Complete breast-feeding can delay the return of fertility for at least three months, and usually much longer. Complete breastfeeding means the baby receives nothing by mouth besides the breast. The breast is used as a pacifier and baby is fed on demand and at least once in the middle of the night.
Complete breastfeeding also involves mother and baby in a physically close relationship. Consider cultures where baby is carried in a sling, and sleeps next to mom. Then consider babies who are only carried from plastic seats to crib. The close energetic exchange between mother and baby appears to be a mysterious part of what delays the return of ovulation during breastfeeding.
Begin charting your external mucus two weeks after the birth of your baby. Four weeks after giving birth, begin to confirm dryness by checking for a low, firm, closed, dry cervix. Your mucus may be less noticeable while you are breastfeeding, but your cervix will be low and easy to find.
If you begin to have patches of mucus or wetness or high, soft, open cervix, consider giving more frequent feedings (not necessarily greater quantity, just more frequently.) The baby’s suckling stimulates the hormone oxytocin, which postpones the return of fertility. For more information, download the free ebook, Fertility Awareness, at www.knowyourfertility.net
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