cover image The Milk Memos: How Real Moms Learned to Mix Business with Babies—And How You Can, Too

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

Cate Colburn-Smith, Andrea Serrette, . . Penguin/Tarcher, $13.95 (370pp) ISBN 978-1-58542-544-0

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.)