[metmom]

The breastfeeding blood-hormone levels tends to space out pregnancies to prevent a too-hasty follow-on pregnancy,

Guess again......

[Mrs. Don-o]

I should specify what kind, because it's not just any breastfeeding. The hormonal shift caused by breastfeeding is highly sensitive to the circadian cycle: basically night/day. You get the "good" hormonal surge after dark, if the baby is allowed to suckle ad libitum, during the night.

This is amply supported by both statistical patterns, and clinical observation. With nighttime on-demand nursing, pregnancies average 2 1/2 ears apart. More or less.

O'course, I have my own anecdote to throw in, for what it's worth. We kept our newborn son is a blanket-lined Smithfield Ham basket next to the bed, and I could reach over easily and tuck him in next to me if he was restless with the Mama-milk munchies--- we always had a way for me to do nighttime nursing without getting out of bed.

Breast-fed into toddlerhood, and I never ovulated for 2 whole years.

Must have been those industrial-strength lactational hormones. :o)