Contraceptive use during lactational amenorrhea.

OBJECTIVE

The study uses data from nationally representative sample surveys in developing countries to estimate the overlap between lactational amenorrhea and contraceptive use during the first 6 months postpartum.

METHOD

Secondary analyses of survey data were used to tabulate the proportion of the population in lactational amenorrhea among contraceptive users for all women, for postpartum women and for the country as a whole.

RESULTS

Among postpartum women, the proportion in lactational amenorrhea was particularly high in Africa and the Near East and lower in Latin America and the Caribbean where breast-feeding practices have declined. The median duration of use for oral contraceptives is also presented as an aid to interpreting the significance of the findings.

CONCLUSIONS

The significance of the findings is considered in the context of planning reproductive health services in the postpartum period. Decisions about timing of contraceptive use for postpartum women, while arrived at on an individual basis, also result from program strategies that focus counseling immediately postpartum or at a later interval, such as when menses resume. On a national level the impact of postpartum contraception policies on use of commodities may be substantial.