Abstract
Breastfeeding is associated with many maternal and child health benefits, 1, 2, 3 including a delay in fertility return postpartum. This has been recognized for centuries; medical literature from Aristotle to the Renaissance, and, occasionally, thereafter, noted that women who suckle are less likely to become pregnant. This physiological response was forgotten or disbelieved in scientific circles of the mid 20th century as the use of commercial infant formula displaced breastfeeding in industrialized settings, and family planning methods became more widely available. However, recent scientific evidence, compiled both by social and biomedical sciences, demonstrating the population level impact of breastfeeding on fertility and the biologic basis of lactational infertility, has reinitiated interest in breastfeeding and the mechanisms related to lactational infertility. If we allow breastfeeding to deteriorate further, the increase in fertility in settings with limited family planning use would be significant, and very difficult to remedy. 4, 5
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