Lactational amenorrhoea method of contraception: An in-depth study of awareness, knowledge and practice by breast feeding mothers with unintended pregnancies

Abstract

This study assessed the awareness, knowledge and practice of lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM) of post partum contraception among breast feeding mothers of 18 to 40 years of age with unintended pregnancies. It was a cross-sectional, multicenter survey of seventy one breast feeding mothers with unintended pregnancies who visited these health centers for antenatal care within the study period. These women had been on LAM as the only post partum contraception before onset of pregnancy. A two section, semi-structured, self administered questionnaires were used to survey the participants. The incidence of unintended pregnancy was 14.3% among LAM users. There was a high level of awareness, but poor knowledge and practice among users. Lactating pregnant women who properly implemented only one component had more than 4 times odds for unintended pregnancy (odd ratio (OR)=4.12, confidence interval (CI)=3.21 to 4.72, P=0.04), those who implemented two components had about 3 times odds for unintended pregnancy (OR=2.82, 95%CI=2.54 to 2.94, P=0.01), while those who did not implement any of the three components had more than 7 times odds for unintended pregnancy (OR=7.52, 95%CI=7.23 to 7.94, P=0.001). High incidence of unintended pregnancy observed in this study was associated with poor knowledge and aberrant-practice of LAM by breast feeding mothers. Therefore, improving women knowledge (especially breast feeding mothers) on the proper guidelines of LAM could be of a great help in reducing high incidence of unintended pregnancy among LAM users. Key words: Knowledge, practice, lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM), unintended pregnancy.