• Contraception that contains the hormone progesterone -the mini-pill, Depo-Provera or Implanon – doesn’t affect your milk supply and is safe to take while you breastfeed as the tiny quantity of hormone that goes into your milk will have no effect on your baby.
• This style of contraception can be started straight after birth.
• The combined oral contraceptive pills shouldn’t be used while you breastfeed as they can have an impact on your milk supply.
• As condoms are a barrier contraceptive, they are a good choice for breastfeeding mothers as they have no impact on your body or your milk supply.
• Using a diaphragm after birth can be ineffective because of possible stretching of the pelvic floor.

There is a 2% failure rate when using exclusive breastfeeding as contraceptive method, but it does generally work when:

• Your baby is less than 6 months old.
• Your baby is still consistently feeding overnight -there should be no long periods of time between breastfeeds.
• Your periods have not begun again since the birth of your baby.
• Once one of these conditions alters, you can no longer count on breastfeeding to work as an effective contraceptive.

This article was written by Ella Walsh for Kidspot.