Breastfeeding and fertility are the effects of breastfeeding on the fertility of postpartum women. Hormones associated with lactation and breastfeeding can variably and unreliably inhibit processes involved with fertility. Because of the high variation of this process, breastfeeding is not recommended to be a method of contraception by medical providers. The physiological importance of this inhibition is so that women who are breastfeeding have a decreased likelihood of a subsequent pregnancy while they are still wanting to breastfeed.