Condom Question

Factual Questions
1

Let me preface this post by saying that I’m a lesbian. I’ve never had to use a condom for the purpose of preventing pregnancy. In this thread, it was mentioned that,

Is this true? Does it say that on the package? I’ve never needed to know, so I’ve never put too much thought into it. I guess I don’t doubt my fellow doper, but for some reason the fact that there’s more to proper condom usage than just slapping it on really surprises me. I feel like my school system’s sex-ed program has failed me. Is there anything else that one should know about using a condom?

2

Si is correct. You should also know what types of condom are most effective against disease, and how to get the right size.

3

I got these from my box of Trojan’s and found the quote on the internet.

4

Also, as an aside, he mentioned that it was a lambskin condom, which IIRC does not protect from venereal disease like a latex condom. Condoms can be tricky buggers.

ETA: Which I see that silenus already alluded to. :smack:

5

If the spill is within the vagina, I would add - obtain emergency contraceptive pill (morning after pill) and use.

Further to my comment regarding accidents with condoms

My wife was breastfeeding my 3-4 month old daughter (I thought breastfeeding suppressed ovulation - nope), her cycles hadn’t actually started yet post-pregnancy (we were having sex - it was obvious she had ovulated, it was the only explanation), and we couldn’t do much after the event anyhow (her hormones were way off balance as it was, adding more via the morning after pill wasn’t a risk worth taking).

So our kids are 13 month apart - and I had a vasectomy before my son was born. It worked for us, it didn’t matter financially, or in any other way. But the risks can be pretty high.

Si

6

I’ve been there before. Didn’t do as directed and we had to go chase the damn thing inside of her.

Other things to consider are that the things are not made of steel. They can (and do) break. If you think that it may be broken, then you are best stopping and checking, even it – or especially – you are near the climax.

7

According to a repro expert I was talking to, the breastfeeding only works as a contraceptive if the feedings are sufficiently close together. If your wife was keeping the baby in the bed with her and feeding it throughout the night, and then staying with the baby all through the day, then the hormones would work out right to suppress ovulation. Expressing the milk into a bottle, or doing anything different really, reduces the suppression on ovulation.

Biology is neat!

8

Also, I would guess that it’s especially important with lambskin condoms, which are basically inelastic bags - I imagine they’d leak at the base easier than a latex condom.

9

Close, but I’d make a couple further caveats: this only works for the first 6 months, the baby must be waking at least twice a night to feed, and NO supplementation or water can be taken. You must breastfeed on demand, not to a schedule, and at least 10 times a day. In addition, the mother must not be overweight and must not have gotten even one period since her delivery. It’s very possible for an overweight woman to have more than enough estrogen in her fat cells to support both breastfeeding and pregnancy.

If all of these caveats are in place, then lactational ammhenoria is actually one of the BEST non-hormonal contraceptions - 98-99.95% effective, depending on your source. But very few women in the US are thin enough and breastfeed enough for it to be so.

cite 1

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cite 3

10

Biology is erratic, capricious, and not to be relied upon. :rolleyes:

My wife was fulltime breastfeeding my daughter. I think we were still doing night feeds. It didn’t work.

On preview - from WhyNot - that regime would not have worked - my daughter just did not feed that much.

Si

11

Yep, it doesn’t work for most of us. So it’s usually easier to simply say, “Use other birth control, mmm’kay?”

B’sides, SOMEONE’S got to be that 0.05%, even if you can do all that, it still might fail. Such is life.

12

The OB’s at my wifes hospital offer out depo shots to every woman that comes through and if declined jocularly reply, ok, seeya next year.

13

Worked a treat for us but then my wife was as thin as a whippet.

Ed: another bloody typo

14

Just to touch on the previous post about the Lambskin condom etc. I always felt that lambskin condoms were for committed couple for whom pregnancy wouldn’t be the end of the world. They obviously aren’t intended to block STDs. I just imagine that they are for people who don’t want to get pregnant but wouldn’t particularly be devastated if they do. In that situation I feel that emergency contraception is kind of out of the question, because if protection is that important to you, why use lambskin to start with? They make polyurethane for the allergic.

I’ve never quite understood lambskin too much anyway. I suppose I’d use them only if I were in a committed relationship where I’d rather not have a baby, but would be okay with it. But if you are so serious about not having kids, I think lambskin is the wrong answer to start with.