the reproductive hormones.
In order to ovulate and menstruate, the pituitary gland (a small gland inside of the brain) produces two hormones: follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH).
These hormones then sends signals to the eggs (ova) to mature and subsequently be released during ovulation. When a mother breastfeeds, though, this process gets interrupted, thereby interfering with the production of both FSH and GnRH.
As the baby suckles, nerve impulses travel through the mother’s body and are received by her brain. This signals the production of a hormone called prolactin, which works to inhibit both FSH and GnRH. As a result, ovulation does not occur and menstruation stops, making it almost impossible to for the mother to become pregnant.
So while a woman is continuously breastfeeding, her body does not make the hormones necessary for ovulation — the release of an egg from an ovary. Pregnancy cannot happen if an egg is not released.
Effectiveness is an important and common concern when choosing a birth control method. Like all birth control methods, breastfeeding is much more effective when you do it correctly.
Using breastfeeding as birth control can be effective for the first six months after delivery only if the mother does not substitute other foods for her breast milk meal, feeds her baby at least every four hours during the day and every six hours at night and has not had a period since she delivered her baby.
Any woman who is dedicated to exclusively breastfeeding her child after birth can use the LAM method to protect against pregnancy.
The benefits;
Breastfeeding as Birth Control method has multiple benefits to both the mother and the child including the following;
Breastfeeding for the mother is a safe, simple, easy to use, and convenient method of family planning.
It is a natural method so does not affect a woman’s natural hormone balance, it is immediately effective, is free, requires no prescription, and requires no supplies or medical supervision, and it is in expensive and causes no side effects and more so is acceptable in most cultures.
For the baby breastfeeding has the following health advantages;
It decreases the likelihood of infection from germs in water, other milk, or formula since breast milk is the only food the baby is given. It increases body contact and enhances comfort for the child and bonding between mother and child.
Breastfeeding also passes on some of the mother’s antibodies to protect the baby from certain infections as well as protecting against the development of allergies and providing the best nutrition with all the required nutrients for the development of the baby.
As with any birth control method, LAM is not without its drawbacks;
The disadvantages are that; one can only rely on breastfeeding to prevent pregnancy for six months. Some women find it hard to exclusively breastfeed and not use other food. If some other food is given to the baby, the woman has a chance of getting pregnant again.
LAM is most effective in the first six months of postpartum. After six months, LAM becomes less effective. Furthermore, it can be difficult to maintain regular breastfeeding schedules, especially for working mothers.
Another disadvantage is that LAM does not protect against sexually Transmitted Infections and Diseases.
LAM can be continued after the baby has turned six months of age, though it will be less effective than it is during the early postpartum period. After six months, the baby will require supplemental feeding, and this may interfere with breastfeeding.
As long as the baby continues to breastfeed for more than 65 minutes a day, and your periods have not returned, LAM should still be quite effective in preventing pregnancy.