Read the passage and answer the following question:
Overpopulation causes a number of family problems. Strategies like birth control methods help to control population explosion. Natural methods of birth control do not involve medications or devices to prevent pregnancy but rather rely on behavioural practices and/or making observations about menstrual cycle. Natural methods work on the principle of avoiding chances of ovum and sperms meeting.
Eight months after delivery, a mother feeds her baby partly on other food and no longer breast-feeds fully. She relies on lactational amenorrhea to avoid conception. Why is this not a reliable choice for her?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Chances of conception are almost nil only as long as the mother breast-feeds the child fully.
Lactational amenorrhea works because ovulation, and so the menstrual cycle, does not occur during the period of intense lactation after childbirth. The chances of conception stay almost nil only as long as the mother breast-feeds the child fully. NCERT also says the method is effective only up to a maximum of six months after parturition. This mother is past both limits, so she can no longer rely on it.
Option (1) The method works only when a barrier such as a diaphragm is used along with it. — Incorrect. Lactational amenorrhea is a natural method. No barrier or other device is used with it.
Option (2) Breast-feeding blocks ovulation only after the first year following parturition. — Incorrect. The opposite is true. Ovulation is held back during intense lactation soon after delivery, and the method is effective only up to six months.
Option (3) The method acts by suppressing sperm motility, which stops when menstruation returns. — Incorrect. Suppressing sperm motility is an action of copper-releasing IUDs. Lactational amenorrhea acts on ovulation, not on sperms.
Option (4) Chances of conception are almost nil only as long as the mother breast-feeds the child fully. — Correct. Full breast-feeding is the condition for this method to work. The mother has stopped it, and she is also beyond six months after delivery.
NCERT Extract:
Population Stabilisation and Birth Control – “… Lactational amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) method is based on the fact that ovulation and therefore the cycle do not occur during the period of intense lactation following parturition. Therefore, as long as the mother breast-feeds the child fully, chances of conception are almost nil. However, this method has been reported to be effective only upto a maximum period of six months following parturition.”