These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Lactation, maternal nutrition and fertility.
    Journal: Nutr Rev; 1982 Sep; 40(9):268-70. PubMed ID: 7177498.
    Abstract:
    Due to the fact that the duration of postpartum infertility varies widely among lactating women, breastfeeding is considered to be an unreliable contraceptive method. At this time there is no simple or reliable procedure to detect when fertility returns. Consequently, lactating women are usually advised to use artificial forms of contraception. Yet, breastfeeding does have a considerable demographic impact. In the Philippines and Bangladesh, breastfeeding has been found to be more effective as a fertility control measure than oral contraceptives (OCs). In some countries the birth spacing effect of lactation is reinforced and safeguarded by the traditional custom of postpartum sexual abstinence. Maternal-based prolactin concentrations remain elevated for longer when infants are permitted to breastfeed on demand, and differences in the frequency and vigor of sucking are believed to be responsible for much of the variation in the duration of postpartum infertility. Although maternal nutritional status has been suggested as an influencing factor, no firm conclusion has been possible because of the presence of confounding variables which affect the duration of lactation or the frequency of suckling, such as differences in socioeconomic status or the provision of supplementary weaning foods. To exclude these variables, Prema et al. investigated nutrition-fertility interactions in a homogenous, low income group of 2250 Indian women who had never used any form of contraception and who lived in an area where there were no nutritional or health interventions. There were 2042 mothers in the study who breastfed their infants, and the duration of exclusive breastfeeding averaged 8.9 months; the total duration of lactation averaged 20.7 months. The mean duration of postpartum amenorrhea was 11.2 months and of interpregnancy interval was 24.2 months. For the 286mothers who did not breastfeed the mean duration of postpartum amenorrhea was only 4.6 months and the mean interpregnancy interval was 17.3 months. To assess the effect of maternal nutrition on fertility, the women were divided into 5 groups on the basis of body weight. The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding, total duration of lactation, and duration of postpartum amenorrhea were all significantly shorter in women with body weight above 55 kg. When total duration of lactation was kept constant, there was a progressive fall in the duration of lactational amenorrhea with increasing body weight. If the conclusion that malnutrition reduces fertility is accurate, it is important to be aware that efforts to improve the diets of lactating women in the 3rd world may shorten birth intervals and exacerbate an already serious population growth problem.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]