Interactions of contraception and breast-feeding in developing countries
Mosley, W.H.; Osteria, T.; Huffman, S.L.
Journal of Biosocial Science (Suppl 4): 93-111
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0021-9320 DOI: 10.1017/s0021932000023865Document Number: 436051
The purpose of this paper was to re-examine some of the assumptions underlining the premise that the introduction of modern contraceptives will generally improve birth spacing and promote breast feeding in traditional societies. It is illustrated using examples from Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia and Nigeria that many societies in the developing world have been maintaining relatively prolonged birth spacing through the traditional fertility control measures of lactational amenorrhoea and abstinence in the post-partum period. In terms of relative efficacy in actual practice, the traditional methods in many societies are much more effective than modern methods since there is a cultural conditioning to their use which may not exist for modern methods.