It’s proven.
A new study has found that women who are breastfeeding have more sex with their partners post-birth, compared to before they were pregnant, the journal Human Nature has found.
The study was conducted my Michelle Escasa-Dorne of the University of Colorado, who studied women from the Philippines as they are known for having a low divorce rate with their partners. Escasa-Dorne wanted to further find how these women were able to adapt to becoming mothers and wives simultaneously.
This is in contrast to previous studies which have found that Western women traditionally take care of their child and not their partner in the postpartum period. “This leads to lower relationship satisfaction and less intercourse between partners, and a clear shift from so-called mating efforts to parenting efforts,” the study explained.
The study involved 260 women between the ages 18 and 35. Of these women 155 were still breastfeeding. The participants were asked about their sexual functioning and relationship satisfaction.
The women who were breastfeeding and had begun having regular periods again were found to be more sexually active and committed to the relationship than the others. It was also discovered the breastfeeding women were more active postpartum than before their pregnancies.
Escasa-Dorne attributed this to the women's desire to maintain a high-functioning relationship that would make a better environment for the child.
She continued to explain that while breastfeeding women may not always feel like participating in intercourse, they may respond better to a partner who initiates sexual activity.
“Even though a breastfeeding woman may not be sexually proactive, she may respond favourably when her partner initiates sexual activity. Maintaining the relationship may be important if one’s current partner is beneficial to the partnership and to the tasks of parenting,” said Escasa-Dorne.
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