Jacqui asks some questions after reading the NY Times article from last
month.

At last count, at least 40% of one-year-olds in Oslo were being breastfed.
There is great variation in how long mothers BF, some of it regional and
some of it cultural.  Hard to say more than that in a short LN post.  I
think about 40% BF exclusively for 6 months, quite a few start solids
between 4 and 6.

It is not very common to see nursing toddlers, except at meetings of the BF
mothers' organization, though nursing toddlers are no huge rarity.  But
mothers get self-conscious because there is still a lot of prejudice against
BFing them, so they don't BF as publicly.  That said, 'discreet' BF is not
an issue in most places.  Women have been asked to leave certain trendy
cafés in Oslo, ostensibly because BFing offended the foreign businessmen
there.  They were roundly criticized for it.  Norwegian women who have had
children in the States, for example, tell with great amusement (or sometimes
consternation) about the lengths to which maternity ward staff went to
protect their modesty, which was microscopic compared to the US women there.
And mothers who have visited other countries away from Scandinavia often
tell of feeling a bit odd when BFing in public because they are often the
only ones doing it.  There is no such thing as special clothes for BFing in,
except nursing bras - they just button up or roll up whatever clothes they
have on, and the idea of using a cape or a shawl seems impossibly comical to
them - they think putting on a cape attracts much more attention than simply
feeding the baby does.

It is cold out at this time of year so there is no BFing going on in parks
at the moment.  You have to go to the malls and shopping arcades, or the
espresso bars, to see it.  In the summer, women BF absolutely everywhere,
and nobody makes a big deal out of it.

I have to add that I lived in Seattle when my first child was born, and I
always felt free to BF wherever I happened to be, until we moved here when
she was 3 years old.  I think it made my transition to Norway easier that
things were so similar where I came from and where I moved to.

I have no guest house, but a guest room with its own bath - ask Kate
Hallberg how our hospitality rates.  Any Lactnetter from anywhere making it
to my town is welcome to stay, at least for a couple of nights.  There is an
international airport, rail connections to E. and W. Norway, and ferry
service directly to Sweden and Denmark.  We are a BF-friendly facility!

Hoping more people take me up on it,
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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