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

( 9 )

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 manager Cate Colburn-Smith sat down in the company's employee lactation room, shed a few silent tears, and wrote the following on a paper towel: I'm a new mom and today is my first day back at work. Is anyone else using this room?

Right away women ...

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

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More About This 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 manager Cate Colburn-Smith sat down in the company's employee lactation room, shed a few silent tears, and wrote the following on a paper towel: I'm a new mom and today is my first day back at work. Is anyone else using this room?

Right away women responded, and the paper towel was eventually replaced by a series of notebooks, in which women offered one another advice and support on juggling work and a newborn. Based on the original notebooks, The Milk Memos is a heartwarming, encouraging (and often hilarious!) guide to working motherhood.

It's one of the most existential moments any woman will face: sitting in a small room tucked away in the bowels of your company, pumping breast milk for a child so close to your heart-yet, at that moment, so far away. The Milk Memos records the voices of mothers who, while struggling with the difficulties of blending their two lives, prove that women don't have to choose between work and family. Their thoughts on how it can be done will inspire women everywhere. This invaluable book weaves the actual Milk Memos journal entries with information-packed sections on such topics of great concern to working moms as:

- finding a private place to pump breast milk at work and establishing a routine that you can maintain despite your busy workday;
- establishing the right daycare solution;
- getting a decent night's sleep with a new baby so that you can shine (or at least glimmer!) during business hours; and
- negotiating flextime, part-time, or a job share with an employer.

The ultimate gift for any new mom who will soon return to work, The Milk Memos is destined to become a classic on the parenting shelf.

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Colburn-Smith and Serrette aim to make the impossible a little less so with their guide for working nursing moms. "We are thoroughly convinced," they write, "that you don't have to choose between having a career and being a great mom." The genesis of the book was in a tiny lactation room at IBM, where an impromptu mothers' group formed. Pumping away in the former janitor's closet, the IBM moms communicated with each other through notebooks about their struggles, woes and joys. Sections of the notebooks are reproduced, interwoven with practical advice. While at times the book reads like an ad for Medela breast pumps, the guidance is sound. Choosing child care, spilled breast milk, picking the right pump, evil bosses, plugged ducts, low milk production (breasts that turn out to be "Milk Duds") and the like are written about both informatively and humorously. In this solid resource, Colburn-Smith and Serrette do their best to be all-inclusive, careful not to judge those who supplement with formula or decide to wean before the baby's first birthday. (Mar.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Writing for women who are trying to balance their commitment to their careers with their desire to love and nurture a newborn child, IBM executives Colburn-Smith and Serrette have compiled this journal/guidebook on successfully blending the two. Empathetic and often humorous, they relate their adventures of pumping breast milk at work, getting enough sleep, and finding the right day-care solution. Per the book's title, the book centers on breastfeeding and examines the intricacies of the art—making sure the baby gets enough to eat, storing pumped milk, and healing sore breasts. Nursing mothers, whether working or staying at home, will find camaraderie and assistance. Recommended for public libraries.


—Deborah Bigelow
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781585425440
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Publication date: 3/15/2007
  • Pages: 384
  • Sales rank: 543,473
  • Product dimensions: 5.19 (w) x 7.18 (h) x 1.12 (d)

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 5
( 9 )
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Sort by: Showing 1 – 10 of 9 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 17, 2013

    Get it!

    I can't talk highly enough of this book- what a wonderful source for any breastfeeding mom who also works. I will be purchasing this book for any friends/family who is considering breastfeeding upon returning to work. I couldn't think of anything more helpful to them. Makes me want to say "thank you" to all the women who made this book possible- what an uplifting read!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 24, 2012

    Informative

    I truly enjoyed this book and am glad I read it before returning to work. It is an entertaining and easy read that helps a nursing mother know she is not alone no matter what happens in the pumping/nursing process. I strongly recommend.

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  • Posted March 9, 2010

    This book is the best read for new Milk MAMA's, especially those who have to return to work.

    I am MaMa hear me Mooo! You will absolutely love this book I know I did. I cried, laughed and sometimes just set in the little shower room on a folding chair plugged in (pumping) and reading. Throughout my almost year and a half Moo-cow career I would feel myself getting weak at heart (thinking about weaning) and I'd turn back to the pages and find a funny or uplifting memo/entry and keep on pumping. No matter how alone I was, (and I was alone) I always felt I had friends when I read this book. Who were experiencing the same things I was and was going to experience. I highly recommend this book to any new mom who want to give breast feeding a chance.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 3, 2008

    Wonderful - confidence booster!

    I was a first time Mom - breastfeeding and had to go back to work after maternity leave. My job is not conducive to the demands of breastfeeding 'much less taking a lunch break' so I was so worried about how I could make it work. After reading this book, I felt like I was not alone and it gave me the confidence I needed to do what was best for me and my son. I did it and it wasn't as hard as I imagined it would be - this book really helped me deal with all the emotions and actual planning involved in storing milk ahead of time and preparing my workspace for pumping.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 4, 2007

    Best baby book I've ever read

    If you're a Mom who's trying to breastfeed and planning to go back (or already back) to work, this is a must-read. All of the issues they discuss were pertinent to me, and this book was a quick, informative, and enjoyable read. Highly recommended to any new Mom that's trying to blend work and parenting an infant.

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    Posted November 30, 2012

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    Posted January 28, 2010

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    Posted March 4, 2011

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