When her first child was only a few months old, Laily Begum of Charigram, Bangladesh, learned she was pregnant again. After giving birth, she had no idea that she could become pregnant before she started menstruating again, even though she was breastfeeding. Begum, 21, realized that within months she would be feeding and caring for a newborn infant and a one-year-old daughter. The prospect overwhelmed her.

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Read the full piece, from MCHIP Director Dr. Koki Agarwal, on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog.