In Norway, the powers of air in motion to cause ill-health are very deeply
entrenched, at the same time that fresh air is considered vital to good
health.  All babies should take at least one nap daily out of doors in a
pram, unless it is mid-winter, but no one should ever be exposed to the
draft of air that results if a window is open, even a crack, and the door to
the room is also ajar, no matter how high the outdoor temperature.  People
have to have chiropractic therapy if they have ridden in a car and sat next
to an open window so the draft went past their neck, and breastfeeding women
and young children are especially vulnerable to drafts.  Mastitis can result
from getting your upper body exposed to a draft, and as I have mentioned on
numerous occasions before, it is almost impossible to suggest to a
breastfeeding woman that she use cold packs to her breast for any reason at
all, because to many women you would have no credibility as an expert on
breastfeeding if you suggested something so blatantly harmful.  (Ice packs
for hemorrhoids postpartum are not used either, because the woman is sure to
get cystitis - same logic.)

Lactating women used to be cautioned to wear wool mittens when rummaging in
their deep freezers or hanging out laundry in cold weather.  Even getting
one's hands chilled can cause cold to settle in the breast and mastitis can
result.  And breastfeeding mothers wear wool chemises innermost, even in summer.

The milk is not thought to be affected by the cold nor even by mastitis,
only the breast itself.

These beliefs have the status of incontrovertible truths; no one questions
them and if you so much as hint that they fall into the same category as
belief in the evil eye, or horseshoes hung over a doorway, nobody laughs or
even smiles, they just politely wait for you to finish and then change the
subject.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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