Customer Reviews

Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies

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I am a working mom (soon to make whatever sacrifices I must to retire, as I read more and more studies that children don't do as well when the primary caretaker is someone other than a parent) who has used this method of child spacing with great success. I nurse my daughter on demand when I am at home and at night (no getting up for late night feedings, just flip over and go back to sleep!), and pump once during the day at work and so far my periods haven't returned. My daughter is 22 months old and I haven't had a period since 1997! For anyone who is working and wants to use this method, I would recommend combining it with fertility awareness - you can check ccli.org for more info on that - just to make sure, because obviously the chances of fertility returning are greater when you're not with your child day in and day out. The knowledge that constant mother-baby togetherness causes this natural child spacing leads me to greater belief that mothers and baby are biologically designer to be together at all times, and logic tells me (as studies confirm) that if I try to do otherwise, harm comes to both of us. [...]

Update: Jan 2006 - I had 27 months of infertility after each of my first two children and am in month 14 after my third. My gynecologist said I have all but eliminated any chance of breast, ovarian, or endometrial cancer (because I've had only 6 cycles in 8 years) by adopting this time-tested lifestyle.

A woman who follows the standards of natural mothering closely (especially nursing while sleeping) typically receives 20-30 months of postpartum infertility. A more modern-style nurser averages 14 months, decreasing with more separation, limited comfort nursing, and longer nursing intervals.

I read this book in 1978 when I was pregnant with my 3rd child. It changed my life and the life of my children. Sheila helped me find my instinctual mothering abilities that had been lost to many boomers whose own mothers had adopted the post war/ozzie and harriet 50's version of parenting... and that didn't include attachment parenting or breastfeeding!

I was 8 months pregnant when I read this book and it was like a whole new world of parenting options opened up to me. I hadn't had any idea that it was possible to let a baby sleep with you. I didn't know that baby swings were just a substitute for mom and that cribs and cradles were too. I had always, always been taught that picking up a crying child was allowing them to manipulate you. And Sheila's book took those societal blinders off my eyes and off my heart.

That baby is 24 years old today. And a mommy of her own 15 month old. What is "normal" to her, breastfeeding in bed, sleeping with her child and always answering her needs, is still looked upon with astonishment by others. Her intinctual mothering skills were right at the forefront and ready to do their thing when our little granbaby was born. Her momma already knew how to breastfeed her. Any medical persons involved in their lives have been amazed at what a confident and skilled parent my daughter is at her own tender age and with her first born.

Sheila Kippley's book changed my life and my children's. I never realized it was so life changing until I saw my grandaugter and how her mother has learned how to be a mother from me and I learned from this tiny book.

THANK YOU SHEILA!

I read this book by Sheila Kippley, who is co-founder with her husband, John, of the Couple to Couple League, after we had our fourth child and had just discovered NFP. Mrs. Kippley teaches "ecological breastfeeding" as a means of spacing pregnancies as well as a form of parenting. I had nursed all my babies, but had also supplemented with juices, pacifiers and early (at 4 mos.) solid foods. Now, with this new approach, I began practicing total nursing, baby sleeping and nursing in bed with us at night (the family bed), attachment parenting, no supplemental bottles or pacifiers, and delayed solids. I found that the baby was happier and so was I. No more getting up for night feedings then trying to get the baby back in a crib without waking her. No more toddlers addicted to pacifiers. And the "fringe benefit" of this parenting style was a comfortable spacing of pregnancies. My first totally breast-fed baby was almost three years old before my periods returned! Our reliance on God's Providence in relation to our family size grows with each child, thanks to NFP, the Couple to Couple League and Mrs. Kippley's book. We have put our lives in His hands, knowing that He is the one who opens and shuts the womb and that He gives us the intellect and the will to make decisions about our fertility, but He has the final say.

I borrowed this book from the Library based on the recommendation of a friend when my daughter was a few months old. I quickly purchased my own copy from amazon.com after reading it. It is an amazing book - it really did change the way I parented my daughter [for the better] and it also really REALLY worked for child spacing purposes. I was fascinated with the information in this book [which I'd never read or even heard of elsewhere] and it was fun and easy to read. I also really REALLY enjoyed being without periods for more than a year too. :) I think any breastfeeding mom would really benefit from reading this book!

Mothers who are reluctant to risk using hormonal methods of birth control while breastfeeding no longer have to rely on less-effective barrier methods or "chance." With this book, nursing mothers now have the ability to space births as effectively as the Pill, Depo-Provera, Norplant, and the IUD-- without any of the harmful side effects.

Mrs. Kippley not only explains what natural mothering is and how it spaces babies, but spells out, step by step, how to maximize your own natural breastfeeding infertility.

It only makes sense that what is "good for mother is good for baby." This book goes far beyond simply "breasfeeding as birth control." You won't just read it once-- it's a book you'll refer back to many times for information and support. This book should be read by every nursing mom!!

This book tells new mothers what many doctors don't know. Yes, breastfeeding CAN space children. The World Health Organization promotes it as such! Since the beginning of time, women all over the world have used breastfeeding to both nurture babies and space them about two years apart. However, in modern American culture the way we often breastfeed does NOT work to space children. This book explains why not, and how to get back to nature. I have used this book, and am still without periods with a near-7 month old baby. I recommend it. Also check out CCLI.org for more information about the author.

I am the mother of a 17-month-old child who loves to nurse and was feeling obligated to wean him because of what others might think of an older child still nursing. This book gave me the courage to follow my natural insticts and let my child decide when to be weaned. This book gave reasons why continued breastfeeding is beneficial to older children as well as younger and also helped me see that I am a good mother. This book is an excellent tool for any breastfeeding mother who cherishes the bonding time breastfeeding provides.

After reading this book I was told I would need to wean my child to have a medical procedure. The book gave my the courage to say no. Later it was realized that the certain medical procedure would have been unneccessay. I am so grateful I took the time to read this book, I know it can give you the courage to continue also.

This book was exactly what I was looking for! At last a book that regards babies and children as gifts and positive additions to our lives, rather than inconveniences to 'get through' as fast as possible. I intuitively knew that strict schedules and letting the baby "cry it out" didn't seem natural or normal. Sheila Kippley's book confirmed these things for me, and with well-researched reference material!The info on ecological breastfeeding is invaluable, and way different than the supposedly "helpful" info in popular parenting books and magazines. My son is happy, healthy, intelligent and vibrant thanks to the info I received from this book. Baby #2 is due in weeks, and will enjoy all the same benefits!

If I could recommend just one book to the expectant mother undecided about breastfeeding this would be the one. It gives information that I've never read or heard anywhere else, all of it sourced from experts most people would recognize such as Dr. Dickley Grant-Read and Dr. John Bowlby.

Everyone knows breastfeeding is best for baby but that in itself might not be enough to persuade some women. Adding in the fact that proper breastfeeding can keep the mother from having her period for over a year and keep her infertile naturally might just be the extra nudge she needs to nurse her baby.

This book should be read by every nursing mom! It covers problems you must face with nursing and with lack of support in today's society for breastfeeding. It gives the very much needed "shot in the arm" for nursing mothers. A definite keeper.