Family planning is generally acknowledged as an important component of the reproductive
health agenda and a necessity in all programs and policies geared towards the realization of safe
motherhood. Several studies have established that most maternal deaths occur in the postpartum
period. This paper therefore aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the factors affecting the
adoption of PPFP, with special emphasis on examining how influential the women’s contact with
maternal health services (antenatal care, delivery in a health facility and postnatal care) had been
on adoption of contraception in the postpartum period. The analysis was based on the data from
the Women’s Questionnaire and the calendar data from the 2008 Nigeria Demographic and
Health Survey (NDHS). The use of maternal health services (ANC visits and timing of postnatal
check-up) is significantly associated with the use of a modern method of contraception during
the postpartum period. Other significant predictors of the use of a modern method in the
postpartum period include region, education, the household wealth index, and exposure to family
planning messages. The findings suggest that contraceptive use among postpartum women will
increase substantially if more women use maternal health care services, especially for antenatal
care and postnatal care.