Continuously recorded suckling behaviour and its effect on lactational amenorrhoea.
The hypothesis that the month-specific rate of return to ovarian cyclicity after childbirth is causally related to suckling pattern was tested for a population of New Mexican women recruited within the service area of New Mexico Highlands University and for a nationwide USA subpopulation of women recruited through membership of the Couple to Couple League (CCL). Survival analysis for time-dependent covariates was used, and significant predictors of the first postpartum menses were found. Important differences were detected in the suckling pattern for the two groups and a 5:2 differential was found in their respective rates of menstrual cycle recovery. Although the two groups were comparable perinatally, daily and time-windowed breast-feeding performance fell off at twice the rate for the New Mexico population when contrasted with the CCL sample. For both populations, the introduction of solid feeds was a strong and significant predictor of returning menstrual cyclicity, independent of suckling pattern.
Taylor
H W
HW
College of Arts and Sciences, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, USA.
Vázquez-Geffroy
M
M
Samuels
S J
SJ
Taylor
D M
DM
D000328:Adult; D000568:Amenorrhea / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D009516:New Mexico; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000502:physiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013391:Sucking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*