Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T13:57:26.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Breast-feeding and post-partum amenorrhoea in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Robert E. Jones
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, University Center at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York

Summary

The association between breast-feeding patterns and resumption of menses post-partum was examined in a prospective study in Indonesia. In order to examine these relationships directly in a longitudinal study, it was first necessary to distinguish among women who experienced infant mortality before menses resumed, women who weaned before menses resumed, and women who had return to menses while breast-feeding.

Information on suckling patterns and menstrual status was collected by recall for 444 women at monthly visits for 2 years. Three main breast-feeding variables, minutes per episode, number of episodes per day, number of episodes per night, and other breast-feeding variables were derived for each woman, to give the average nursing pattern up to menses or the end of the study, whichever came first. While high levels of nursing for each of these three main variables were found to be significantly related to delay in return of menses post-partum, the interactions between more minutes per episode, and more frequent day- and night-time feeds, were found to be the most important factors in the delay in onset of post-partum menstruation in those women whose menses resumed while still nursing or who remained amenorrhoeic and nursing at the end of the study.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Badraoui, M. H. H. & Hefnawi, F. (1979) Ovarian function during lactation. In: Human Ovulation. Edited by Hafez, E. S. E.. Elsevier/North-Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Bongaarts, J. (1983) The proximate determinants of natural marital fertility. In: Determinants of Fertility in Developing Countries. Vol. 1. Supply and Demand for Children. Edited by Bulatao, R. A. & Lee, R. D.. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Corsini, C. A. (1979) Is fertility reducing-effect of lactation really substantial? In: Natural Fertility. Edited by Leridon, H. & Menken, J.. Ordina, Liège, Belgium.Google Scholar
Cox, D. R. & Oakes, D. (1984) Analysis of Survival Data. Chapman & Hall, London.Google Scholar
Delgado, H. L., Martorell, R. & Klein, R. E. (1982) Nutrition, lactation, and birth interval components in rural Guatemala. Am. J. clin. Nutr. 35, 1468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dixon, W. J. (1985) BMDP Statistical Software. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.Google Scholar
Elias, M. F., Teas, J., Johnston, J. & Bora, C. (1986) Nursing practices and lactation amenorrhoea. J. biosoc. Sci. 18, 1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ferin, M., Van Vugt, D. & Wardlaw, S. (1984) The hypothalamic control of the menstrual cycle and the role of endogenous opioid peptides. Recent Prog. Horm. Res. 40, 441.Google ScholarPubMed
Frisch, R. E. (1978) Population, food intake, and fertility. Science, N.Y. 199, 22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuchs, F. & Klopper, A. (1983) Endocrinology of Pregnancy. Harper & Row, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Geertz, H. (1961) The Javanese Family. Free Press, Glencoe, New York.Google Scholar
Glasier, A., McNeilly, A. S. & Baird, D. T. (1986) Induction of ovarian activity by pulsatile infusion of LHRH in women with lactational amenorrhea. Clin. Endocr. 24, 243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habicht, J.-P., Davanzo, J., Butz, W. P. & Meyers, L. (1985) The contraceptive role of breastfeeding. Popul. Stud. 39, 213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howie, P. W. & McNeilly, A. S. (1982) Effect of breast-feeding patterns on human birth intervals. J. Reprod. Fert. 65, 545.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howie, P. W., McNeilly, A. S., Houston, M. J., Cook, A. & Boyle, H. (1981) Effect of supplementary food on sucking patterns and ovarian activity during lactation. Br. med. J. 283, 757.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howie, P. W., McNeilly, A. S., Houston, M. J., Cook, A. & Boyle, H. (1982a) Fertility after childbirth; infant feeding patterns, basal PRL levels and post-partum ovulation. Clin. Endocr. 17, 315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howie, P. W., McNeilly, A. S., Houston, M. J., Cook, A. & Boyle, H. (1982b) Fertility after childbirth: post-partum ovulation and menstruation in bottle and breast feeding mothers. Clin. Endocr. 17, 323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huffman, S. L., Chowdhury, A., Allen, H. & Nahar, L. (1987) Suckling patterns and post-partum amenorrhoea in Bangladesh, J. biosoc. Sci. 19, 171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hull, V. J. (1984) Breastfeeding and Fertility in Yogyakarta. Monograph Series, No. 5. Population Studies Center, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Kalbfleisch, J. B. & Prentice, R. L. (1980) The Statistical Analysis of Failure Time Data. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Kaplan, E. L. & Meier, P. (1958) Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J. Am. Statist. Ass. 53, 457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunn, P. G., Austin, S., Prentice, A. M. & Whitehead, R. G. (1980) Influence of maternal diet on plasma-protein levds during lactation. Lancet, i, 623.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunn, P. G., Austin, S., Prentice, A. M. & Whitehead, R. G. (1984) The effect of improved nutrition on plasma prolactin concentrations and postpartum infertility in lactating Gambian women. Am. J. clin. Nutr. 39, 227.Google ScholarPubMed
McNeilly, A. S., Glasier, A. F., Howie, P. W., Houston, M. J., Cook, A. & Boyle, H. (1983) Fertility after childbirth: pregnancy associated with breast feeding. Clin. Endocr. 18, 167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeilly, A. S., Glasier, A. & Howie, P. W. (1985) Endocrine control of lactational infertility. In: Maternal Nutritional and Lactational Infertility. Edited by Dobbing, J.. Raven Press, New York.Google Scholar
McNeilly, A. S., Howie, P. W., Houston, M. J., Cook, A. & Boyle, H. (1982) Fertility after childbirth: adequacy of post-partum luteal phases. Clin. Endocr. 17, 609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ngaglik Study Team (1978) Birth Interval Dynamics in Village Java: the Methodology of the Ngaglik Study. Methodology Series, No. 4. Population Studies Center, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Perez, A., Vela, P., Masnick, G. S. & Potter, R. G. (1972) First ovulation after childbirth: the effect of breast-feeding. Am. J. Obstet. Gynec. 114, 1041.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Santow, G. (1978) A Simulation Approach to the Study of Human Fertility. Nijhoff, Leiden, Holland.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santow, G. (1987) Reassessing the contraceptive effect of breastfeeding. Popul. Stud. 41, 147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trussell, J. & Hammerslough, C. (1983) A hazards-model analysis of the covariates of infant and child mortality in Sri Lanka. Demography, 20, 1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Ginneken, J. K. (1974) Prolonged breastfeeding as a birth spacing method. Stud. Fam. Plann. 5, 201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed