Well, it's been awhile since family planning has been apart of your life. Now that you've had the baby it's time to think about family planning and birth control. It is best to wait at least one year between pregnancies, no matter what type of birth you had.
The main question that you need to know when thinking about postpartum birth control will be feeding issues and religious issues. Breast feeding your baby will change your options because all medications will go through the breast milk and some are harmful. Religious issues are personal and we will not explore them in this forum.
- Natural Family Planning
This is sometimes also called G-d led birth control. It uses no chemicals simply your body's signals for fertility. Using your temperature and cervix you can accurately predict when you will ovulate and avoid these times of the month. This takes diligence, but it does have a 98% effectiveness when done correctly. The Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM) may also be helpful for nursing mothers. - Depo-Provera
Depo Provera is an injection received 4 times a year, every three months. There is a 99.7% effective rate and is very fool proof. Many women like the convenience. - Birth Control Pills
There are a large variety of oral contraceptives available, but the progesterone only, or mini-pill is safe for use during breast feeding. Others pills containing estrogen are not. Talk to your practitioner about which is right for you. When taken correctly the pill has a 97% effective rate, however, they have the highest rate of user error. More on the Mini pill (Micronor, Ovrette, Microval, etc) - Diaphragm
The diaphragm has a 98% effective rate when used correctly. It must be fitted by your practitioner and used every time you have sex. - Condoms
Condoms are 87% effective when used alone, and 98% effective when used with a spermicide. These must also be used every time you have sex. - Sterilization
Female sterilization, tubal ligation, is 99.3% effective and does require abdominal surgery. Male sterilization, vasectomy, is 99.1% effective and is an office procedure. Essure is a new, non-surgical, female sterilization technique.
