quote:

I have often wondered how they can manage in sports cars or motorini ?????????? tutta quel' aria moped

Oh come on now! Don't you realise - THAT is 'different'!

My funniest incident involving a 'colpo d'aria' was with my niece. No not a child but a 50 year old niece

The scene:
Milano (Baggio). Late July. Temperature high 30's + centigrade. (Damned hot)

I had to visit the Ufficio Anagrafe in 'Centro' - no point taking my car (no parking) so decided to get a taxi. The journey into the city was fine, it was early so the big heat hadn't hit and the taxi was an 'older model' without a/c...

But - oh dear the journey back ... by now it IS hot and I am 'sweating sette camicie ' as they say... Taxi is NEW and has a/c and oh was it welcome But my niece immediately demanded that the driver turn it off - - he said (almost choking) 'No', I said 'You're nuts!'.
Well the next thing I know is she (niece) has pulled a large handkerchief out of her bag and is covering her mouth with it, pulling up the collar of her blouse around her neck and putting her face into the corner of the seat. The driver saw this in his mirror and almost choked. I was the same - I just found it soooo funny . She continued to mumble through the hanky that her holiday in August would now certainly be RUINED as she would now develop pneumonia within an hour!

Well the journey over - I thought that would be an end to it Yeah, right! The 'I'm gonna be ill/hospitalised/die' scenario lasted for nearly a week!!!

You can imagine her reaction when I told her (jokingly) that I was having a/c installed at my place

I'm sure they all have one of these pinned up in their homes

My midwife was telling me how they've just installed air conditioning at the hospital where I"m planning to give birth. Although she's Italian she's also a medical professional so I guess she knows how bogus all this colpa d'aria stuff is. Anyway, she laughingly said that although the AC is great for women giving birth in the summer like me unfortunately Italian women are paranoid about their babies getting a colpa d'aria so I'll probably end up with roommates who want it turned off even in this 35 degree heat. She also said that many mums at the hospital insist on dressing their newborns in multiple layers and wool in the middle of summer even after turning off the AC. Poor babies!

I was dying of the heat in the hospital and yes, they were all afraid their babies would get sick from a colpa d'aria. Some even had them dressed in sweaters in this weather (mine was in a short outfit). Then, when I brought him home we went out for a walk and people were telling me I should have him covered or in long sleeves. I felt like saying "you wear long sleeves and tell me how you feel".

I told OH that it's all nonsense, that air never hurt anyone. That I used to go out in the winter with my hair wet and I'm very healthy and never suffered from a "colpa d'aria",

quote:

Originally posted by chrisb:
You actually ask for PERMISSION! Wow, my OH just does it and tells me to “go away with short, jerky movements” if I disagree.

Yup. Unfortunately this is a real sore point for us, so I try to avoid as much conflict over it as possible. It all goes back to the birth of our daughter. Here's the scenario:

Naples, December. The heat in the clinic was turned way up, although I think it can't have been less than 15° C during the day and maybe 5° at night. I couldn't stand it, especially since I was sleeping on one of those awful plastic hospital mattresses. Oh, and there was the constant presence of cigarette smoke because my room was right near the staff's smoking room. So I opened the window. Unfortunately the fold-out bed that my husband was sleeping-in on was right under the window. Guess what happened! He got the flu. From the cold(!) air, of course. Not from his sick nephews that he played with whenever he went to SIL's house to eat. No, of course not. Air is much more dangerous than actual communicable illnesses, apparently. Then I caught it from him. So there we were, sick as dogs, having to take care of a newborn, while coughing and sneezing all over her. Everyone in the house we were staying in got sick, all with high fevers, except for one person: the baby. (Thank God!) Anyway, it was true misery, and he blames my opening the window. I won't apologize for something I'm not responsible for and he won't forgive me because I'm not sorry. We decided not to talk it anymore.

Funny thing I heard just this morning. I saw my hairdresser, who is English. When I asked her how she was, she said she had a headache, probably because she'd slept with the windows open! Poor thing! She's been here so long now she believes it too!

Congratulations MB!

Just thought of a couple of other things.

One hot day last month, I had the baby out with me in the carrier. The weather had seemed cooler when I checked on the terrace, so the poor babe was a bit overdressed. She was wearing a t-shirt and long cotton trousers, and little ankle socks. She was sweating, and I felt bad for having dressed her that way. Anyway, I ran into my husband's aunt, who took me to task for the baby not wearing shoes(!) and because in the carrier, the trouser legs were pulled up a little and her skin was exposed. That's how they catch cold, she yelled at me. I told her that was nonsense and that only weaklings would catch cold that way. That shut her up.

I've seen quite a few newborns being pushed around in carriages with layers of blankets on them this summer. I feel so bad for them.

quote:

Originally posted by Ramona:
My midwife was telling me how they've just installed air conditioning at the hospital where I"m planning to give birth. Although she's Italian she's also a medical professional so I guess she knows how bogus all this colpa d'aria stuff is. Anyway, she laughingly said that although the AC is great for women giving birth in the summer like me unfortunately Italian women are paranoid about their babies getting a colpa d'aria so I'll probably end up with roommates who want it turned off even in this 35 degree heat. She also said that many mums at the hospital insist on dressing their newborns in multiple layers and wool in the middle of summer even after turning off the AC. Poor babies!

I gave birth last summer, and feared this exact problem (and also wanted a bit of privacy) so I made sure that I got the private room in the hospital. This way I could use the a/c as I wanted. Or so I thought...my MIL started blabbering about the a/c and the baby, blah blah blah.

The nurses said to dress the baby warmly only for the first hours after birth because the baby hadn't regulated his body temp well yet. The second day the nurses said that just a onesie (body) was enough clothing for him to wear. (It was August 7th) Of course my MIL completely disagreed and thought the baby should be wearing layers of clothing with long sleeves.

Anyway, see if the hospital has a private room. They're not very expensive if you can get it.

And don't let anyone touch your baby's hands or feet and tell you they are cold and like ice. Maybe his hands and feet are, but the nurses said that touching baby's hands and feet are not the way to see if the baby is cold. Touch the neck of the baby to see if the baby is actually cold. My MIL was famous for touching our baby's feet and hands and then saying that the baby is freezing cold...and that he needs more clothing on.

Thanks Professoressa!

Since we've been home, the only thing he's wearing are onesies.

While in the hospital, it was so hot. They even put a blanket on me after surgery and since I couldn't move, I couldn't take it off. (I had to have a c-section after going through labor anyway, but that's another story.) Between that and the plastic mattress underneath me, I was miserable.

Then, we didn't have the window open because it was windy. Everyone was afraid the air would touch the babies. Thankfully one of the obstetric nurses came by and asked why it was so hot. She told us to open the window, that it was hot and the air was not going to hurt the babies - that they were suffering from the heat more than we were.

Another thing

As for getting the flu from the air...

I don't know how many times I've heard people say that on a hot night they went outside and there was a breeze and on the following day they had a neckache (because it hit their neck) or a headache, pain in their eye, scratchy throat, etc. I've even seen people wearing scarves because even though it's hot, there's a breeze! It's crazy. Someone the other day was telling me they slept one night with a fan on and got asthma (yes, she actually said asthma) so now they don't use a fan at all anymore. And don't even mention air conditioning!

quote:

Originally posted by Amy Cortese:
Anyway, see if the hospital has a private room. They're not very expensive if you can get it.

At my hospital you either get a 4 person room or a 2 person room. Since I plan to "room in" that'll be 8 people or 4 people to a room. If I could get a private room I'd definitely do it. My poor husband can only visit for 3 hours a day - I'd love to have him stay with us all the time (and he'd love it too).

quote:

Originally posted by Ramona:

At my hospital you either get a 4 person room or a 2 person room. Since I plan to "room in" that'll be 8 people or 4 people to a room. If I could get a private room I'd definitely do it. My poor husband can only visit for 3 hours a day - I'd love to have him stay with us all the time (and he'd love it too).

That was another reason why I wanted the private room - so my husband could stay with me the whole time. It was nice, especially since I saw that many of the visitors (mostly fathers and MILs) didn't really respect the visiting hours and were there even at night. I'm a little strange about privacy, and I don't think I would have felt comfortable breastfeeding in front of so many people (especially the other fathers) in the room. I wish I had had more privacy from my MIL...she started in on me right after our baby was born. The nurses and doctors saw how much she was stressing me out and upsetting me, and actually told her to stop "breaking my balls", to leave me in peace, and to go home. Thank God for the nurses and doctors! They told her to go home and prepare food to bring over to our home for after we return home from the hospital. They also instructed her to just leave the food at our home and then leave.

Maybe you will luck out, and there will not be so many moms in the maternity ward when you give birth...and you will have your own room!

Yeah, it's a bummer about having to share a room and my husband being chucked out after 2 hours - but, on the bright side, my mother in law lives all the way in Holland and she's a very sensible woman. She's had 4 kids herself so I'm sure she knows a thing or two about babies but she knows she's not the mum so she butts out. Also everything she says has to go through a translator (ie my husband) as she doesn't speak English and I don't speak Dutch.

Italians are not the only ones obsessed with air.

My relatives in the hot Caribbean are very reluctant to turn on the AC.

My mom was a nurse and would yell at us for walking on a cold floor without slippers, having the AC on full blast, certain food rules etc.

I thought it was an Island thing until I heard expats asking about the same subjects here. ha.

My neighbor asked me to take him shopping in the morning, but only on condition I don't have any windows open in the car. The brief period of our ride earlier this week (before he let me know I needed to close the windows and sunroof) left him writhing in pain for the past few days. His friend (another neighbor) was splitting his sides hearing about this, so not all Italians buy into ariaphobia.

Definitely not all Italians at all. My mother-in-law absolutely believes in colpa d'aria and my father-in-law laughs his head off at her about it. Both are Italian. I think most of her "ills" from colpa d'aria are probably from almost giving herself heatstroke every time.

My own husband is pretty sensible about most things, although it may be because we've had the talk about these silly superstitions. He's come around and can laugh about it now. He did try to convince me that the three-hour rule after eating and before swimming was real though. As others on this thread have done, I asked him why I was not drowned yet, as I grew up in Miami by the beach. Also grew up in a house where the AC was almost never off year-round. Still not dead.

I think my husband may finally be coming around too about colpo d'aria! I walked into our bedroom last evening and found him holding the baby's face in front of the fan. He's seen me do it (she loves having air blown on her now that it's hot, and she's fascinated by the fan,) but I never thought he would! I told him to watch out, that he'd turn her into an American that way.

Another anecdote. Last year, our anniversary fell on a very windy day. We had made plans to celebrate at a restaurant about an hour from where we live. Husband's aunt calls that morning, so early that she woke us up, to tell us that we couldn't go out that day because of the weather. Dh and I had a good laugh about that one.

quote:

Originally posted by Tiffany:
Definitely not all Italians at all. My mother-in-law absolutely believes in colpa d'aria and my father-in-law laughs his head off at her about it. Both are Italian. I think most of her "ills" from colpa d'aria are probably from almost giving herself heatstroke every time.

My own husband is pretty sensible about most things, although it may be because we've had the talk about these silly superstitions. He's come around and can laugh about it now. He did try to convince me that the three-hour rule after eating and before swimming was real though. As others on this thread have done, I asked him why I was not drowned yet, as I grew up in Miami by the beach. Also grew up in a house where the AC was almost never off year-round. Still not dead.

that's funny I grew up in Miami and for me it was always I had to wait one hour before going in...I think it was just to give the "grown-ups" a chance to do nothing before watching the kids....

My aunt used to try to make us do that. Maybe it's an older generation thing? Still by the time I was going to the beach by myself, you can bet I didn't wait at all!

The idea behind not going in water on top of eating was based on two assumptions: one, you'd eaten a fairly hefty meal, and two, the water was icy cold. In the event both of those were true, and you got out in water over your head, you could end up with a nasty cramp which could impair your ability to make it back to shore safely.

I tend to agree with Joan: an excuse not to have to watch attentively for a bit...

quote:

Originally posted by Professoressa:
I think my husband may finally be coming around too about colpo d'aria! I walked into our bedroom last evening and found him holding the baby's face in front of the fan. He's seen me do it (she loves having air blown on her now that it's hot, and she's fascinated by the fan,) but I never thought he would! I told him to watch out, that he'd turn her into an American that way.

Another anecdote. Last year, our anniversary fell on a very windy day. We had made plans to celebrate at a restaurant about an hour from where we live. Husband's aunt calls that morning, so early that she woke us up, to tell us that we couldn't go out that day because of the weather. Dh and I had a good laugh about that one.

Good to hear he's coming around. I've had the conversation with OH - before I just let it slide, but now with the baby, I'm not going to let us be smothered. He never did buy into all of it, but some of it he did. The last time we went up to the park at night he was actually laughing at some of the comments about covering the baby and putting him in long sleeves.

tiffany...i went in then too...

filomena...I think you are right with them being assumptions...

MB...maybe it will be the "younger' generation that will have to help change all these myths but judging from what I see onthese poor babies and toddlers with their young Venetian mothers... maybe it will take several generations....

Heh, this thread has made me chuckle. Fortunately I don't have a MiL!

As a counterbalance though, I have to say that on visits to the US (and Hong Kong I recall) both myself and friends have noted that sometimes the air-conditioning has been SO fierce that a cardigan or long sleeves has been necessary inside!

Well this is an interesting conversation.

I never dreamed air would be a hot topic in Italy. Guess that explains why most don't use a/c there though. Are most public places air conditioned?

I can partially see the benefit of air, such as needing sea air etc.....(very much like needing some fresh air.....think of oxygen bars etc) but to actually have medical reprocussions from a/c? That is a different concept to me. I've always heard don't go out with your hair wet, or not being properly bundled in the cold will make you sick (I'm from the north east in the states so it gets pretty cold)....but from the research I done on that it's not the wet hair or the cold that makes you sick directly, it's the fact that your body has to work harder to maintain your core temp and therefore your immune syste