Users' understanding of the lactational amenorrhea method and the occurrence of pregnancy.

This study aims to determine 1) the proportion of lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) users who understand the method; 2) whether any known factors can distinguish those who understand LAM from those who do not; and 3) whether an understanding of LAM is related to subsequent pregnancy. Data were collected from 876 LAM users in Pakistan and the Philippines. It was found that 75% of LAM users could consistently recite the LAM guidelines correctly for a full year postpartum. However 38% of users failed to display at least once an understanding of LAM during the first year postpartum mainly by failing to abstain to use another method or to explain their nonuse of another method when their LAM protection expired. Also the sociodemographic factors could not predict the level of understanding of LAM users. Therefore the occurrence of pregnancy during the first year postpartum was not related to LAM understanding regardless of how LAM understanding was defined nor could it be predicted by any other measured characteristics of the users.