The contribution of changes in milk delivery to the prolongation of lactational infertility induced by food restriction or increased litter size.

In rats, the length of lactational anovulation is prolonged when litter size is increased or when the dam is food restricted. In both of these situations the energetic demand on the dam is increased, milk delivery to each pup is reduced, and consequently, patterns of pup suckling may be changed. We investigated the contribution of these factors to the maintenance of lactational anovulation by examining the effect of eliminating milk delivery on the length of lactational diestrus in food restricted and ad lib-fed females nursing litters of 8 pups and in females nursing large (14 pups) and small (6 pups) litters. The results of these studies show that preventing milk delivery neither extends the period of lactational infertility in ad lib-fed females nursing eight pups nor eliminates the effects of increasing litter size on this period.