Kathleen asks about whether the salt in salt soaks for sore nipples needs to be iodized (sea salt contains no iodine naturally, but does have a host of other trace minerals).  
I don't know the answer on iodine, but I don't think that the sterile normal saline solutions sold for eye washes or used to irrigate IV catheters, the same solution we use for moist wound care, contain iodine.  I don't know that iodine influences wound healing one way or the other.
She also asks about the use of ice cubes on sore nipples.  I can only report from the culture in which I practice, in which such advice would cause a mass flight at high speed *away from* whoever was recommending it.  Cold is considered harmful for lactating breasts per se, and ice to nipples would be culturally unacceptable to any woman living here in Norway.  Since we often see Raynaud's sign developing in women who have had persistent severe soreness with visible lesions, I would be hesitant to use ice for fear of worsening the Raynaud's.  But to my knowledge there is little evidence to inform us, as usual!!

Rachel Myr
in snowy Kristiansand, thinking about all of the rest of you experiencing atypical winter weather, on both sides of the Atlantic

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