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Breastfeeding and Birth Control
Family Planning for
the Nursing Mother
the Nursing Mother
By Michele St. Martin
The mother of a newborn baby has her hands full, juggling competing needs and adjusting to her new role and her new family structure. While getting pregnant when her baby is still an infant may not be part of her plan, birth control is often the last thing on her mind.
Fertility while Mom is lactating is a confusing and often misunderstood subject. Can a woman get pregnant while she's breastfeeding an infant? What forms of birth control are safe for a breastfeeding mother? Do "natural" methods really work?
Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM) is a form of birth control that relies on natural ovulation suppression. Here's how it works: As an infant breastfeeds, prolactin is released. Prolactin inhibits the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). These hormones are responsible for ovulation (the development and release of eggs).
Used correctly, the risk of pregnancy with LAM is low, according to Dr. David Barrere, an OB/GYN in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Northern Kentucky. Dr. Barrere says that the duration of ovulation suppression varies and can be influenced by several factors.
"LAM can be utilized provided that the baby is less than 6 months old, Mother has exclusively breastfed Baby (no supplements have been used) and she has not resumed her menstrual period," Dr. Barrere says. "If these guidelines are met, then the risk of pregnancy is 1 to 2 percent. Another form of contraception should be used if these three conditions cannot be met." La Leche League (www.llli.org) adds that mothers should be nursing or pumping at least every four hours during the day and six hours at night to make LAM the most effective.
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