Ok, can someone help with a reference for my dissertation? Admittedly its a for a classics course, but im doing ancient obs an gynae as my topic.

I need a reference to breastfeeding being a contraceptive today - it also has to state that its only effective if feeds per day number 6 or above.

I cant find a suitable reference online, an all my middy books are in manchester, and im in birmingham! lol

i know ive read it, but i cant find it, so could someone help? thanks

Angela

We are taught to tell the women that BF is not a reliable form of contraception and to use condoms etc but I had not heard the theory about exceeding 6 feeds.

Will have a look around and see what I can find...

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J
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Thanks! Its written in one of my classics books, but I'm hoping for an "official" confirmation from a proper midwifery book!

This was advised to mum's whist I was on my community placement, but unfortunately I don't have anything 'official' about it

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Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
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Just had a thought do you mean the Cochrane review? and LAM?

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J
StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

"You're braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think."
Christopher Robin in Pooh's Grand Adventure

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x

Cant seem to find anything to back up the 6 feeds a day but thought maybe you were thinking of the Cochrane review....

Here's the abstract of the Cochrane review...incase it is and if not, its still topical!

Missy, have a look at this and you'll see why we express caution to p/n mums.

Background

50 % of pregnancies are unwanted. For several reasons including difficulty in obtaining contraceptives, no or ineffective contraception is used to prevent these unwanted pregnancies. The Lactational Amenorrhoea Method (LAM) however is a contraceptive method available and accessible for many women.

Objectives

To assess in fully breastfeeding women, staying amenorrheic, the efficacy of the Lactational Amenorrhoea Method as a contraceptive method. The efficacy of LAM, as defined in 1988 in Bellagio, was compared with alternative definitions of LAM; the outcomes were measured using pregnancy and menstruation life tables.

Search strategy

Data sources: MEDLINE searches from 1966 until 2002 and EMBASE from 1988 until 2002; reference lists of studies and review articles; books related to LAM; published abstracts from breastfeeding, reproductive health, contraceptive conferences; and e-mail communication with coordinators of such studies.

Selection criteria

From 454 potentially relevant studies 154 investigated the risk of pregnancy during LAM or lactational amenorrhea. Two reviewers applied the following inclusion criteria: prospective study, cases and -if available- controls had to be sexually active, pregnancy had to be confirmed by physical examination or a pregnancy test. Life table menstruation rates and life table pregnancy rates were taken as endpoints. Thirteen publications, reporting on 9 intervention groups and 2 control groups, met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review. Their quality was assessed.

Data collection and analysis

Two reviewers independently extracted data, disagreements were resolved through discussion. Because of the heterogeneity of the included studies, the studies were analyzed using narrative methods.

Main results

For the outcome two controlled studies of LAM users reported life table pregnancy rates at 6 months of 0.45 and 2.45 percent and 5 uncontrolled studies of LAM users reported 0-7.5 percent. Life table pregnancy rates of women fully breastfeeding and amenorrheic but not using any contraceptive method were 0.88 in one study and 0.9-1.2 percent (95% CI 0. 0-2.4 ) in a second study, depending on the definition of menstruation used. The life table menstruation rate at 6 months in all studies varied between 11.1-39.4 percent.

Authors' conclusions

No clear difference in life table pregnancy rates was found between women using LAM and supported in doing so, and fully breastfeeding, amenorroic women not
using any method. Because the length of lactation amenorrhoea of women using LAM is too different between populations studied, and population specific, it is uncertain whether LAM extends lactational amenorrhoea.



Van der Wijden C, Kleijnen J, Van den Berk T. Lactational amenorrhea for family planning. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2003, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD001329. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001329

__________________
J
StudentMidwife.NET Founder & Director

"You're braver than you believe. Stronger than you seem. And smarter than you think."
Christopher Robin in Pooh's Grand Adventure

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x

Thanks for that J ™,

I do understand the reasons now.

__________________
Midwifemissy x

Student Midwife 2007
Student uni rep
Educational Resources Manager

Please help us raise funds for a bereavement room in Honey's memory by taking part in the SMNET Auction & Raffle here thanks x