The Milk Memos: How Real Moms Learned to Mix Business with Babies-and How You Can, Too

by Cate Colburn-Smith and Andrea Serrette

Book Overview

This one-of-a-kind guide to balancing motherhood and work is based on actual journals kept by a group of IBM women during their visits to the company's employee lactation room. It all began when IBM... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585425443
• ISBN13: 9781585425440
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.1" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Fabulously helpful

This book is a "must have" for any nursing mommas going back to work and hoping to continue the breastfeeding relationship. I wish I had had this book when my first daughter was born and I went back to work. I felt so alone in my extremely challenging endeavor of pumping and working. If I had had this book, I would have felt supported, vindicated, inspired, and most of all, would have had the collective wisdom of other women who've learned how to make it work. I now plan to buy this book for all my friends who are having babies and planning to continue their careers out of the home. I would also recommend Working Without Weaning but if you're only going to buy one book, this one will tell you most everything you need and it's so darn affordable! It's also well written and backed up by research. Hurray for a couple of super-moms who managed to pump AND work AND somehow find time to write a book! Most books are written by stay-at-home moms who could never understand the pump/work dynamic. (No offense to them but even my local LLL leader couldn't help me because she has never experienced working out of the home 40 hrs/wk, away from her baby, dealing with pumping and storing milk and all the rest. This book covers everything from starting the breastfeeding relationship on the right foot, introducing bottles, buying the right pump, negotiating time/space with your employer, sleep-deprivation, anxiety about being separated from your baby, the challenge of juggling career and family priorities, the challenge of being perceived as "less productive" at work now that you're juggling everything else. It has a nice balance of informative narrative from the authors, interspersed between the journal entries of the "Milk Mamas" group sharing the lactation room at IBM. I wish I had colleagues in my workplace to share this kind of journal with but reading their comments made me feel like I was not alone in my struggles. Unlike other books I encountered, this book does not start from the premise that new moms should consider quitting their job or giving up their careers. It starts with the understanding that you are going back to work, either by choice or necessity, and aims to give you all the tools you need to successfully continue providing your baby with breastmilk for as long as you want to. Towards the end, it addresses the potential alternatives such as flex schedules, part time work, or putting your career on hold. But it doesn't start off making you feel like you're a bad mother if you go back to work. Now that I've read this book (and a couple others), I just know I'm going to be more successful with pumping and working this time around with my second baby. In retrospect, it helped me see that I actually did a pretty good job the first time around (100% breastmilk until 6 months; daughter weened herself at 9 months when my milk supply dried up). I just felt like such a failure and like I lacked the kind of support I needed. Defi

Amazing Book

I recommend this book to any mother experienced or new who is planning to balance breastfeeding and a career. I am a first time mom and "Milk Mama" to a 6 week old beautiful girl. This book was not only uplifting and encouraging, but extremely educational and a wonderful resource for any nursing mom. It was wonderful to read the experiences of other working mothers who are just like me. This book will have you crying one minute and laughing hysterically the next. I have read several books about breastfeeding, but this is the only one that truly touched my heart and soul. After reading this book, I know that I will be able to continue breastfeeding long after I return to work!

wish I had this book earlier

I can't tell you how helpful this book has been. I picked this up on a whim and read it so quick. I really don't want to go back to work but this book gave me some hope that I will be able to do it and most importantly am not the only mom out there that has the feelings Cate and Andrea expressed in the book. I found my self laughing and crying throughout the entire book. The advice and references given in the book are more useful than I have read in any other breastfeeding book (usually written by stay at home moms!!). This is a must if you are going back to work while your child is still nursing.

Perfect for the breastfeeding working mother!

This book is fabulous! As a soon to be second time mom who will breastfeed again, I found it to be a refreshing reminder of what is to come and helpful in that it gave me a community that I was a part of. Most breastfeeding books only cover a little bit about returning to work, one even suggested having someone bring the baby to work so you could breastfeed (YEAH right, that is practical in an office!). The Milk Memos gives you sound advice along with humor and support. I read this book in less than 24hours even having a 3 year old! I was highly entertained and wished I could be a part of their 'club'. I highly recommend this book to anyone who will be breastfeeding or even just thinking about it. It proves that it can be done and that you can make it through this special time in your child's life.

You don't have to be a working mom to buy this

Every employee in Corporate America focuses on how to balance their work chaos and with their life chaos. As someone who is obviously NOT a working mother, I read The Milk Memos as both poignant and hilarious -- detailing with a rich storytelling that it is entirely possible to literally nurture both family and career. The two authors are obviously writing from their own first-hand experiences, as well as those of their colleagues who are featured in the book. From those experiences, we see that there's something very telling which goes beyond the book's primary premise (the personal trials, tribulations and triumphs of mothers returning to work after maternity leave). After reading excerpts, it was clear that this book maps how real life and work intersect. It also underscores the powerful bond of networking. As a people manager, this book helps reinforce for me that life experiences matter. They have to be grasped and enbraced when managing diverse teams. It's a new competitive game today, with a new demanding workforce. The best way for companies to win and succeed in what has become an intensifying competitive marketplace is to have a workforce that feels wanted, respected and nurtured. The Milk Memos, though looking at just one aspect of that diverse workforce (mothers just back from maternity leave), does exactly that. It's a great read for anyone looking to strike a balance between office work and outside home life -- whether you're a working mother, a single Dad, an empty nester, a family builder or even someone without kids.