Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 July 2008
Half the women in this study had resumed menses by the 6th month post-partum. Concurrent with these findings, less than 50% were still breast-feeding at the 6th month post-partum. The majority of these breast-feeding women were partially breast-feeding. By the 6th post-partum month more than 90% of the women had resumed intercourse and slightly less than half were using contraceptives. Nevertheless, the cross-sectional data indicate that only 25% of the women were using contraceptives at 12 months post-partum. These results show a much shorter period of lactational amenorrhoea than has been reported for a rural area of Bangladesh.