Duration of lactation, lactational amenorrhoea and incidence of pregnancy in Pakistani women.

Although breast feeding is not an absolutely reliable method of contraception yet its birth spacing effect is of great importance in communities where the prevalence of alternative contraception is too low. It is well recognized that breast feeding affects the fertility of women by delaying resumption of menses. The extent to which duration of breast feeding effects the duration of Postparturm amenorrhoea in our population is an issue dealt in this study. In this paper, data from a survey of 1098 women in a few selected urban and rural areas is examined. The findings supported the available literature on lactation. The average duration of lactation was found to be 16.8 months and duration of lactational amenorrhoea was 11 .9 months in the population under study. About 7.3 percent pregnancies occurred amongst breast feeding mothers during the period of amenorrhoea.(JPMA 36 63 1998).