Abstract
To evaluate the importance of family planning in the context of the puerperium and to emphasize how low adherence to family planning practices becomes harmful to the maternal-fetal binomial, causing narrowly spaced intergestational intervals and unplanned pregnancies. This is a integrative review of the impact that family planning and contraception in the postpartum period have to the quality of life of puerperal women and couples. This study was based on the methodological principles for searching for articles in the electronic databases: MEDLINE and PubMed, with a five-year time cut (2015-2019). The following descriptors were used to track the articles indexed in the databases: "family planning", "contraception" and "puerperium". 16 articles were included, all in English. The articles addressed the importance of family planning and what are the determining factors for reducing unmet postpartum counseling needs. Postpartum family planning (FP) is an important tool in women's reproductive health practices. Despite the deficit that exists regarding postpartum counseling, the FP, when well oriented, provides quality assistance allowing the woman or the couple to have autonomy to decide on the next pregnancies.