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Home › Articles › Issues for Mom › Breastfeeding and Birth Control

Breastfeeding and Birth Control

Family Planning for
the Nursing Mother

By Michele St. Martin

Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  

  • The mucous method – feeling your cervical mucous with your fingers to determine when you are fertile. This method results in a 3 percent pregnancy rate with perfect use. "Prior to ovulation, increasing amounts of estrogen production stimulate mucous production," Dr. Barrere says. "There is a progressive increase in the quantity of mucous, and it becomes more slippery just prior to ovulation. (After ovulation, the mucous dries up.) Couples are taught that their 'safe' days are the dry days."
  • The symptothermal method – a combination of the calendar and mucous methods; you monitor your cervical mucous in combination with taking your temperature every morning to detect the temperature rise that comes with ovulation. "Once the temperature rise occurs, intercourse is avoided for an additional three days," says Dr. Barrere, who notes that the symptothermal method has a 2 percent pregnancy rate.

    • In addition to being used as a method of birth control, FAM/NFP is often used to help maximize the chances of conception. "[My husband and I] are now more aware of FAM/NFP to help us avoid conception just as we used it as part of our plan to conceive both our children," says Denise Thomas of Chicago, Ill., who breastfed her son for 22 months and is currently exclusively breastfeeding her 14-week-old daughter.

    FAM/NFP isn't for everyone. "I was not able to use natural family planning due to a long history of irregular periods and a very long cycle (33 to 40 days), plus chronic sinus and allergy medications, which affect cervical mucous," says Dr. Cindy McClain Pearman, a family practice physician from Knoxville, Tenn. She has breastfed all three of her children.


    Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  

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