Many young mothers are interested in the question of the need for contraception during lactation. Therefore, we will try to understand whether it is possible to become pregnant during breastfeeding and how to prevent it.
The essence of lactational amenorrhea
It has been proven that breastfeeding prevents the onset of pregnancy. This feature is widely used as a natural method of contraception or lactational amenorrhea . And all because of the fact that the recovery of the woman's body after childbirth occurs not immediately. It is known that in nursing mothers the recovery period lasts longer than in adherents of artificial feeding. In addition, during lactation, due to the intensive development of certain hormones, the ability to conceive is suppressed. One of these hormones is prolactin. Actually, therefore, there is no menstruation. However, the risk of getting pregnant while breastfeeding remains.
Rules for effective protection from conception
During feeding, you can get pregnant, but only if you do not follow the recommendations below:
- The child should be fed for each of his requirements. Hourly intake of food in this case is not practical. This is usually at least 8 times a day.
- You should not introduce complementary foods into your baby's diet. Also it is not recommended to accustom the child to pacifier-dummies.
- Intervals between meals should be small. Allowed the most break during a night's sleep. But even its duration should not exceed 5 hours.
- This method is effective in case the menstrual cycle has not stabilized.
These rules guarantee the contraceptive effect of lactation . Therefore, the onset of pregnancy is possible only if the above conditions are not observed. It should be noted right away that the more time passed after the birth of a baby, the higher the risk of re-conception. Therefore, it is considered that the use of this method of contraception is justified within a period of up to three months after childbirth.
In the future, when breastfeeding, you can become pregnant, since sometimes ovulation occurs in the absence of menstrual bleeding, that is, precedes the restoration of the menstrual cycle. Due to the fact that the reliability of such protection becomes questionable, it is recommended to use additional contraception. And after six months in general there is no sense in the application of this method, because in such circumstances it is possible to become pregnant when feeding a baby with a high probability. This is due to the fact that children at this age already need to introduce complementary foods and, accordingly, the need for human milk is reduced.