'19 Kids and Counting' Gets Stranger, Sadder

[P D]

(03-02-2012 11:00 PM)Persnickety Polecat Wrote:  

(03-02-2012 07:10 PM)P D Wrote:  We don't know how and in what ways mothers breastfeed. Every time I tell my story of how ovulation ceased for 15 months on average for my wife who breastfed our children, someone comes along and says that it doesn't work. Well, in our case it did work.

And for every case that didn't work, when I get to actually talk to the mother that it didn't work for, I find out that she did not breastfeed on demand, did not breastfeed throughout the night, used a pacifier, used a bottle, etc. In other words, the mom did not breastfeed only but used bottles, pacifiers, schedules, etc.

But when a mom sleeps with her baby at night and breastfeeds all night long, and carries the baby throughout the day and breastfeeds on demand throughout the day, that mom's ovulation stops. At least it did for us.

So breastfeeding on demand does work to suppress ovulation in OUR experience. And this is first hand information, not hearsay.

In your experience being the operative phrase. I practiced ecological breastfeeding, meaning I breastfed on demand (usually every 90 minutes, sometimes more frequently, sometimes a little less) around the clock (even at night, little stinker), no bottles or pacis, coslept, and baby wore my first born. I got pregnant exactly five months after his birth. I then tandem nursed both of them (yep, I sure did) for the next year. Obviously by then, the firstborn was eating solids, but the second one was breast milk only, no bottles, no pacis, around the clock, no supplements, ecologically, exactly as I had nursed my firstborn.

Imagine my frustration when a year later -- still tandem nursing, mind you -- I was again pregnant. And that is the story of how I ended up with three kids under the age of three. All while breastfeeding. (Call me fertile Myrtle.)

Ecological breastfeeding CAN be a good form of birth control WHEN it suppresses ovulation, but it doesn't always suppress ovulation.

Thanks for sharing. You are right, it doesn't always work. Imagine my wife breastfeeding a new born and a two year old. Lots of fun!

[P D]

(03-02-2012 08:49 PM)lucrezaborgia Wrote:  So if a woman uses hormonal birth control to ensure that she does not get pregnant, she's less than a mother than your wife because she didn't breastfeed perfectly? You may not be intending to say this, but that is how you are coming across.

Give me a break. That's not what I said. Read what I actually wrote.

[P D]

(03-02-2012 09:59 PM)WifeofBill Wrote:  It's also sounding like you are calling me a liar. I have and am breast feeding on demand, co sleeping, no bottles for all three, no pacifiers for all three, and after each pregnancy once the bleeding from post birth stopped I started my period within a week.

I'm glad your wife had a different experience, but your second paragraph comes across as very condescending to those of us whose experince is vastly different.

I'm sorry if this is coming off as bitchy, I haven't had a full nights sleep in over six months. It's catching up to me.

Yes, lack of sleep will do that to us. Hey, if you did all of the above, then my comments aren't directed to you. But I can't tell you how many women will tell me that so and so breastfed only to find out that they didn't do all of the above. Perhaps there are other factors involved. I don't know. I'm just thankful that it worked for me and my wife. Otherwise we would have 16 kids and that would be tough.

[P D]

(03-02-2012 11:13 PM)lucrezaborgia Wrote:  It just goes to show that god's 'perfect plan' is usually a myth.

Hey! We agree on something! I always recoil when someone tells me that this is God's way to do x, y, and z. Ezzo came out with God's way to parent. He was a nutcase. But goodness gracious, whatever I did must not have been God's way because Ezzo said so.

So we agree. To each his own as each of us trusts God for wisdom, insight, and knowledge.

[Persnickety Polecat]

(03-03-2012 07:59 PM)P D Wrote:  

(03-02-2012 11:00 PM)Persnickety Polecat Wrote:  In your experience being the operative phrase. I practiced ecological breastfeeding, meaning I breastfed on demand (usually every 90 minutes, sometimes more frequently, sometimes a little less) around the clock (even at night, little stinker), no bottles or pacis, coslept, and baby wore my first born. I got pregnant exactly five months after his birth. I then tandem nursed both of them (yep, I sure did) for the next year. Obviously by then, the firstborn was eating solids, but the second one was breast milk only, no bottles, no pacis, around the clock, no supplements, ecologically, exactly as I had nursed my firstborn.

Imagine my frustration when a year later -- still tandem nursing, mind you -- I was again pregnant. And that is the story of how I ended up with three kids under the age of three. All while breastfeeding. (Call me fertile Myrtle.)

Ecological breastfeeding CAN be a good form of birth control WHEN it suppresses ovulation, but it doesn't always suppress ovulation.

Thanks for sharing. You are right, it doesn't always work. Imagine my wife breastfeeding a new born and a two year old. Lots of fun!

Imagine me breastfeeding a 34 month old, a 21 month old, and a newborn ... lol. I got some funny looks while in the hospital, for sure, but iirc, I didn't really nurse my oldest while I was in there. By that time, he was down to a single bedtime nursing. (Yeah, my guys nursed till about 3 or so). I had a lactation counselor come in the day after I'd had him, and there I was nursing the middle and the newborn, and she just stopped, looked at me, and said, "I guess you know what you're doing." I guess I did. I think the hardest part for me was working around the c section pain.

Adventures in Tandem Nursing is a great resource, if your wife is still tandem nursing. It helped me out a lot.