We do so love our children. But many of us find ourselves in a position of wanting to slow down or stop the baby-making. Most of us know the basics about birth control. We know that condoms are effective if used consistently and as long as they do not break. We know that The Pill is very effective but may have side-effects that are not pleasant. We know about abstinence. But what are the other options and how effective are there? Are there any issues for those of us with post-childbirth bodies?
Did you know that the withdrawal method is more effective than you might think? It is more effective than the diaphragm, the cervical cap, spermacide in any form the vaginal sponge, natural family planning and the female condom in preventing pregnancy! And, believe it or not, it is just a bit higher in risk than a condom! I believe that the withdrawal method is even more likely to be effective with married parents who have a long sexual history together, who know their own bodies and communicate well. I have many Mommy friends who have used withdrawal exclusively as their form of birth control without any “accidents” at all.
Don’t like the risk involved with the aforementioned methods? The best bet in temporary forms of birth control seems to be hormonal methods – the pill or the implant – or IUDs. There are much great side effects from either of these categories of birth control but the incidents of pregnancy decrease dramatically compared to the methods without side effects.
How does childbirth affect your birth control needs? Both the cervical cap and diaphragm need to be refitted after childbirth. The risks of pregnancy while using either of these methods after childbirth more than doubles. Some parents opt to use breastfeeding as a method of birth control as it is said to suppress ovulation. There are some strict rules that must be adhered to for lactation to be a successful form of birth control. The mother must nurse on demand, around the clock, and not give any supplemental feedings by bottle (including expressed breastmilk), no pacifiers, no vitamins or food. The mother must not have any post-partum bleeding beyond the 56th day after birth. And the baby must be younger than 6 months of age. If all these criteria are met, it is considered 98% effective to use lactation as a method of birth control. What about using The Pill or other hormonal methods of birth control while nursing a new baby? Hormonal birth control methods that contain estrogen may interfere with breastfeeding. Women who are lactating should consider a progestin-only method if they absolutely must rely on hormonal birth control. It should be a last choice, in my opinion, and women should wait a minimum of 6 weeks after birth before beginning in order to well-establish lactation.
Has the baby train pulled into the station? Are you and your spouse ready to put your baby-making days behind you permanently? Aside from abstinence, your choices are vasectomy or tubal ligation, otherwise known as male and female sterilization. Many women find it difficult to convince their squeamish husbands to consider vasectomy as an option and are forced to undergo female sterilization. Before you make that decision consider that female sterilization is major surgery, unlike a vasectomy. And although not fully medically substantiated, there are far more tales of negative long term side effects after female sterilization than after male sterilization. Many of us have heard of women getting pregnant after vasectomy and question the efficacy. You may be surprised to learn that 1 out of every 200 female sterilizations will fail while only 1 out of every 667 male sterilizations will fail. That’s a big difference to take into consideration, along with the risks of major surgery and the potential long term side effects from female sterilization.
For more information on the effectiveness rating of birth control, check out this FDA site. If you are interested in using lacation as a form of birth control, you can read more about it here.
Please remember that Families.com is not staffed with medical practitioners and opinions stated in blogs are solely of the blogger and not meant to be considered medical advice. When considering birth control methods, each couple must consider their particular situation and risks involved as well as confer with a qualified medical practitioner who is familiar with their particular physiology.