Traditional child spacing practices of women: experiences from a primary care project in Lagos, Nigeria

The study carried out within the target population of a Primary Care Project in Lagos, Nigeria, found that some changes had occurred. The traditional length of abstinence has decreased, and more women now resume sex before termination of breast-feeding. This should give rise to some concern especially if the level of adoption of modern contraception does not rise correspondingly. Other changes regarding the opinion of mothers about some of the practices, and the danger of the current trend of starting infant formula earlier in the post partum period are discussed.