Definition
For children born in the three to five years preceding the survey, PPABMOC (M9) reports the calculated months of the child's mother's postpartum abstinence, including the duration for mothers who were still abstaining at the time of the interview. The similar variable PPABMO also reports the calculated months of postpartum abstinence but excludes women who were still abstaining when interviewed.
According to the DHS Recode Manuals, the maximum period allowed during the data editing was the interval between the date of birth of the child and the date of conception of the following child (with date of birth minus nine months used for the date of conception) or until the date of interview if there was no following birth. Cases exceeding this duration are coded with one of the flag codes on PPABFLAG and are coded as "Inconsistent" in PPABMOC.