A number of years ago I heard a peer counselor from SE Asia (if I remember correctly, she was Hmong).  This woman was highly educated and recognized which "facts" were cultural myths and which were based on real facts.  She reported that it was a belief in her culture that a pregnant woman would "steal" milk from a nursing mom, so pregnant women were not allowed in the homes of nursing moms.  They could visit only if they stood outside the door.  This woman also reported while she was very successfully nursing her baby (which was long after she came to the US and when she had the knowledge previously referred to) she found out that a friend who had visited her was pregnant at the time and this woman immediately felt her supply dwindle.  She knew intellectually that "stealing the milk" was a myth, but apparantly the idea had been so ingrained in her brain that she subconscioulsy reacted not in accordance with what she knew, but with what she had been told as a child!

Winnie Mading

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