Have you seen The Great Sperm Race? You can watch it on 4oD, it's fascinating. Out of 250 million sperm, maybe 2 or 3 will actually reach the egg at the right time.
You're not infertile whilst breast feeding, that's a bit of an old wives' tale. It does lessen your chances but I wouldn't use it as a method of contraception... http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/breastfeeding/contraceptionexpert/
Also, gosh, how crap would her boobs look if she breast fed all her kids ;D

If you breastfeed on demand you don't ovulate, there is a failure rate of 0.45% more reliable than a condom which is the only contraception you can use while breast feeding, whats more important great breasts or giving your children the nutrition they need.

Well my mom only breastfed me for 10 days because she couldn't take the pain, and the midwives told her that it was enough; I had got all her antibodies. So breastfeeding for years makes little difference, of course apart from the cost.

Er yes it does, every time a baby is breast fed antibodies are passed on, 10 days is not enough for that, plus if the baby has an illness, his/her saliva stimulates the mother to produce antibodies which then go into the breast milk, which is why breast fed children very rarely get colds or ill in general, the same happens if mum is ill as well to prevent the baby catching from catching the illness as it works like a natural vaccine. It is also natural protection for the mother against post natal depression due to the hormones released when breast feeding and reduces the chances of breast cancer.

So you're discrediting what midwives say now? Ok then. You do that.
As a baby, I was never ill. So obviously 10 days is enough, but if all the all knowing Transit thinks otherwise then of course, you must be right.

It irritates me no end when people push breast feeding on women. I am highly unlikely to be able to breast feed, so issues like this are very thorny for me. Just because a mom doesn't breast feed doesn't make her a second class citizen, as so many people seem to think.

Have a look around WHO, world health organisation, also remember, some midwifes believe a c-section is always best.

http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/index.html

another fact.....if you breastfeed for one day its better than not breastfeeding at all. i dont think that people are trying to push breastfeeding on women...i think alot of women are misinformed about it and dont know enough. it is VERY healthy for not only baby but mother as well. there are so many things that breastfeeding protects the mother against...i would post all of my info but itd be long:) but for instance a mother who breastfeeds has a lower risk of post-menopausal breast cancer....

Technically you're supposed to breastfeed for at least the first six weeks. For some women, 10 days is barely enough to get past collostrum and onto breast milk. (Not to mention I think midwives are crocks, being honest.) But I think formula works just as well as breastmilk nowadays.

My friend was solely breastfeeding and her daughter was sick ALL the time. She got mono, a urinary tract infection and a sinus infection all at once that landed her in the PICU before she was even a month old. And she had colds all the time. I think its all just worked up. I never once breastfed my daughter and she didn't get sick for a LONG time.

You're meant to breast feed for at least 6 months, but where nature designed us, until all milk teeth are in place, hence the name.
http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/exclusive_breastfeeding/en/index.html

You SHOULD breastfeed for as long as possible and its not the awful experience some people would have you believe. And yes..I KNOW...I have breastfed four children til at least eight months.

And none of my boys got sick as babies.

at least being the operative word here. actually if you research into this, its a really interesting arguement as to how long human babies should be fed for. average weaning is something like 4.5 years across the world, and some say that the milk teeth are called milk teeth because humans are designed to be breastfed until they are lost. so... 7-8 years.
heres a brilliant article on this
http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/katherine_dettwyler.html

its not possible for formula to work as well as breastmilk, formula is static, it never changes, yes it has the nutrients, but thats the same all along if you're feeding it to a newborn, or a 1 year old. Breastmilk changes every feed you give, its constantly being revamped according to the pathogens your body encounters, to help protect your baby from illnesses.
Perhaps your friend was unlucky, but i can tell you from experience, breastfeeding stopped my daughter from getting a stomach bug which ran through the family at the speed of light, every single person got it... parents, grandparents, uncles, etc except for my daughter, because i fed her while i was sick.

hey suz, I remember when Emma was a baby and we [me, paul, mum, dad, ian] all caught a sickness bug and everyone had it exept her. I think it's possible for some babies to be born with quite a good immune system [ as you know i never bf emma] and then you'll have some babies [like holly] who doesn't have that good an immune system and will catch any illness and thats where the BF would come in handy :)
on the other hand each illness does build an immune system anyways... still, it's not nice for a little baby to go through but I personally couldn't BF due to being on medication- although i tried three times before i got my first injection- i just did not enjoy it. theres never enough support for breast feeding or formula. And then you get these wars about it. It's a shame, we should be supporting each other.

you're totaly right,all babies are born with immunity passed on from the mothers placenta(passive immunity), but i think that lasts for about 3 months. because its just the antibodies passed on they only live a short time (from a few weeks to a few months) and then get broken down. at a guess i'd think if you encountered illnesses/pathogens when you were pregnant the more would be passed on as your body made the antibodies to them.
thats why the say that newborns can't get ill (supposedly!! i don't necesserely believe that) but it depends on just about everything, what you've been exposed to, what they get exposed to, like if maica picked up a bug while out with oscar i don't know if my body would react fast enough to create the antibodies to protect her from it completely.
however, when maica does get ill i can be sure that my body is creating antibodies to help her fight what shes got. which is a bonus!
oh hell when did i go all scientific?!!
i'm not sure many people enjoy breastfeeding in the beginning, i certainly didn't!!! i had brilliant support though, maybe thats why i stuck at it.
as i've said before its fab you fed holly a couple of times before starting your meds. any milk (especially colostrum which is full of the antibodies) is better than none.

here is some info i had found for my speech i just did on breastfeeding.
*The chance of getting pregnant while breastfeeding exclusively is less than 1% during the first six months as long as menstruation has not yet returned.
*Menstruation can be delayed for an average of 14 months for women who breastfeed exclusively.
so if she exclusively breastfed then she probably could use no protection whatsoever...(which i dont think they do anyways) BUT its not saying you arent infertile while breastfeeding...but if you dont have a period you arent ovulating so therefore your chances of becoming pregnant are very very very slim.

Keep in mind that you ovulate before you have a period, so just because you haven't had a PERIOD yet doesn't mean you haven't OVULATED yet, and unless you are charting and making sure you're not ovulating, pregnancy could take you by surprise.

haha i disagree entirely :D but you must have known i would!! lol

You are not guaranteed to be infertile if breastfeeding. Breastfeeding on demand does not guarantee you do not ovulate. You still can. In fact, the LAM (Which is the Lactational Amenorrhea Method - breastfeeding) of birth control is only 98% - 99.5% effective, even if done to a T. While hormonal IUDs (like Mirena) provide 99.9% effectiveness against pregnancy (which is higher than sterilization, which is only 99.8% effective).

It irritates me to no end when people who aren't educated on what they're speaking about try and argue points.

You cannot use hormonal contraception while breast feeding, yes they are safe, but for most women they reduce the amount of milk a woman can produce, which prevents breast feeding happening properly. Plus instead of a fertilised egg being able to implant like it could with other hormonal contraception, the mirena works by not allowing implantation.

i think she does breastfeed but weans them early.

Gosh, yo! I'm currently reading about the quiverfull way of life, and it is quite fascinating. I hadn't really explored it until today.

I especially love this: (I laughed out loud for about ten minutes on the underlined bit! I didn't mean to... I was trying to take it seriously!)

"God Gave Us Common Sense”

Couples can read these and more verses and agree that it is God who is the Creator of all Life. When asked, however, if they think God alone should ultimately be in control of the number and spacing of their children, the reply is negative. “God gave us common sense, after all,” has been a much used response line. Well, no, the Bible does not say that God gave any such thing. Actually it says the opposite. Isaiah 55:8-9 states, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” And Proverbs 14:12 tells us, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but it’s end is the way of death.” So if we cannot trust in ourselves to make the right decision in this matter, whom can we trust? “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5. We are to seek wisdom, but not the wisdom of the world. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Isaiah 29:14

Brilliant, yo!
No more condoms for me, God did not bestow me any common sense to use them! ;D I shall adopt it as my new excuse for all things.

I think it's crazy that they have that many kids but, like a lot of others have been sying - if they can support them ... more power to them. They're hardworking, and not on welfare. So we shouldnt really have a say.

The only thing that boggles my mind is the whole no-kissing thing. I'm cool with waiting until marriage to have sex but ... no KISSING even? How do you know there will even be passion? lol

I don't understand how they don't break a single one of their parents rules, their religion isn't against pre-marital kissing, I can't imagine them doing things in their own home without the permission from their parents still.

hahaha. I think I'll have to adopt that as my excuse for things also.

Lady Acid Fairy, i've been sitting here at work trying to make some sort of sense out of your responses, just...really, truly, trying, but i cant. I cannot make any sense out of that, at all. THE VAGINA IS NOT A CLOWN CAR. IT NEVER HAS BEEN. IT NEVER WILL BE. Women are not designed to pop out any more than 6 children, and if they do, THEIR KIDNEYS FALL OUT THRU THEIR VAGINAS. I know this as fact because my best friend's mother has seven children, all of whom her parents support, not the government, and she's gotta have surgery for this shit.Also, please understand that women were NOT MEANT TO DIE after childbirth! At all!! Ever!! As a matter of fact, since the dawn of man it's been PRETTY IMPERATIVE that they live, considering that MEN DONT LACTATE AND BABIES CANT EAT SOLIDS. I'm not trying to sandbag you but really, you should PROBABLY have some sort of factual information behind any claims you make, EVER, otherwise, you will get sandbagged. Probably not by me, but by somebody.